Ninja Tail
by Ohfortheloveofpete
Summary: After a mishap with an interdimensional portal, Lucy Heartfilia and Naruto Uzumaki end up in each other's universes...can they get back home?
1. Chapter 1: The Interdimensional Portal

Ninja Tail

_Guess what! Today I'm going to be making a Fairy Tail and Naruto crossover fic...intrigued? Well, alright then...let's see how this fanfic turns out..._

_I hope you find it to be hilarious...though admittedly this fanfic isn't going to be entirely for laughs, I can tell you that..._

_Chronologically...this takes place during the beginning of Naruto Shippuden...and prior to the Phantom Lord Arc...in other words, Naruto and his friends are about sixteen years old or so while everyone in Fairy Tail is the same age as they've always been...since you know, they never seem to age._

**Chapter 1: The Interdimensional Portal**

The guild members of Fairy Tail were all very excited. Today was going to be the day that they were going to test out an experimental interdimensional portal...or one of them was anyway. According to Makarov, it led all the way to an alternate world.

Sure enough, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, and Happy were standing on a couch waiting for the portal to be ready. Of course, it wasn't going to be an easy task. They were all pretty excited.

"I'm rather impressed that Levy was able to build something like this..." noted Lucy.

"She sure is smart, isn't she? She must have an IQ of 300...then again, that's just my estimate." asked Erza.

"I'll say! She curb-stomped me in that Fairy Tail trivia challenge...I still owe Natsu twenty jewels..." noted Gray.

"I have to wonder what's on the other side...is it going to take us into outer space? Is it going to take us into Candyland? Is it going to take us into the wonderful world of Disney?" asked Natsu curiously.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered the ice mage.

"I just hope that nobody gets hurt using that portal..." questioned Lucy.

"I suppose there could be...accidents..." spoke Erza.

Upon the mentioning of the word "accidents", Happy began to hug Natsu tightly.

"Please don't make me use that portal! I don't wanna die!" exclaimed Happy.

"Relax Happy...nobody's forcing you...though admittedly if we want to get this project on the road we're going to need a test subject..." noted Lucy.

"Are you volunteering, Lucy?" asked Natsu.

"I suppose if nobody else wants to use the portal, I'll give it a shot." explained the blonde.

"Be careful out there!" exclaimed Gray.

Lucy nodded.

Sure enough, Levy announced that the portal was ready.

"Finally! I was getting tired of waiting!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Let's go check it out!" bellowed Happy.

"Wait for me!" replied Gray.

Sure enough, Makarov was presenting the portal to the guildmates. They were all very excited for the occurrence.

"Greetings, my dear guildmates. Today is the day we're going to test out our experimental interdimensional portal...to be honest, it was actually a bit of an accident that this portal was created..." explained Makarov.

"It was?" asked Elfman curiously.

"Let's just say that Levy likes experimenting with magic..." stated the guildmaster.

"Yeah...heh heh..." nodded Levy.

"Any volunteers?" asked Makarov.

Lucy raised her hand. She was looking forward to this.

"Very well. Do us a favor and test the portal out for us, will you?" asked the elderly mage.

Lucy nodded, and went to the interdimensional portal to investigate the strange parallel universe.

Sure enough, she ended up being transferred across dimensions. She had to admit, it was an out-of-world experience.

"I feel dizzy..." noted the blonde. Was using the portal safe?

As it turned out, the interdimensional portal lead to a forest.

"Interesting..." noted Lucy.

Curious, Lucy Heartfilia decided to investigate her surroundings a bit further.

Inevitably, her guildmates would want her to hurry back, so she decided not to stay in the mysterious world for too long.

Unbeknownst to Lucy however, this world happened to be inhabited.

As it turns out, a certain blond-haired ninja by the name of Naruto Uzumaki was taking a stroll in the forest.

Oddly enough, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that something big was going to happen to him today...but he wasn't sure why. Were the Akatsuki going to try to abduct him again? He didn't look forward to being a human sacrifice...

Curious, Naruto looked around him...and discovered that there was a strange portal that had appeared out of nowhere.

"What the-" exclaimed the teenage boy.

Curious, Naruto decided to investigate the mysterious portal to see what was on the other side.

"Interesting..." noted the genin.

Shrugging, he decided it would be best to alert the Fifth Hokage so that she could investigate the matter. For all he knew this could be a threat to national security.

However, at that very moment, Naruto tripped...and he ended up going straight through the portal.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Naruto.

Unfortunately for Lucy, the interdimensional portal only had enough power for one trip and back...and it began to close, much to her surprise.

"No no no no no no!" bellowed Lucy.

The portal immediately disappeared, and the unfortunate girl began to scrape the ground with her bare hands, hoping to salvage what was left of the portal.

But unfortunately, it appeared that she was now stranded in this mysterious world. Digging her way to China wasn't going to bring her back.

Lucy sighed. Makarov did warn her that the portal was experimental.

The only thing that she could do now was to try to investigate her surroundings to see if she could find somebody that could help her...then again, she didn't know anybody other than her guildmates that could conjure a magical portal.

Also, she got the feeling that somebody else had tried using the portal...were they also stranded as well?

"I sure hope that they're doing OK..." noted Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, the interdimensional portal was responding once again, much to Makarov's delight.

"Yes! The experiment was a success! Watch now as Lucy Heartfilia returns to tell us about this alternate world!" exclaimed Makarov.

"This is going to be good!" bellowed Happy.

"I would imagine so." nodded Natsu.

However, at that very moment, somebody contrary to who they were expecting came out of the portal.

"Oof!" exclaimed Naruto as he fell on the floor.

Immediately, the Fairy Tail guild members gasped in shock. Where was Lucy Heartfilia? And just who was this mysterious fellow who had entered the portal in her stead?

"Where am I?" asked Naruto.

For a moment, Naruto wondered if he had died and gone to heaven. Standing a few feet away from him were several attractive-looking females. Heck, he was even starting to feel attracted to some of the male members of the mysterious group.

There was even an elderly man that reminded him of the Third Hokage...was he somehow related?

However, his thoughts were interrupted when Makarov spoke to him.

"You're not Lucy Heartfilia!" exclaimed Makarov.

"What?!" bellowed Naruto.

"Who are you?! And what have you done to Lucy?!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Yeah! Are you a kidnapper?" asked Happy curiously.

Unsurprisingly, Fairy Tail were all very surprised at the occurrence. They were clearly expecting a girl, not a boy, to say the very least.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Just who were these people?

Shrugging, he decided that it was best to tell them his name so that he could get some answers.

"My name? It's Naruto...Uzumaki." explained the ninja.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" asked Makarov curiously.

Naruto nodded. That was his name, alright.

"Pleased to meet you." spoke the old man.

Unfortunately for Naruto, at that very moment, the interdimensional portal began to close, much to everyone's astonishment.

"Noooo!" screamed the genin as the portal disappeared.

Frantically, he began to scrape the ground with his hands...much like a certain mage had done so before him.

Unfortunately for Naruto, it appeared that not only had he wandered into an alternate world to his own...he was stuck there.

Naruto sighed. Hopefully he would be able to find a way back home...however long that took. His friends were going to miss him.

Levy was rather upset, to say the very least.

"To think we used up so much magic just to get that interdimensional portal running..." noted Levy.

"Is there any way for you to get it running again?" asked Naruto.

"Not for a while..." explained the leader of Shadow Gear.

Naruto sighed.

"What am I going to do?" asked the teenage boy.

Makarov began to think.

"I suppose we could make you an honourary member of Fairy Tail...until we manage to get this sorted out." explained the old man.

"Really? You mean it?!" exclaimed Naruto.

Levy raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about this? We don't really know anything about his powers and abilities..." explained the researcher.

"I suppose we could have somebody duel him to see how powerful he is...any volunteers?" asked the old man.

Erza raised her hand.

"Very well...Erza, take Naruto to our battling arena for me, will you?" asked Makarov.

Erza nodded.

Naruto's cheeks turned red. He had to admit...Erza was rather attractive.

As Naruto and Erza left, Natsu had to wonder where Lucy was. Was she doing OK?

_Meanwhile..._

Looking around, Lucy noticed that there was a ninja sleeping with his back pressed across a tree...he sure seemed to be a sleepyhead, considering that it was in the middle of the day.

Curious, Lucy decided to wake him up.

"Excuse me...could you give me a hand?" asked the summoner, shaking the sleeping ninja gently.

"Wha-what?" asked the ninja as he woke up.

"Could you tell me where I am?" asked Lucy.

"Hmm? Um, sure...what is your name?" inquired the ninja curiously.

"My name is Lucy...what's yours?" questioned the mage.

"My name? It's Shikamaru..." answered the teenage boy.

"Pleased to meet you...again, could you tell me where I am?" inquired Lucy. She had no idea where she was.

"We're in a forest right outside Konoha, I believe..." explained Shikamaru.

Curious, Lucy looked around, and noticed that there was an enormous city up ahead.

"Yeah...how could I have missed that?" questioned the teenage girl. It was a good thing that she wasn't far away from civilization...otherwise she might be in trouble. The wilderness could be dangerous.

"I suppose it happens to the best of us. Now if you excuse me I'm going to go back to my nap..." nodded Shikamaru.

"Can you take me to your leader?" asked Lucy.

Shikamaru sighed. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to go back to Slumberland for a while.

"Fine..." nodded the ninja.

Immediately, Shikamaru began to escort Lucy to Konoha. Thankfully, none of the ANBU eyed her with suspicion.

As it turned out, the Fifth Hokage was in her office...taking a snooze.

Feeling a sense of deja vu, Shikamaru decided to gently wake Tsunade up. Lucy began to wonder how many sleepyheads there were in Konoha.

"Excuse me...Lady Tsunade, we need your assistance." explained the jonin.

"Wha-what?" asked Lady Tsunade curiously.

Curious, Lady Tsunade looked around, and noticed that Shikamaru had a pretty girl with him.

"Is she your girlfriend?" asked Lady Tsunade curiously.

Shikamaru sweatdropped.

"Er, no, I only met her today...she claims to be from some sort of alternate world...though admittedly that claim is dubious." explained the ninja.

"Are you some kind of wizard?" asked Tsunade curiously.

Lucy Heartfilia nodded, causing Shikamaru to sweatdrop.

Immediately, Lucy went to pull out her zodiac keys...only to find that they had mysteriously disappeared.

"What the-my keys! What happened to my keys?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Shikamaru sweatdropped once again.

"Well, at least I have my whip..." noted Lucy as she pulled out her whip.

Shikamaru's face turned pale.

"You're not going to use that to-"

"What? Of course not!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"About where you're from...do you happen to be a fighter? You mentioned something about being a wizard...though personally I'm perplexed that someone like that would actually exist..." asked the Fifth Hokage curiously.

Lucy nodded.

"I happen to be part of a guild called Fairy Tail...I'm the newest recruit in fact." explained the mage.

"Interesting..." noted the Fifth Hokage. Was she really part of a parallel world? Or did she hit herself on the head?

Either way, it looked like she would be useful to Konoha...if they could get her trained, that is.

"Would you mind if we tested our your abilities?" asked Tsunade.

"Sure...but I don't have my keys...I can't really do much without them..." noted Lucy.

"Then show us what you have." explained the Fifth Hokage.

Shrugging, Lucy agreed to let Tsunade test our her combat potential.

"I wonder what happened to my keys..." thought the mage.

_Oh dear...it looks Lucy and Naruto are both stranded in each other's universes...but what happened to Lucy Heartfilia's keys? It looks like something strange happened when Naruto used that interdimensional portal after Lucy did..._

_In the next chapter...Lucy and Naruto's battle prowess is going to get tested...and they're going to go on missions. Hooray!_


	2. Chapter 2: Off To Work

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...we're going to see our heroes in action...that's what you want, right? And yes, our heroes will be undertaking missions...missions for the good of Fiore and for the good of Konoha...sound good? Heh heh...I kill myself sometimes._

**Chapter 2: Off To Work**

"So, this is your battling arena?" asked Naruto curiously as he stepped into the arena.

"Yes...whenever we want to test our our abilities...we pay this arena a visit." explained Makarov.

"Are there any instructions?" asked the ninja.

Makarov handed Naruto the enclosed instruction book.

"Let's see now..." read Naruto.

DO NOT KILL EACH OTHER IN THE ARENA. THAT IS EVIL.

"Right...wouldn't want to be a murderer..." noted the ninja.

DO NOT BLOW UP THE ARENA WITH YOUR MAGIC. THAT IS EVIL.

"OK...I won't do that either." noted Naruto.

DO NOT USE UNFORGIVABLE CURSES ON YOUR OPPONENT. THAT IS EVIL.

"What are unforgivable curses?" inquired the ninja.

"They're magic spells that have been banned by Fairy Tail...for some reason dark guilds love them." explained Makarov.

Makarov handed Naruto a list detailing the spells that were not allowed to be used by Fairy Tail mages while battling in the arena.

"There's a spell that can make people's heads explode?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yes...we're not allowed to use that spell in the arena since we're not allowed to kill people...besides, it takes forever to clean up." noted Makarov.

"Sheesh..." noted the teenage boy.

Naruto continued reading the instructions.

DO NOT SUMMON AN ARMY OF DEMONS TO LAY WASTE TO YOUR ENEMIES. THAT IS EVIL.

"An army of demons?" asked the boy curiously.

"They'd inevitably lay waste to Fiore..." explained Makarov.

Naruto continued reading the instructions once again.

DO NOT CHEAT IN ARENA MATCHES. THAT IS...BAD SPORTMANSHIP.

"OK, I think I've memorized the rules." explained Naruto.

Makarov nodded, and the ninja stepped into the arena.

Sure enough, there were a lot of people in the audience. Naruto began to feel a bit nervous. Apparently they were all looking forward to this.

Oddly enough, most of these people were those that he had encountered earlier back when he had ended up falling through the interdimensional portal...this naturally included Natsu, Gray, Happy, and Levy.

Curiously enough, as it turned out, Makarov was the announcer.

"Greetings! Today is the day we're going to test our newest recruit's abilities to see how he would fare on a mission...I'm your host and your guildmaster, Makarov!" exclaimed the old man.

"Funny...wasn't he with me a few minutes ago?" inquired Naruto.

"Testing out our abilities is none other than our champion, Erza Scarlet!" exclaimed the old man.

Erza Scarlet waved to the audience as she stepped in the arena.

"Wait, you're their champion?" asked Naruto.

"Pretty much." explained the knight in shining armor.

Naruto sweatdropped. Did he get himself into a fight that he could not possibly win? Then again, this was meant to simply be a test run for his abilities...

Strangely enough, the referee turned out to be none other than Makarov's grandson, Laxus.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

"Right then...hit me with your best shot." explained Erza.

"This is going to be fun to watch..." noted Gray.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to summon as many of his clones as he could to help him defeat Erza...which were quite a few indeed.

"Interesting..." noted Erza. Apparently, Naruto had the ability to create copies of himself.

"How do I tell the copies apart?" questioned Natsu.

Gray shrugged. They all appeared to look the same.

Unfortunately for Naruto, as it turned out, Erza was able to cut through the clones like butter. They all exploded into white smoke upon contact with them.

The teenage ninja sighed. He was hoping that they would last a bit longer...but apparently they weren't a match for Erza's swords.

"Right then...anything else?" asked the magic knight.

Curious, Naruto felt something in his pocket.

"Huh?" asked the teenage boy.

He immediately reached into his pocket, and discovered that there was a golden key inside.

"How did that get there?" inquired Naruto.

Erza raised an eyebrow. That golden key looked surprisingly identical to the zodiac keys Lucy used to summon her Celestial Spirits.

Unfortunately, this caused Happy to believe that Naruto was a key thief, and he immediately decided to take action.

"Yah!" exclaimed Happy.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Immediately, Happy attached himself to Naruto's face.

"Get off!" demanded the teenage boy.

"Give those zodiac keys back to Lucy, you bandit!" bellowed Happy.

Laxus raised an eyebrow.

"Happy, didn't you read the instructions before you came to spectate the match?" asked Laxus.

"Huh?" inquired Happy.

Laxus immediately handed Happy the instruction pamphlet, who promptly detached himself from Naruto's face.

NO AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION. THAT IS CRAZY.

Happy sweatdropped.

"But he's a key thief!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"I'm innocent! They just showed up in my pocket out of nowhere..." explained Naruto.

Levy raised an eyebrow.

Curious, she decided to head back to the interdimensional portal room to see if she could investigate the matter further.

"Where are you going?" asked Mirajane.

"I need to investigate the interdimensional portal...I'm starting to think that there's something at work here..." explained Levy.

"OK..." answered the attractive mage.

Deciding to put the golden key back into his pocket so that he could use it earlier, Naruto decided that he wanted to show off to the audience.

Shrugging, he decided to use his Sexy Jutsu.

"Here I go!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto used his Sexy Jutsu to transform into a woman wearing a skimpy devil's outfit...which caused the audience to gasp in shock.

Happy, who was standing a few feet away from Naruto, ended up fainting.

"My nose is bleeding!" screamed Natsu.

"Mine too!" bellowed Gray.

Sure enough, Laxus was doing his best to look away, while Makarov's face had turned pale as a sheet.

However, much to Naruto's surprise, Erza did not seem phased at all.

"Trying to seduce me, are you? Well, two can play at that game!" exclaimed the magical knight.

Suddenly, Erza used her Requip Armor to swap armors. As it turns out, she had chose to put on her Seduction Armor.

Immediately, the sorceress began to pose seductively for Naruto.

Once again, Gray and Natsu's noses began to bleed.

"I think I'm going to need to go to the hospital...I can't stop the bleeding!" exclaimed Gray.

"I feel faint..." answered Natsu.

Immediately, Naruto dropped his jaw in shock, and transformed back into his original form.

Shortly afterwards, he collapsed on the floor.

"I can't believe it...I got beaten at my own game..." said the ninja.

Naruto was paralyzed with shock.

Immediately, the referee began to count to ten.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!" exclaimed Laxus.

Suffice to say, Naruto was down for the count.

"And the winner is...Erza!" bellowed the lightning mage.

Erza smiled in satisfaction while a stretcher came to pick up Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, you want me to whip this dummy?" asked Lucy.

"That's the idea, yes." nodded Tsunade.

Immediately, Lucy whipped the dummy as hard as she could, causing it to collapse.

"Not too bad." noted the Fifth Hokage.

Another dummy appeared to take the destroyed dummy's place.

"Anything else you'd like to show us?" asked Tsunade.

"I'd be able to show off a lot more if I still had my keys..." noted Lucy.

Suddenly, she felt the strange urge to try creating a copy of herself.

Shrugging, Lucy decided to give it a shot...and much to her surprise, she succeeded.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the mage.

Sure enough, she had created an identical clone of herself.

"Funny, it feels like I'm looking at myself in the mirror..." noted the teenage girl.

Curious, Lucy decided to see if her clone would follow her commands...which she did.

Once again, she managed to destroy a dummy with the clone's assistance, who disappeared shortly afterwards.

As before, another dummy appeared.

"Hmm..." thought Lucy. Was there anything else she could without her keys?

She suddenly began to feel the urge to rub her hands together.

"First the clone, and now this...hmm..." inquired the mage.

Shrugging, she decided to follow her instinct once again.

Much to her surprise, a ball of blue energy began to appear in her hands.

"What the-" said Lucy.

Tsunade (who had a moment ago been drinking a delicious smoothie) spat out her drink in surprise.

Shrugging, Lucy decided to toss the strange ball of energy at the dummy...which annihilated it.

"Sheesh..." noted the girl.

Lucy began to scratch her head. Ever since she had used that interdimensional portal, she had been feeling rather strange.

But on the plus side, she did feel a lot stronger than before, so at least that was something.

"So how did the training go?" asked Shikamaru.

Tsunade explained what Lucy had managed to pull off.

"She used the Rasengan?!" exclaimed the ninja.

"I'm as impressed as you are..." explained Tsunade.

Lucy sweatdropped. Just how did she suddenly get so strong?

"Did that interdimensional portal affect my body or something?" inquired the mage.

"Well, I think your training has gone well...would you like to go on a mission? Mind you, since you're just starting out as a ninja you're going to have to work your way to the top...though I suppose you probably won't need a test from a jonin since you can use the Rasengan." explained Tsunade.

She found it bewildering that Lucy was capable of doing such a thing. How did she pull it off? It took the Fourth Hokage three years to pull off such a technique.

It was if as if Lucy was somehow a ninja from the future, as impossible as that sounded. But she appeared to have traveled across space instead of time.

"A mission?" asked Lucy curiously. That sounded rather interesting.

Shikamaru immediately escorted Lucy to the mission board where she could accept missions.

"You know, it's funny..." explained the mage.

"What is?" asked Shikamaru.

"There's a mission board just like this back at my guild...that happen to have letter ranks just like these..." explained Lucy.

"Oh..." realized the shadow ninja.

"Yeah...it's weird...then again, I've been having a pretty weird day." noted the mage.

"I would imagine so." nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, he began to yawn.

"Well, time for my afternoon nap..." noted the ninja as he looked for a bed.

"Hmm...what should I choose?" questioned Lucy.

Shrugging, she decided to do some D-Rank Missions...which as it turned out, were rather trivial tasks.

After scrubbing a toilet, mopping a floor, watering some plants, painting a wall, and looking after a dog (which belonged to a certain ninja that liked to wear a coat), Lucy decided she wanted something more challenging.

"I guess I'll take a C-Rank Mission..." noted Lucy.

As it turned out, there was a wanted poster on the mission board which featured a mugshot of a wanted criminal.

Apparently, his name was Takeshi, and he had been throwing kunai at innocent people for kicks.

"What's a kunai?" inquired Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy Heartfilia noticed that there was a nearby handbook detailing what a ninja needed to know.

"So...kunai are knives? That makes sense..." noted the mage.

Putting away the handy ninja handbook where she found it, Lucy Heartfilia decided to hunt him down.

According to the mugshot, he had black hair and was wearing a black shirt that read "I Being Evil" with a heart between the I and Being as well as a pair of black pants that were stained with blood. He also tended to smile a lot. Was he some sort of psycho?

Strangely enough, he happened to be right outside the building where Lucy had managed to obtain her mission.

"How ironic..." thought Lucy.

Unfortunately for Lucy, Takeshi noticed her first.

"I'm going to kill you!" squealed the deranged maniac.

Immediately, he tossed a kunai at Lucy's face.

Thankfully, he missed by a country mile.

In retaliation, Lucy began to whip him into submission.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Unfortunately, he managed to push Lucy over, and he pulled out another kunai to stab Lucy in her beautiful face.

"I'm going to stab you in the face!" squealed the psycho.

"Let's hope not..." thought Lucy.

Fortunately, she managed to grab onto his arm, and began to charge up a Rasengan.

"Let go of my arm so I can kill you!" bellowed Takeshi.

"Since you asked nicely...no." answered Lucy.

Lucy Heartfilia hit Takeshi with her Rasengan, and he immediately fell on the floor, unconscious.

She then dragged the wanted criminal to Tsunade's office, who was rather happy to see him.

"Thank goodness...now he won't hurt any more innocent people..." noted Tsunade.

Lucy Heartfilia smiled in satisfaction. Lucky for her, she was getting paid for her services. Then again, she was already rich in her world.

However, Tsunade pointed out something to her that she hadn't noticed.

"By the way, you might want to wash that dress of yours..." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Curious, Lucy Heartfilia looked down, and discovered that Takeshi had pushed her into a mud puddle during their scuffle.

"Well, at least my clothing didn't get ripped for a change..." shrugged Lucy.

Immediately, she went to the nearest clothline so that she could wash her dress.

Thankfully, she was wearing her pink tube top and a pair of shorts underneath, so she didn't have to worry about wandering around Konoha in her underwear...though she was probably going to get some fanboys nonetheless.

After washing it for a few minutes to make sure the mud was gone, Lucy Heartfilia put her dress on the clothesline.

Suddenly, a young boy approached her.

"Hey there, Naruto! Is this some sort of new sexy jutsu of yours? You look awesome!" exclaimed the boy.

Lucy Heartfilia's cheeks turned red. Did he just call her sexy?

"Can I help you?" asked the girl.

"I'm impressed! You've got to teach me it some time!" bellowed the preteen boy.

"What is your name?" asked the summoner mage curiously.

Konohamaru sweatdropped.

"Don't you remember? My name is Konohamaru! You should know that! I'm your apprentice!" bellowed the ninja.

"About that...I think you've gotten me mixed up with someone else." inquired Lucy.

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow.

"If you're not Naruto, then where is he? I've been looking all over for him!" exclaimed Naruto's apprentice.

"I'm afraid he's somewhere far far away..." explained Lucy.

"Really? Then let me know where I can find him! I've been looking all over Konoha!" bellowed Konohamaru.

"Sorry to hear that." answered the mage.

Suddenly, Konohamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a minute...if you're not Naruto, then why do you have his jinchuriki mark on your stomach?" asked the apprentice.

"Huh?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Lucy Heartfilia looked into the river she had used to wash her dress a few minutes ago, and discovered she now had a jinchuriki mark on her abdomen.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed the mage. Was the interdimensional portal working its magic again?

Curious, Lucy decided to consult Tsunade on the matter to see what was going on.

_Well, this is a bit of a twist, isn't it? It looks like Lucy is now the jinchuriki for a certain ferocious fox...of course, that means Naruto's finally free of the horrible curse...though he's probably going to have mixed feeling about it._

_In the next chapter, we're going to learn a bit more about the interdimensional portal that Lucy and Naruto have both used...are you curious?_


	3. Chapter 3: Magical Oddities

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, we're going to learn a bit about the interdimensional portal as I promised...and why Lucy Heartfilia now has Naruto's nine-tailed fox and why Naruto Uzumaki now has Lucy's keys._

_Sound good?_

**Chapter 3: Magical Oddities**

After recovering from Erza's Seduction Armor, Naruto left Fairy Tail's infirmary, where as it turned out, his new friends were waiting for him.

"Are you OK?" asked Natsu.

"I have to admit...Erza's seduction armor really did a number on you..." noted Gray.

"Yeah...I'm starting to wonder if I could have died." nodded Naruto.

"My name is Natsu. Pleased to meet you!" exclaimed the fire dragon slayer, shaking Naruto's right hand.

"And my name is Gray." said the ice mage, shaking Naruto's left hand.

"Thank you. You should probably know what my name is, right? I said it out loud in front of everyone since your guildmaster asked so nicely..." explained Naruto.

"It's true, you did..." noted Gray.

"Hey there." said Erza.

Immediately, Naruto began to beg Erza for mercy.

"Oh my gosh! Please don't use that seduction armor on me again, Erza! I nearly went insane!" bellowed Naruto.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Erza. Was her seduction armor really that effective?

"Then again I did use that sexy jutsu to try to seduce you..." noted the ninja.

"True..." noted the magic knight.

Immediately, the ninja began to wonder why Erza was immune to it.

"Hmm..." thought Naruto. Was there something about her that she wished to tell him?

"So, is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself?" asked the knight.

"Well, I have a nine-tailed fox living inside me..." said Naruto.

Gray and Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" asked Gray.

"Yeah...it's right inside my stomach...there's a mark on my stomach so that you can see where it is..." explained Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto lifted his shirt to show them his jinchuriki mark.

However, much to his surprise, his new friends did not seem to notice it.

"Um, Naruto...I don't see any mark like that." explained Erza.

"Huh?" asked the teenage boy.

Curious, Naruto decided to look in a mirror...and much to his astonishment, the jinchuriki mark had disappeared.

"Where did it go?" asked the ninja.

Immediately, Naruto began to wonder where the nine-tailed fox had gone. Had it somehow left his body and gone elsewhere?

If so, he began to wonder if it was rampaging at a populated city...he shuddered at the very thought.

"Where is my nine-tailed fox?!" bellowed Naruto.

Gray and Natsu sweatdropped.

"Take it easy, Naruto...what's so important about it? Is it your pet?" inquired Erza.

"It could destroy an entire city! It's a bloodthirsty monster! I should know...I've had it inside my body for my whole life...and it wants to kill me!" exclaimed the ninja.

"OK..." answered the knight in shining armor. That certainly didn't sound good.

At that very moment, Makarov came in.

"Guildmaster!" exclaimed Natsu and Gray.

"Naruto, can Levy and I talk to you?" asked Makarov.

"Sure..." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto followed Makarov to where the interdimensional portal was.

"Did you get it operating again?" asked the genin.

"Not yet unfortunately..." answered Levy.

"Aww..." complained Naruto.

"However, I did manage to gather some information about it..." explained the intelligent mage.

"Hmm?" inquired the ninja.

"Apparently, if you use the same interdimensional portal as someone else at around the same time...you'll acquire some of their traits...as well as their abilities." explained Levy.

"Huh?" asked Naruto curiously.

Makarov gave Naruto a profile of Lucy Heartfilia.

"Hmm...funny, she happens to look a lot like me..." noted the ninja curiously.

"I actually didn't notice that before..." acknowledged the guildmaster.

Naruto immediately noticed that Lucy specialized in summon magic and wielded several zodiac keys...which naturally explained what was in his pocket.

"So...what you're saying is...I'm going to become her spitting image?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Not necessarily..." answered Levy. "But you're going to have more in common with her than a stranger, I can tell you that."

"I see..." nodded Naruto.

Curious, Naruto noticed that there was now a strange mark on the back of his right hand.

"This is freaking me out..." noted the ninja.

"I suppose you're going to have to spend some time getting used to it..." noted Levy.

"Yeah..." nodded the genin.

"Does this mean he's officially a member of Fairy Tail now?" asked the genius mage.

"I...guess." nodded Makarov. What else was he going to do now that he had the official guild mark on the back of his palm? Tell him that he was some sort of imposter?

Naruto smiled. At least now he could help Fairy Tail out for a change...though admittedly he began to wonder how Konoha was doing without him.

"I sure hope it hasn't been thrown in chaos...did Lucy Heartfilia somehow inherit my tailed beast?" noted the genin.

If so, he was starting to feel sorry for her.

_Meanwhile..._

"Excuse me! Fifth Hokage! I've got something I need to tell you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Tsunade.

"It's this mark that's appeared on my stomach...I think there's something sinister about it..." explained the mage.

"Let me see..." explained the Fifth Hokage.

Immediately, Lucy showed Tsunade her stomach, who seemed a bit surprised.

"Oh dear...that's the same exact seal that Naruto had after his parents sealed the nine-tailed fox inside him..." explained the leader of Konoha.

"What?" inquired Lucy curiously.

"You claim that he went into the interdimensional portal right after you did, right?" asked the Fifth Hokage.

"Yes..." explained the mage.

"Well, apparently you've inherited his tailed beast because of it..." spoke Tsunade.

"His what?" inquired Lucy.

"Basically, you have a giant monster fox inside you." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"This is bad..." noted the mage.

"Not to worry though...you should be safe...so long as you keep that fox inside of you..." explained Tsunade.

"How do I do that?" asked Lucy.

"Well, that seal was designed specifically to keep it in...as long as you stay relaxed, it shouldn't weaken." said the Fifth Hokage.

"That's a relief..." noted the summoner mage.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" asked Tsunade.

"That's it, really." spoke Lucy.

At that very moment, somebody started knocking on the door.

"Should I let them in?" asked the teenage girl curiously.

Tsunade nodded.

Immediately, Lucy Heartfilia opened the door.

As it turned out, it was none other than Hinata Hyuga. She looked rather panic-stricken, and her face was even paler than usual.

"Lady Tsunade! This is an emergency!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Does it involve Naruto?" asked Tsunade curiously.

"Yes it does! It's as if he's completely disappeared off the face of the earth!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yeah...about that...I'm afraid he literally has disappeared off the face of the earth." explained Lucy.

"What?!" bellowed Hinata.

"He used an interdimensional portal...and well, it disappeared." continued the mage.

"He used an interdimensional portal?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yep...I'm afraid he's going to be stuck in my world for a while..." said Lucy.

Hinata Hyuga fainted. Apparently, the idea of Naruto being trapped in an alternate dimension was too much for her.

"Oh dear..." noted Lucy. Was she going to be alright?

Fortunately, two helpful medical ninja picked up Hinata and put her on a stretcher to take her to the infirmary.

"I hope I didn't give her a heart attack..." noted the mage. She was starting to feel rather guilty.

"That was Hinata Hyuga...Naruto's known her since they were children." explained Tsunade.

"Gosh..." noted the mage.

"Is there any way for us for you to get home?" inquired the Fifth Hokage.

"I suppose you could do that if you found a way to make an interdimensional portal..." explained Lucy.

"I suppose I could work on a jutsu like that..." answered Tsunade.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy Heartfilia left the Fifth Hokage's office.

"Well, hopefully I can find a way back to my world...however long that takes." she thought. Personally she began to wonder if her friends were trying to bring her back.

"I would like to think they're doing that..." explained Lucy.

Of course, she did have to worry about the nine-tailed fox that was now inside her. Was it going to emerge from her body and cause chaos in Fiore? She was inevitably going to have to tell her guildmates about it if she ever got back to her guild.

"The Fifth Hokage did say that it should stay inside my body so long as I stay relaxed..." said Lucy.

"I'm a lady...I can keep my emotions under control...right?"

Shrugging, she decided to head back to the mission board to see if there were any more missions...

...when suddenly she noticed that Shikamaru was sitting at a table nearby with a bored look on his face.

Curious, she decided to go visit him to see if she could cheer him up.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Lucy.

"I don't have somebody to play shogi with today..." said Shikamaru.

"Really? That's too bad." noted the mage.

"Yeah..." nodded the jonin.

"Who are your friends, anyway?" asked Lucy curiously.

Shikamaru immediately handed Lucy a picture showing her his teammates and his teacher...which in this case were Ino, Choji, and Asuma Sarutobi respectively.

"Those are your friends?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah...the blonde is named Ino...the boy in the red coat is named Choji...and the man standing with them is my sensei, Asuma Sarutobi." explained Shikamaru.

"That's good to know...but where are they? You said that they were all too busy to play with you..." inquired the jinchuriki.

"Well, Ino's off shopping, Choji's at an eating contest...and my sensei's off on a date with his girlfriend." said the teenage boy.

"His girlfriend?" asked Lucy.

"He's on a date with Kurenai...who oddly enough happens to be a jonin as well." explained Shikamaru.

"Does she have her own team of ninja too?" inquired the genin.

"Yeah...though ironically enough, now that I think of it... two of them happened to be boys and only one of them was a girl...weird..." noted Shikamaru.

"That is kind of funny..." spoke Lucy.

"I know..." nodded Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Lucy had an idea.

"Do you want me to play shogi with you?" inquired the mage.

"Huh? Um, sure...you'll need to know how to play though." explained Shikamaru.

Thankfully, the shadow ninja happened to have an instruction book on hand.

"Interesting..." noted Lucy.

After memorizing how to play Shogi, Lucy and Shikamaru began to play with each other.

Much to the latter's surprise, Lucy proved to be a challenging opponent.

"Are you sure this is your first time playing?" asked Shikamaru.

"Maybe I'm a fast learner?" questioned Lucy.

"Maybe..." answered the ninja.

Shikamaru and Lucy kept at it for a while, both taking control of their opponent's pieces and using them against each other.

But eventually...

...Lucy Heartfilia came on top.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

"Wow...you actually managed to beat me..." spoke Shikamaru.

"Do you want to play another game?" asked the mage.

"Actually, I think I've got news to tell to my friends..." explained the jonin.

"Hmm?" inquired Lucy.

"Nobody's beaten me at shogi before..." continued Shikamaru.

"What?" inquired the summoner mage curiously.

"I suppose I shouldn't be complaining though...the game was starting to get a bit boring." noted the shadow ninja.

"Wow..." murmured Lucy.

As it turned out, Ino and Choji weren't far away...in fact, they appeared to be having some sort of picnic.

"This ramen is delicious..." noted Choji.

"It sure is a nice day today, isn't it?" questioned Ino.

"It sure is." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

Immediately, Shikamaru ran up to them. Shrugging, Lucy decided to follow him.

"Hey there, Shikamaru! How are you doing today?" inquired Ino curiously.

Choji continued slurping the ramen noodles...but he waved to Shikamaru nonetheless.

"I got beaten at a game of shogi..." explained Shikamaru.

Choji spat out some ramen sauce.

"What?! That's impossible!" exclaimed the teenage boy.

"You've got to be kidding me! You're like a wizard at that game!" bellowed Ino.

"Well, there's a first time for everything." explaioned Shikamaru.

"Who managed to pull it off?!" bellowed Choji.

"Oh...that...it's my new friend, Lucy." said the jonin.

"Hi?" asked Lucy curiosly.

Choji and Ino gasped in astonishment.

"You must be a supergenius or something!" bellowed Ino.

"Are you some sort of goddess?" asked Choji.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"I guess I've finally found somebody that can rival me at Shogi..." noted Shikamaru.

"Yeah...I guess..." questioned the summoner mage.

Now that she thought of it, her guildmates did say that she was rather smart...did she really have a genius IQ?

"Hmm..." thought Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Choji was eating some ramen noodles...and all of a sudden, she got the urge to try them.

"Can I have some of those?" asked the Fairy Tail mage.

Choji nodded.

Immediately, Lucy Heartfilia began to eat some of the noodles...and found them to be delicious!

"Oh my gosh! Do you know where I can find some more?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...just look for a restaurant." explained Ino.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the mage.

"Gosh...who would have thought that she would love ramen so much?" inquired Choji.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Funny, wasn't that Naruto's favorite food?" asked the shadow ninja.

Ino raised an eyebrow.

"I know...weird." questioned Ino.

_Meanwhile..._

After Makarov had officially accepted him as a member of Fairy Tail (or at least until he could find a way home), Naruto decided it was time to do some missions of Fairy Tail.

Oddly enough, they happened to much like the missions back in Konoha.

"Deja vu..." thought the ninja.

For some reason, as it turned out, the world of Fiore had been infested with beasts as of late...ranging from goblins, ogres, orcs, trolls, and the like.

Then again, he did seem to be in some sort of fairy-tale world, considering that everybody and their mother in said world could use magic, him included.

"Sheesh..." questioned Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to start out with the goblins...since they were apparently on a threat when they gathered together in large numbers.

Sure enough, he spotted a goblin making off with a man's wallet.

"Hey!" bellowed the unfortunate man.

The goblin laughed, and began to run away.

Thankfully, Naruto was able to catch him using one of his clones.

"Thanks." said the man, who gave Naruto some jewels.

"You're welcome." noted the ninja.

Curious, he began to wonder if they had a village somewhere where they came up with all their evil plans...then again, according to the creature compendium book he found next to the mission board, goblins were rather dumb.

As it turned out, one of the missions requested that he destroy one of their villages.

"Sounds rather simple..." questioned Naruto.

Immediately, the ninja began to look for one of them. How hard could finding one possible be?

"I have to admit, it's nice having a new career...though I'm already starting to miss my old one..." noted Naruto.

Hopefully, he would be able to get back home soon before he got too homesick.

"Well, off to work I go." said the ninja.

_Surprise surprise! Lucy's managed to defeat Shikamaru at his own game...then again, Erza managed to do the same with Naruto...so..._

_In the next chapter...well, we're going to see some more humor...but at the same time we're also going to see something scary..._

_Intrigued?_


	4. Chapter 4: A Mysterious Visitor

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, well, we're going to see Naruto destroy a goblin village...hopefully the little buggers will leave Fiore be for a while..._

_Also, Lucy and Shikamaru are going to have an...accident. Heh heh._

_And yes, something scary is going to happen in this chapter...you've been warned._

**Chapter 4: A Mysterious Visitor**

As it turned out, there was a goblin village located near the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"What are they up to?" questioned Naruto curiously.

Apparently, they were planning to invade Fiore so that they could pillage it.

"That's not good..." thought the boy. Why did goblins hate the citizens of Fiore so much? Was it something they did?

He usre hoped that they could settle their differences one day.

"There's got to be something I could do about all this..." said Naruto. The less goblins attacking Fiore, the better.

Curious, Naruto decided to pull out one of the keys that Lucy Heartfilia had generously provided him when she used the same interdimensional portal as he did. One of them would able to do the trick, right?

"Let's see now..." said the ninja.

Immediately, he noticed that this particular key had a crest on it. with two parallel waves stamped on its bow. The blade of the key happened to be shaped just like a mermaid tail.

Shrugging, he decided to try out one of the golden keys to see if he could summon anything.

Curious, Naruto noticed that on the back of the key it read "Open The Gate Of The Water Bearer, Aquarius."

"Is this some sort of summoning chant?" asked the ninja curiously.

By the looks of it, was.

"Here goes nothing." said Naruto.

Naruto recited what it said on the back of the key, and much to his surprise, one of Lucy's summons appeared...in this case, it was Aquarius.

Noticing how attractive his summon looked, Naruto's cheeks began to turn red.

"Lucy's a lucky girl..." thought Naruto.

Unfortunately, Aquarius was not amused with him looking at her that way.

She immediately slapped Naruto in the face.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the ninja, who began rubbing his cheek.

"Pervert..." said the water summon.

"I can't help it! My sensei is a pervert! Girls mean everything to him! I inherited it from him!" screamed Naruto.

"Maybe I should have a talk with him then..." questioned Aquarius.

"I'm afraid he's all the way in an alternate world..." explained Naruto.

"What?" inquired the water summon.

"Anyways...can you give me a hand? I need to destroy this village so that the goblins don't terrorize Fiore..." explained Naruto.

"Why should I?" inquired the water summon.

At that very moment, Aquarius noticed that there was a goblin next to her...that happened to be drooling.

Furious, Aquarius punched the goblin in the face, knocking him out cold.

"OK, you have me convinced." said the mermaid.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Was that really all it took?

Aquarius immediately summoned a tidal wave...that flooded the goblin village and brought the goblins to their knees.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"You're welcome...and just to let you know, I already have a boyfriend." explained Aquarius.

"No wonder..." said the ninja.

Aquarius slapped Naruto in the face once more.

"Oww..." said the unfortunate genin.

The mermaid then disappeared in a surge of yellow light.

"Well, off to tell my guildmates that the mission was a success." noted Naruto.

Much to his delight, Naruto ended up getting paid...with jewels.

"Hmm...I wonder what I should buy with these..." questioned the ninja.

At that very moment, his guildmates came to visit him.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Was the mission a success?" inquired Erza.

"Yes, it was...I summoned a mermaid and she flooded the entire village..." explained the ninja.

"Why are there so many goblins in Fiore, anyway?" questioned Gray.

"Yeah...I know..." nodded Natsu.

"Good to see you're helping to get rid of them..." noted Erza.

"Heh heh...yeah..." nodded Naruto.

At that very moment, Cana came in.

"Hey there! Did you hear the news?" asked the alcohol lover curiously.

"What is it?" asked Erza curiously.

"We have a new recruit..." explained the card mage.

"Interesting..." spoke the knight in shining armor.

Curious, Naruto, Erza, Gray, and Natsu began to investigate. Sure enough, the newest recruit for Fairy Tail was standing next to several other Fairy Tail guild members.

Suddenly, Happy attached himself to Naruto's face again.

"Give those keys back to Lucy!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"I'm innocent! Ask Levy if you don't believe me!" bellowed the genin.

Curious, Happy decided to ask Levy on the matter.

As it turned out, this recruit happened to be female, and was dressed in purple robes. She had black hair and orange eyes.

"Greetings..." said the newest recruit.

"What is her name?" asked Naruto curiously.

"It's Chiyoye..." explained Levy.

"Pleased to meet you..." spoke the ninja as he shook her hand.

Oddly, Naruto felt a sense of dread as he did so...was she hiding something from him?

"This is Naruto. He's our second-newest recruit...who happens to be from an alternate world...I really need to be more careful with interdimensional magic..." spoke Levy.

"It's OK, Levy..." answered Naruto.

Oddly enough, the genin noticed Chiyoye smiling when she said that...causing him to raise an eyebrow.

Shortly afterwards, the mysterious mage headed to her personal chambers.

"Hmm..." thought Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided that he wanted to take a nap...when he realized that he did not yet have a place to call his own.

Curious, he decided to consult the guildmaster on the subject.

"Excuse me..." said Naruto.

"Hmm?" inquired Makarov.

"I think I'm going to need a place to stay until we manage to get the interdimensional portal fixed..." explained the ninja.

"Well, so long as you don't go around trashing the place...I suppose you could use Lucy's apartment..." said the guildmaster.

"Really?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yeah...just tell the landlady I sended you and what's currently happening..." explained Makarov.

Naruto nodded.

Thankfully, Lucy's landlady was friendly towards the ninja and allowed him to stay at Lucy's residence until things were straightened out.

"I have to admit...she sure has a nice place." noted the ninja. Personally he wished that he had an apartment like this.

Shrugging, he decided to lie in bed and think about what was currently happening.

"I have to admit, this has been a rather crazy day." noted Naruto.

He began to wonder how his friends were doing without him...they certainly were going to miss him, weren't they?

"I hope they're doing OK..." thought the genin.

He also began to wonder how his interdimensional partner was doing...was she adapting to a new world like he was?

"I feel guilty for getting her into this..." noted Naruto.

Hopefully she could go back to her world and he could go back to his soon.

_Meanwhile..._

After pigging out on ramen, Lucy decided to play another game of Shogi with Shikamaru. She had to admit, she had enjoyed her last game with him, even if she hadn't actually played that particular game before.

"Your move." said Lucy.

"Fine by me." answered Shikamaru as he moved one of his pieces.

Once again, she proved to be a surprisingly difficult opponent for him, though this time he managed to win.

"Good game. How about another?" asked Shikamaru.

"Sure!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, as it turned out, they had more pressing matters at the moment than a game of Shogi.

Suddenly, somebody threw a kunai at the table they were playing Shogi at.

"Huh?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Lucy looked around, and sighed.

"Not you again..." said the summoner mage. Once again, she was going to have to take down a bloodthirsty lunatic.

As it turned out, it was none other than Takeshi...despite the fact that Lucy had turned him into the authorities not too long ago. How did he manage to escape? Did he go down a sewer pipe? Did he dig his way out? Did he bribe a guard?

"I'm going to kill you...and your boyfriend too!" exclaimed Takeshi. By the looks of it, he wanted revenge.

Lucy sweatdropped. Did he just say that Shikamaru was her boyfriend? At the moment she was still single.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, Takeshi had brought paper bombs with him this time.

"I'm going to blow you to bits!" squealed the psychopath.

Immediately, Takeshi threw a paper bomb to blow Lucy and Shikamaru to smithereens...who promptly jumped out of the way.

"What is this guy's problem?" asked Shikamaru.

"I wish I knew." answered the mage. Something told her that he was in need of some serious therapy.

"Should we take him to the asylum?" asked Lucy.

"Definitely." nodded Shikamaru. The sooner he got help, the better.

Immediately, the Nara clan member used his Shadow Imitation Technique to restrain Takeshi, much to his frustration.

"Let go of my shadow so I can kill you!" exclaimed the ferocious ninja.

"Do we have him?" asked Lucy.

"I think so. Attack him while he's still restrained, will you? I can't maintain this jutsu forever." nodded Shikamaru.

Lucy suddenly felt the urge to press her palm against the ground.

"Is this another jutsu?" inquired the summoner curiously.

Deciding to give in to her instinct, she did so, causing a variety of animals to appear.

"Hmm?" inquired the summoner mage curiously. Apparently, she didn't need her keys to summon things anymore.

As it turned out, the animals were all hers to command, as they all gave her a military salute.

Shrugging, Lucy ordered them to attack Takeshi...which they did.

"Uh-oh..." thought the deranged ninja as the animals began to approach him.

Immediately, squirrels began to enter the maniac's pants.

"I've got squirrels in my pants! And they're eating my underwear!" screamed Takeshi.

Lucy's cheeks turned red.

A wolf immediately sank his teeth into Takeshi's leg.

"My leg!" bellowed the ninja.

A bird began to peck Takeshi in the face.

"Get it off me!" bellowed the ninja.

"They sure are causing him a lot of pain, aren't they?" asked Shikamaru.

"I would imagine so..." noted Lucy. She was actually starting to feel a bit sorry for him. At this rate he was going to have to go to the hospital...then again, he probably needed to visit a doctor to begin with.

A spider hopped on top of Takeshi's hair, causing him to scream like a little girl.

"Help me!" screamed the helpless shinobi.

Lucy and Shikamaru sweatdropped.

A beaver sank his teeth into Takeshi's other leg.

"The pain!" exclaimed the ninja.

A turtle...well, he didn't actually do anything to Takeshi, oddly enough. But he did appear to be laughing at his expense.

To make a long story short, the evil ninja fainted, as he could not tolerate having so many animals attack him at once.

"That's a relief..." noted Shikamaru as he dispeled his shadow imitation technique.

"Sheesh...I feel kind of woozy..." spoke Lucy.

"That's because you need to use your blood to summon animals." explained the jonin.

"Oh...heh heh." said the mage. Apparently, she was going to need to use that in moderation so she didn't pass out.

Suddenly, due to her lightheadedness, Lucy Heartfilia lost her balance and fell...

...and ended up kissing Shikamaru Naru on the lips, much to their astonishment.

Immediately, realizing what had happened, Lucy distanced herself from the shadow ninja.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, I swear!" apologized Lucy. What had she done?

Fortunately, Shikamaru was rather forgiving of her, especially considering that she was a newcomer.

"It's OK...to be honest, I was starting to get worried that my first kiss was going to be Choji...he's been my best friend since the history of ever...and as you just saw, accidents can happen." explained the shadow ninja.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"Oddly enough that was my first kiss too..." explained the summoner mage, who began rubbing her hand behind her head.

Shikamaru sweatdropped.

Curious, Lucy noticed that it was getting rather late, and began to wonder where she was going to sleep.

"I'm tired..." noted the mage.

"Maybe you could use Naruto's apartment? Since he's trapped in an alternate world he's probably not going to use it for a while..." spoke Shikamaru.

"Yeah...maybe..." said Lucy.

Immediately, Shikamaru picked up Takeshi so that he could put him in a strait jacket and deliver him to Lady Tsunade...again.

Curious, Lucy headed to Naruto's apartment to see if the landlord would let her inside.

Thankfully, the landlord was sympathetic of her plight, and allowed her to stay.

"Thank goodness..." noted the summoner mage.

She had to admit, she was starting to wonder how this all started.

"I can't believe it...I actually got my first kiss in this strange world...talk about awkward." questioned Lucy.

She was actually beginning to like in this mysterious world, though she was beginning to wonder how her teammates are doing.

"They're doing just fine, right? They're not having a panic attack, are they?" inquired the mage.

Then again, she wouldn't be too surprised if they did.

"Well, off to bed I go." said Lucy.

_Meanwhile, a few miles away from Konoha..._

A young boy by the name of Yoshi Zetsubo was enjoying relaxing outside a forest. His parents had told him not to wander out too far, but he wasn't one to listen to directions.

Besides, it felt so refreshing outside. And he was a ninja-in-training, so surely he would have to venture outdoors for extended periods of time sooner or later, right?

Suddenly, he began to hear footsteps.

"Hmm? Is there someone there?" asked the boy. Was somebody coming to pick him up? He did admit that maybe he had been a bit too mischevious for his own good, and that his parents were likely starting to miss him.

At that very moment, a grim-looking ninja approached him, and he began to wonder who he was.

Curious, Yoshi looked at him, and noticed that he was dressed in jonin garb. Apparently, he was some sort of ninja.

However, his outfit was completely red instead of green and blue, and he was not wearing a headband, which he found to be peculiar. Apparently, he wasn't a Konoha ninja, which caused Yoshi to wonder what he was doing right outside it.

Also, he noticed that he had strange purple eyes, and had red hair. Did he have some kind of dojutsu? If so, he wondered what type of dojutsu it was. Was it the Byakugan? The Sharingan? He wasn't quite sure.

Immediately, Yoshi got the urge to run away from the mysterious man as something told him that he was a missing-nin...but since he was curious, he couldn't help but resist asking who the man was.

"Who...who are you?" asked the young boy.

The mysterious ninja decided to introduce himself, as a wide smile formed on his face.

"Who am I? Why, my name is Kenichi, the very ninja whose going to purify the world of the weak!" exclaimed the ninja.

"What?" asked Yoshi. He immediately became worried. That certainly didn't sound like anything good. What exactly did he mean by "purifying" the world of the weak?

Suddenly, Kenichi pulled out a kunai, much to the boy's horror.

"And you, my friend, are going to be helping me with this task!" bellowed the ninja.

Yoshi immediately screamed in horror upon realizing what he planned to do.

"No, please! Put down the kunai!" screamed the boy.

Yoshi saw Kenichi raise the kunai above his head...and then he saw nothing.

_Well, this ending for the chapter was a bit of a twist, wasn't it? I'm afraid this story isn't going to be all comedy...but I hope you enjoyed it anyway._

_In the next chapter, Naruto's going to go on a mission with his new friends...likewise, Lucy's going to do the same...heh heh._


	5. Chapter 5: Field Trip

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto and Team Natsu are going to enter a jungle...while Lucy and Team 10 are going to enter a desert...how about that?_

_And yes, we're going to see some more humor...don't worry, nobody's going to stab a child this time...though unfortunately we're going to be seeing more from Kenichi in upcoming chapters._

_But until then, I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Chapter 5: Field Trip**

Naruto woke up from his rather refreshing nap. Immediately, he left Lucy's apartment and went back to the Fairy Tail guild, which wasn't far away.

It was time for another day at work.

Immediately, he heard someone knocking on his door.

"Huh?" asked the ninja curiously.

As it turned out, it was none other than Happy.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to yell at me for taking Lucy's house, are you?" inquired the genin. Happy sure loved accusing him.

Happy shook his head.

"Hmm? You're not?" asked Naruto curiously.

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you...Levy explained everything! Wouldn't you know it?! You happen to be part of an alternate universe! That is crazy!" exclaimed Happy.

"Yeah...it sure is." nodded the genin.

"Anyways...to apologize for latching onto your face...twice...I'm going to give you this fish!" bellowed the Exceed.

"Sure." spoke Naruto.

Happy handed Naruto a rather large-looking fish and he happily consumed it.

"See you at Fairy Tail! Bye!" bellowed the cat.

"See you." nodded Naruto.

Speaking of which, Naruto headed to the guild to get another mission.

However, much to his pleasant surprise, Natsu, Gray, and Erza were getting a mission as well.

"Hmm?" asked the genin curiously.

Oddly enough, he also noticed that one of the mages of Fairy Tail had mysteriously disappeared...by the looks of it, he was a fairly new recruit.

"That's strange..." noted Naruto.

Curious, Naruto decided to ask Natsu, Gray, and Erza what mission they were taking together.

"Hmm? We're going on a mission into a jungle..." explained the knight in shining armor.

"A jungle?" asked the genin curiously.

"Yes, a jungle..." answered Gray.

"Can I come with?" inquired Naruto curiously. Maybe he could find a machete somewhere. He just hoped that people didn't think that he was Jason Voorhees. When was the last time he had worn a hockey mask? He didn't even play hockey.

"Um...sure, but be careful, Makarov said that there are dangerous creatures within the jungle." warned Natsu.

"I can live with that...but why does he want you to go into the jungle, anyway?" said Naruto.

"Our guildmaster said that he was planning on adding a shiny golden totem to his trophy hall...said that the natives would provide us with one if we gave them something in return..." explained Gray.

"Oh, really?" inquired the genin.

"Yeah...we're going to give them a pair of his old leg warmers." said Natsu.

"A pair of leg warmers?" inquired Naruto.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure." explained Erza.

"I see..." nodded the genin. "Where is this jungle, anyway?"

"It's a few miles south..." answered the knight.

"OK." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, the genin followed the three outside of the guild.

"Good luck out there! Don't forget to write!" exclaimed Happy, who waved the foursome goodbye.

Sure enough, within fifteen minutes, the jungle was in sight. There was in fact a sign reading "Welcome To The Jungle." right next to it.

"That was fast..." noted the genin.

"Yeah..." nodded Gray.

Curious, our heroes began to venture inside.

"Sheesh, it sure is hot in here..." noted Naruto.

"I don't feel it..." said Natsu.

"That's because you're a fire dragonslayer." explained Gray.

"Oh, yeah..." realized the fire mage.

Suffice to say, Erza was feeling it worst of all, since she was wearing a heavy suit of armor.

"Ugh..." murmured the knight in shining armor.

Curious, Naruto began to ask if she is alright.

"Are you okay venturing into this jungle in that armor of yours? It's pretty hot out here..." questioned the ninja.

"Hmm..." thought Erza.

On one hand, it was rather uncomfortable having to wear a suit of armor in the jungle. On the other hand...she didn't really feel comfortable not wearing armor either...

Curious, Naruto noticed that Gray was taking his shirt off.

"Why are you taking your shirt off?" asked Naruto curiously.

"I don't like wearing a shirt..." stated Gray.

"OK..." said the ninja.

"Yeah...he has a habit of taking his clothes off...I'm not quite sure why." explained Natsu.

"OK..." said Naruto again.

Curious, Erza noticed that Gray was taking his shirt off as well...and began to wonder what to do.

Finally, she came to a decision.

"Well, since I'm on a diplomatic mission..." said the knight in shining armor.

Shrugging, Erza removed her armor, which incidentally left her in a sarashi covering her chest as well as a pair of red pants. She then proceeded to kick off her shoes.

After fully removing her suit of armor, Erza let out a sigh of relief.

"I feel so much better now...even if I'm not wearing my armor anymore at the moment..." murmured the unarmored knight.

Naruto's face turned pink upon seeing Erza show off so much skin.

"Is something the matter, Naruto? Is the heat getting to you?" asked the S-Class mage.

"Nothing! I'm OK!" exclaimed the genin.

"If you say so." answered Erza.

Suddenly, an evil monkey latched onto Natsu's face.

"Get if off! Get it off!" demanded the fire mage.

"Deja vu..." said Naruto.

Fortunately, Gray was helpful towards Natsu and helped him remove the psychotic monkey from his face.

"Thanks." said the fire mage.

"You're welcome." answered the ice mage.

Suddenly, Naruto began to hear rustling in the nearby bushes.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

Immediately, a ferocious tiger pounced on top of Naruto.

"Aah!" screamed the genin.

Fortunately for Naruto, his friends managed to pull the tiger off of him before it did him too much harm. Unfortunately for Naruto...

...they were too late to stop the tiger from ripping off his shirt.

"My shirt!" bellowed Naruto in shock.

Unfortunately for the genin, the tiger had managed to tear his shirt to shreds. He wasn't going to be able to wear it anymore.

Naruto let out a sigh.

"I guess I'm going to the village shirtless..." said the ninja.

Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Wow...you've even managed to inherit Lucy's trait of suffering clothing damage..." said the knight in shining armor.

"You know about Lucy and I being interdimensional partners?" asked Naruto.

"Levy told us all about it..." explained Erza.

"So that's why my shirt got ripped off..." said the ninja.

"It's alright Naruto, you'll blend in with the rest of us! I haven't worn a shirt in ages..." exclaimed Natsu.

"I will? Oh, right...well, at least I'm a lot cooler now." noted the ninja.

"Why do you think I took mine off?" asked Gray curiously.

"Yeah...I get it." said Naruto.

A few minutes after he suffered clothing damage, Naruto and his friends encountered what appeared to be a native.

However, something about him seemed off.

"Hmm?" inquired the genin curiously.

Suddenly, the native's stomach began to grumble.

Immediately, he began to lunge towards Naruto with his spear.

"Yikes!" exclaimed the genin.

Fortunately, Erza managed to drive the native away with her swords.

"Thanks for saving me..." explained Naruto.

"You're welcome. I guess I'm your knight...in shining armor." noted Erza.

"Yeah...literally." nodded the ninja.

Curious, Gray decided to pull out the mission guide to give him information.

"We've got a problem, guys..." said the ice mage.

"Huh?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Apparently, some of the villagers have been exiled from their tribe for practicing cannibalism..." explained Gray.

"Cannibalism?!" exclaimed the genin.

Natsu began to hug Erza tightly.

Sure enough, more of the villagers began to appear.

"You're not making meals out of me!" exclaimed Natsu, who began to toss fireballs to drive the cannibals away.

Fortunately for our heroes, they were more bark than bite, and they did not cause them too much trouble.

However, the foursome eventually came across a fork in the road.

"Oh no..." murmured Erza.

"What's the matter?" inquired Naruto.

"Every time we come across a fork in the road like this...Natsu and Gray begin to argue with each other." explained the knight.

"Oh." said the genin.

Sure enough, Natsu and Gray were having a heated argument with each other.

"I say we go left!" bellowed Natsu.

"Why can't we go right?!" exclaimed Gray.

"I want to go left!" screeched Natsu.

"I want to go right!" shouted Gray.

"Yeah...they're going to be at it for a while." said Erza.

Curious, Naruto noticed that there was a sign detailing "This Way To The Village" pointing at the right path.

"I guess we're going there." spoke Naruto.

Erza nodded.

Immediately, Naruto and Erza went to the right path while Natsu and Gray continued arguing.

But unbeknownst to the heroes, one of the villagers had a mistake...as an older villager pointed out to him.

"Simba! Don't you remember? The sign is supposed to be pointing to the left path!" exclaimed the older villager.

"I'm sorry, Mufasa." apologized Simba.

Immediately, Mufasa redirected the sign towards the left path.

"There...now visitors will know where to go if they want to visit our village!" exclaimed the older villager.

"Thank you." answered the younger villager.

A few minutes after Naruto and Erza had taken the wrong path, the former began to feel the urge to use the restroom...which the latter immediately noticed.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the knight.

"I need to use the bathroom." said Naruto.

"Sure...do you want me to wait for you?" asked Erza.

"You can go on ahead." explained the ninja.

Shrugging, Erza decided to leave Naruto to do some business.

Curious, the knight in shining armor noticed that there was a sign up ahead.

She immediately began to walk over to it to see what it read.

"Let's see now...danger...quicksand...well, good thing I didn't step in-"

Suddenly, Erza noticed that she was now standing inside a quicksand pit.

"Well, this mission has taken a turn for the worse." noted the S-Class mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Waking up from her nap at Naruto's apartment, Lucy decided to go see how her friends were doing...

As it turned out, they were at the mission board accepting a mission.

"Hey!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hey..." said Shikamaru.

In this case, he was going to do a mission along with his teammates...which as Lucy knew were Ino and Choji.

"Are you three going somewhere?" asked Lucy.

Shikamaru nodded.

"We're going on a trip to the desert..." said Choji.

"A trip to the desert?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah...there's a pyramid there...that apparently contains treasure." explained Ino.

"Are you sure you should be plundering a tomb?" asked the mage curiously.

"Well, it was on the mission board..." said Shikamaru.

"Hmm..." questioned the summoner mage. She was beginning to question the morality of this particular mission.

"I suppose we could have Lady Tsunade look into it if you want..." questioned the shadow ninja.

"I suppose it's not that important." explained Lucy.

Suddenly, Ino and Choji began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Well, there's a rumor going around that you two are dating." explained Ino.

"What?!" bellowed Lucy.

"Yeah...Konohamaru claims that he saw you two kissing..." said Choji.

"It was an accident!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

"Was it now? He also said that he saw you two playing Shogi a few minutes before the kiss happened..." spoke the kunoichi.

"He didn't have anyone else to play with!" bellowed Lucy.

"Whatever you say." nodded Ino.

"Whatever you say." answered Choji.

Shikamaru sighed.

"Can we go on the mission now?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Do you want to take your girlfriend with you?" asked Ino.

Shikamaru facepalmed.

"Er, do you want to come along, Lucy?" inquired the Naru clan member.

"Um, sure..." nodded Lucy.

"Alright then...according to this map, the pyramid is all the way in a sandy desert...which curiously enough actually isn't too far from here..." spoke Shikamaru.

Ino and Choji shrugged.

"Well, off to the desert we go." said the shadow ninja.

Immediately, Lucy Heartfilia followed the three to the desert.

A_ few minutes later..._

"So...did you bring water?" asked Lucy.

Ino nodded.

"And did you bring food?" inquired Shikamaru.

Choji nodded.

"Good. Then I think we're set." said the Naru clan member.

Immediately, the foursome stepped out into the desert...which unsurprisingly was very hot.

Already, our heroes were beginning to sweat.

"I sure hope that the pyramid isn't too far from here..." noted Lucy.

"There does seem to be a village up ahead..." spoke Ino.

"You think we'll need a magic lamp there?" inquired Choji.

"I don't know, Choji, those peddlers are shady." warned Shikamaru.

At that very moment, several bandits approached them.

"Can I help you?" asked Lucy.

"Give us your money!" bellowed one of the bandits.

"We know where you live!" exclaimed another bandit.

Fortunately, Shikamaru was able to use his shadow imitation technique to restrain the bandits so that his teammates could unleash a world of hurt on them...which they did.

"Thank goodness..." said Ino.

"Funny, I actually happen to be well-off at my alternate world...you think that's why they came after us?" stated Lucy.

"Are you know?" inquired Shikamaru.

"So that's why you wanted Lucy to be your girlfriend!" exclaimed Choji.

Shikamaru facepalmed while Lucy sweatdropped.

"Didn't I already tell you that she wasn't my girlfriend?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Yes...of course..." answered Ino.

Shikamaru sighed.

Suddenly, they began to hear what appeared to be the ground shaking.

"Hmm?" inquired Choji.

Much to their astonishment, a giant sandworm emerged from the ground.

"OK...the bandits I can understand, but a giant sandworm? Sheesh." said Shikamaru. What had gotten into the world these days?

Immediately, the giant sandworm began to attack Team 10 and Lucy, who likewise were trying to keep a distance from it.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the giant sandworm was capable of spewing acid...acid which of course could burn Team 10 and Lucy's flesh.

Choji immediately slammed into the sandworm using his body expansion technique, which seemed to be rather effective.

However, the giant sandworm bit into him, causing him to deflate.

Choji groaned. He hated it whenever that happened.

"How are we going to take down something so big?" questioned Ino.

"Maybe if we toss a paper bomb into his mouth, maybe it will explode?" inquired Lucy.

Shikamaru sweatdropped.

"Is something the matter?" asked the mage.

"That was what I was going to suggest..." said the ninja.

"No wonder you two are a couple! You're made for each other!" exclaimed Ino.

"Not this again..." spoke Shikamaru.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Shikamaru tossed a paper bomb inside the sandworm's mouth...which oddly enough did make it explode.

Of course, it was rather...messy.

"Sheesh..." said Shikamaru.

Shortly afterwards, our heroes arrived in the desert town. Sure enough, there were a lot of goods and services. Lucy was starting to wonder if they had a magic carpet...they had loads of them back in her world.

Then again, magic did not appear to exist in this one.

Curiously, most of the villagers appeared to be dressed in white and wearing coifs...apparently, that was the latest fashion.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed her white and blue dress was covered with sandworm goo.

Shrugging, she decided to put her dress in her suitcase so that she could wash it later...which once again left her in her tube top and her shorts.

Immediately, she began to feel a lot cooler.

"I wonder why I didn't think of this before..." noted Lucy.

At that very moment, Shikamaru noticed what Lucy was wearing, and began to blush.

"Um, hey there!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Is there a particular reason you're dressed like that?" inquired Shikamaru.

"My dress got covered in sandworm gunk...and it was hot out." explained the summoner mage.

"Oh..." said the shadow mage.

"On the plus side, I haven't really suffered any clothing damage since I've gotten here..." noted Lucy.

"Clothing damage?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah...it's happened to me a lot...though thankfully it appears to have finally stopped..." spoke the female mage.

"Sorry to hear that." inquired the shadow ninja.

"Anyways, is the pyramid nearby?" asked the summoner curiously.

"I believe so." nodded Shikamaru.

"I don't think you want to go in there." warned one of the villagers.

"Hmm?" inquired Lucy.

"It happens to have a few booby-traps...as well as mummies...and flesh-eating scarab beetles!" exclaimed the local.

"Flesh-eating scarab beetles? I thought they were scavengers..." questioned Shikamaru.

"Normally yes...but these scarab beetles were specifically summoned by ancient ninja to vanquish their enemies...to them, your flesh will taste like bread and butter." explained the villager.

"Bread and butter?!" exclaimed Lucy.

All of a sudden, the summoner mage began to feel nervous. Thankfully, Shikamaru comforted her by placing his hand on her bare shoulder.

"Thanks...I needed that." said the mage.

"If you're going to want to plunder the tomb...then be careful out there...the only person I know that's ever managed to pull off looting that pyramid was Montana Indie." explained the local.

"Montana Indie?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah...he's a treasure hunter than insists that artifacts belong in a museum...then again, now that I think of it...I don't think he was a ninja...so maybe you and your friends can pull it off...what do I know?" inquired the villager.

"I happen to be a mage actually...or at least I used to be." explained Lucy.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! Those only exist in fairy tales!" bellowed the local.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"What is your name, anyway?" asked Shikamaru.

"My name? It's Ahmed!" exclaimed Ahmed.

"Good to know..." noted the mage. Hopefully his last name wasn't Adoodie.

Immediately, Lucy and Shikamaru went to alert Ino and Choji where the pyramid was...and what they should expect.

"Right then...let's get going, shall we?" inquired Ino.

"Yeah...I'm getting hungry." said Choji.

"Aren't you always?" asked the kunoichi.

"Yeah..." nodded the chunin. What could he say? He needed his weight for his jutsu. He likely wouldn't be able to use it so effectively otherwise.

Together, Team 10 and Lucy set out to the pyramid so that they could collect an artifact and donate it to a museum...or in this case Konoha. Tsunade was counting on them to fatten her purse.

_Well, it looks like Naruto and his new friends have gone off on another mission...and so has Lucy and her new friends..._

_In the next chapter...well, Naruto and Lucy are going to complete their missions and go home...or the residence they have at the moment, rather. Also, Hinata and two ANBU members are going to investigate the disappearance of the missing child...which unfortunately as you all know is already dead._

_Peace!_


	6. Chapter 6: Mission Completion

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, well, as I said, our heroes are going to complete their missions. Isn't that just dandy?_

_Oh, and Hinata Hyuga is going to investigate the disappearance of the young child that we saw earlier...along with two different ANBU members._

_And yes, Sakura Haruno is going to be in this chapter...I believe somebody requested that I included her into this story...which was something I always intended to do. Heh heh._

**Chapter 6: Mission Completion**

Now up to her knees in quicksand, Erza began to think of a way that she could get herself out of this.

"Okay...this is no time to panic...they say that if you struggle furiously, you're only going to sink deeper...so I'm not going to struggle..." noted the knight in shining armor.

Personally, she was wondering why she couldn't float in this particular substance considering that it was similar to water...apparently, it was just her bad day...and potentially her last.

Immediately, Erza let out a deep breath to try to relax herself.

"Right then...like I said, this is no time to panic. I'm sure that sooner or later somebody's going to rescue me...then again, Natsu and Gray are still fighting...and Naruto left to go to the bathroom...but one of them will still come for me, right?" inquired the S-Class Mage.

Now that she thought of it, she was glad that she removed her heavy armor when she did.

Curious, she noticed that there appeared to be vines that she could use to pull herself out of the quicksand with.

"Hmm...it's worth a shot." said Erza.

However, as it turned out, this particular vine was actually a cobra.

Her eyes widening, she immediately let go of it.

Curious, she decided to try another vine, and discovered that it was a boa constrictor.

"Aah!" exclaimed Erza.

At this point, the knight noticed that she was now up to her waist in the mud.

"Now I'm really starting to get worried." noted the knight in shining armor.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is the pyramid?" inquired Lucy curiously.

"I believe so..." nodded Shikamaru.

As it turned out, this particular pyramid was rather wide...though strangely enough it was only three stories tall.

Of course, there was a large staircase leading inside the Pyramid.

Fortunately, the staircase leading inside the pyramid itself did not appear to be booby-trapped, so they didn't have to worry about climbing it.

"That's a relief..." noted Choji.

"Wouldn't want to get blown to bits..." agreed Ino.

Immediately, the foursome entered the pyramid.

As it turned out, there were many sarcophaguses inside.

"I wonder what's inside..." said Lucy.

"We'll probably just see dead people." answered Shikamaru.

"True..." nodded Choji.

"I wonder where the treasure is?" asked Ino.

"Probably all the way at the top." suggested Lucy.

"I see..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

Sure enough, there was a staircase leading higher into the pyramid.

However, at that very moment, some of the sarcophaguses began to open.

"Uh-oh..." said Shikamaru.

Sure enough, there were mummies inside the pyramid, as Ahmed had warned them about.

"First a giant sandworm, and now mummies?" questioned Choji.

"Yeah..." nodded Ino.

"Do you want your mummy yet?" asked Lucy curiously.

Shikamaru sweatdropped.

Fortunately, as it turned out, our heroes could simply destroy the mummies by unwrapping them...which they did, causing them to dissolve into dust.

"That was surprisingly simple..." noted Ino.

"To think that ancient ninja used these to guard the pyramid..." questioned Choji.

"Well, we still haven't reached the top yet." noted Shikamaru.

Shrugging, Lucy and Team 10 climbed up the staircase to see if they could get to the next floor...which they did.

For a moment, it seemed that this particular hallway was completely empty...

Shrugging, Choji and Ino decided to go up ahead...

...which proved to be a mistake.

Suddenly, a trapdoor opened up beneath the two of them, causing them to fall into a pit.

"Choji! Ino!" bellowed Shikamaru.

Lucy gasped in shock.

Fortunately, they weren't terribly injured, and Shikamaru and Lucy were able to pull them out of the pit.

"Are you OK?" asked Lucy.

Choji and Ino nodded.

However, Shikamaru noticed that their cheeks had turned red.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"When we fell into that pit...I ended up kissing Ino on the lips..." said Choji.

"Yeah...what he said..." answered Ino sheepishly.

"Are you two a couple now?" asked the shadow ninja curiously.

Choji and Ino sweatdropped. All of a sudden, they hated irony.

Fortunately, Lucy and Shikamaru were able to disarm the rest of the traps, and they were able to make it to the top of the pyramid where the treasure chest was.

"Well, here we are..." said Shikamaru.

Immediately, Lucy began to cheer.

"Well, now to get the treasure and..."

However, at that very moment, a few openings appeared in the wall.

"What the-" said Lucy.

Immediately, ravenous scarab beetles began to fill the treasure chamber.

"Oh, right...how could I have forgotten about those?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Well, this can't be good..." noted Shikamaru.

_Meanwhile..._

Now chest-deep in quicksand, Erza at this point was beginning to accept her fate.

"I have to wonder what the rest of Fairy Tail is going to do without me...they said I'm one of their strongest mages..." noted the knight in shining armor.

As it turned out, all the vines that she could have used to pull herself out with were snakes.

"Why are there so many snakes hanging on that tree, anyway?" inquired Erza.

"Well, in just a few minutes from now...I'll be in the afterlife...I sure hope Natsu and Gray can do more missions without me..." noted the knight.

However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

Curious, Erza heard a thunking sound...and realized that she had just hit the bottom of the quicksand.

"Hmm?" inquired the knight in shining armor.

Fortunately for Erza, as it turned out, this particular quicksand pit wasn't deep enough to sink her completely.

"Well, I guess quicksand isn't as deadly as Hollywood movies make it out to be..." noted the mage.

However, she still had no idea how she was going to escape from the quicksand pit.

"Maybe I could try pushing down on the mud with my hands? That seems as good of an idea as any." noted Erza.

Fortunately for the knight in shining armor, she could actually pull her arms out of the quicksand...albeit with some difficulty.

"Sheesh...this quicksand pit is sticky." acknowledged Erza.

Unfortunately for the S-Class mage, she could only push herself up to her waist before falling back into the quicksand at the depth she was before.

"Well, it looks like I'm going to be here for a while." noted the Requip mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Immediately, Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru began to use their jutsus to ward off the scarab beetles.

Lucy had to admit, they were working together surprisingly well. They were even managing to use Choji as a yo-yo.

However, she realized that if she wanted to stop the scarab beetles from eating them for dinner, she was going to have to give them a hand as well.

Curious, Lucy pressed her hand against the floor to see if she could summon any animals that ate scarabs for breakfast.

In this case, she ended up summoning three bats, two toad, a flycatcher, two vultures, and a sand lizard.

"A little help?" asked Lucy curiously.

The animals nodded, and they began consuming the scarab beetles...who had gone from hunter to hunted.

Of course, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru were squashing quite a few of them too.

"Maybe we should go on an extermination mission someday..." noted Shikamaru.

"Yeah..." nodded Choji.

"Maybe after this mission?" inquired Ino.

Eventually, the scarab beetles retreated, leaving them free to take the treasure for themselves.

Sure enough, it was worth a hefty amount of ryo.

Fortunately, it appeared that taking the treasure had put the mummies to sleep and had disabled the traps...so it looked as if they were home free.

Eventually, they reached Konoha, where Tsunade herself was waiting for them.

Immediately, Team 10 saluted her with respect. Shrugging, Lucy decided to do as well.

Tsunade proceeded to take the gold they had obtained the pyramid.

"Perfect! Now I can use this to pay off some of my gambling debts..." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"Your gambling debts?" asked Shikamaru curiously.

"Mm-hmm...you'd be surprised what I owe." explained Tsunade.

"How much exactly do you owe?" inquired Lucy.

The Fifth Hokage handed Lucy a piece of paper.

The summoner mage immediately gasped in shock.

"Yeah...keep on doing missions like this and I'll pay it off in no time." said the Fifth Hokage.

"Um, sure..." nodded Shikamaru.

Shrugging, Lucy decided to head back to Naruto's residence to get some rest. It had been a rather laborous mission, though admittedly she still enjoyed it.

"Maybe one day I'll be ready to go on a S-Rank Mission..." thought the female mage turned kunoichi.

"I have to admit...while I do miss my home...being stranded in this alternate world isn't so bad..." thought Lucy.

Surely being in an alternate world had its share of perks, right?

_Meanwhile..._

"You know, being in this quicksand pit isn't actually so bad...after being in this humid jungle for so long it actually feels kind of refreshing..." said Erza.

However, at that very moment, a friend of hers came to help.

"Erza!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Um, hey there, Naruto. How are you doing?" asked Erza.

"Don't worry Erza, I'll get you out of there!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, the genin created several copies of himself to help him free Erza from the quicksand.

"Right then...let's form a centipede, shall we?" inquired Naruto.

Immediately, the clones grabbed onto each other's ankles so that Naruto could reach Erza with his hands.

But as it turned out, though his plan was heroic, there was a number of flaws with his plan.

For starters, Naruto needed all of his clones to keep ahold of each other for the plan to work. If just one clone were to let go, a certain blonde-haired ninja was going to fall into the quicksand.

Second of all, Erza's hands were rather slippery, as they happened to be covered with mud. Naruto was going to have a very hard time getting a good grip.

Thirdly, in the event the genin ended up falling into quicksand, he would lose concentration and the clones would end up disappearing...thus leaving Naruto up a creek without a paddle.

Lastly, Naruto was distracted by the fact that Erza had dressed immodestly during the mission...so he was going to have a hard time paying attention.

To make a long story short, the plan failed, Naruto ended up falling into the quicksand, and the clones burst into smoke.

With a resounding splash, the genin realized what had happened, and he began to apologize.

"I'm sorry Erza! I tried to save you as best as I could, I swear! Now we're going to die!" bellowed Naruto.

However, much to the genin's surprise, Erza did not seem too frightened by the situation. In fact, she seemed relaxed.

Naruto immediately raised an eyebrow.

"Um, Naruto...I think we're both going to survive this." explained the knight in shining armor.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

"I just hit the bottom of the quicksand pit a few minutes ago..." said Erza.

"You did?" asked Naruto curiously.

Suddenly, the genin hit the bottom as well, leaving him shoulder-deep in the quicksand.

"See? What did I tell you? Then again you are about a head shorter than I am..." noted the S-Class mage.

"Huh? Funny, I didn't notice that before..." spoke Naruto.

"Yeah...some of my friends have told me that I'm rather tall..." spoke Erza.

"True...anyways, how are we going to get out of here?" nodded the genin.

"I'm sure that Natsu and Gray will get us out of here eventually...but to be honest, I'm not really in a hurry." explained the S-Class mage.

"Really? How come?" inquired Naruto.

"I'm actually starting to like being in this quicksand pit...I have to admit, the mud feels surprisingly good against my skin...I'm actually tempted to start smearing it on my face..." explained Erza.

"Really? Huh, I'm actually starting to feel it too." noted Naruto.

"I say we just relax until Natsu and Gray come to save us...what do you say?" asked the S-Class mage.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded the genin.

_Meanwhile..._

After finally putting aside their differences, Natsu and Gray decided to see if they could find anything that would lead them on a right path.

Sure enough, they found a sign pointing to the left saying "This Way To The VIllage".

"Why didn't we notice that before?" inquired Natsu.

However, as it turned out, Erza and Naruto had taken the right path, as their footprints would suggest.

"Why did they go there?" asked Gray.

"Should we tell them they went the wrong way?" asked the fire mage.

"Yeah, I would believe so." nodded the ice mage.

Immediately, Natsu and Gray went to alert Erza and Naruto that they were going in the wrong direction.

Sure enough, the duo found them in a quicksand pit. Much to their surprise, they appeared to be asleep.

Not only that, but Naruto was sleeping on Erza's shoulder while Erza happened to be hugging him.

"Why are they sleeping? Can't they see that they're in danger?!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Wake up!" bellowed Gray.

At that very moment, Naruto and Erza woke up...immediately, the former noticed what he was doing, and immediately apologized.

"Sorry, Erza!" exclaimed the genin.

"What's there to apologize about?" inquired Erza.

"Um..." answered the genin.

Sure enough, Gray summoned an ice chain to pull the duo out of the quicksand...Erza immediately grabbed onto the chain and pulled herself out.

Oddly enough, she seemed a bit unhappy about it.

Gray then laid the ice chain across the quicksand so that Naruto could pull himself out...but as it turned out, he had a problem.

"I think my arms are stuck..." said the genin.

"Hmm? Oh that's right...you don't have superhuman strength like Erza does, do you?" inquired the ice mage.

"Erza has superhuman strength?" inquired Naruto.

"Yeah...I heard that she once lifted a tree and tossed it for miles..." said Natsu.

"I better stay on her good side then." noted the genin.

"Can you bite down on it?" asked Gray.

Sure enough, Naruto could.

After pulling the genin out of the quicksand, Gray and Natsu directed the duo back towards the village.

Much to Gray's surprise, Naruto was actually eating the chain.

"Why are you eating the ice chain?" inquired the ice mage.

"It tastes like ice cream..." answered the genin.

"OK...I've never tried eating it before...so what do I know?" shrugged the devil slayer.

Sure enough, the village chief was very happy to see them.

"Thank you for your generosity. I appreciate your kindness, and I shall give you the totem that your guildmaster requested." said the chief.

Curious, the leader of the village noticed that Erza and Naruto were both covered with mud, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Did something happen on your way to the village?" asked the chief.

"We ended up in quicksand...and strangely enough we actually enjoyed it." explained Erza.

Simba began to rub his hand behind the back of his head.

"Well, you can wash off at that lake over there." explained the chief.

"Your name is..." asked Naruto.

"It's Akachi." said Akachi.

Sure enough, Naruto and Erza went into the lake to wash themselves off. Oddly enough, Erza actually took her pants off in front of him, leaving her in her fundoshi.

"You know, it's funny...I think I understand why you're immune to my Sexy Jutsu now..." explained Naruto.

"You do?" asked Erza. She wondered why everyone else was affected by it when she was not.

"You don't really seem to know what modesty is..." noted the genin.

"Yeah...I don't. I guess I was just born that way." nodded the knight in shining armor.

"Ah well. Just try not to make me go blind, OK? I may be a bit too lecherous for my own good, but I have standards." said Naruto as he took off his muddy pants, leaving him in his boxers.

"Fair enough." agreed Erza.

Thankfully, the villagers agreed to wash off their clothes for them...which was rather simple since they weren't wearing too much to begin with.

Naruto immediately entered the lake along with Erza.

"Oddly enough, one of my teammates once told me that if I ever so much as glanced at her while she was in her underpants, she'd rip off my head and use it as a basketball...and then use my intestines as jump rope." noted the genin.

"That's harsh." agreed Erza.

"You're not going to do that to me, are you? Gray mentioned that you have superhuman strength..." said the ninja.

"Don't worry, I'm not." answered the S-Class mage.

"Thank goodness...speaking of which, I wonder how she's doing without me." questioned Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"He went into an interdimensional portal!? Darn it, Naruto! How could you be so stupid?!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Go easy on him, Sakura! He didn't even know what an interdimensional portal was until he got sucked through it!" bellowed Hinata.

"Fine, I'll try to relax." said the pink-haired kunoichi.

"I'm worried about him as you are...but if we're going to bring him back, we're going to need to stay focused. Speaking of which, I'm going on a mission." explained Hinata.

"You are?" inquired Sakura.

"Yeah...according to the mission board, a local child has gone missing. I need to find him and bring him back to Konoha." said the Hyuga clan member.

"Really?" asked the medical ninja.

"Yeah...however, Lady Tsunade just won some money at a poker game last night...so she's bringing two ANBU members with me." explained Hinata.

Suddenly, Sakura noticed that there happened to be two ANBU members with her.

"Um...hello, gentlemen?" inquired the kunoichi.

One of the ANBU members waved at her.

"This is Isamu and this is Jurou." explained Hinata.

Oddly enough, the duo were rather identical. However, Isamu was wearing shades while Jurou was not.

"Please to meet you, gentlemen..." said Sakura.

"Don't worry. We will find this missing child and bring him back shortly." said Isamu.

"You can count on us!" exclaimed Jurou.

"OK...good luck, I guess." said Sakura.

Immediately, the two ANBU members left along with Hinata.

Curious, Sakura recalled that her mistress only won money at gambling whenever something bad was about to happen...and began to wonder if something rotten was currently occurring in Konoha.

"It's probably nothing..." thought the kunoichi.

_Time for another cliffhanger, folks! Our heroes have completed their missions and will be heading back home..._

_In the next chapter, we're going to hear from Kenichi again...and yes, he's going to do something horrible. We're also going to hear from Chiyoye again...why exactly did she join Fairy Tail?_

_Have a good one!_


	7. Chapter 7: Old Friends

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, well, guess what? We're going to see the interdimensional portal again! And yes, two people are going to be using it...can you guess which ones?_

_Oh, and Kenichi will be appearing again...you have been warned._

**Chapter 7: Old Friends**

"Here is your totem." said Akachi.

"Thanks. We're going to put this in our trophy gallery...that way we'll have something to be proud of!" explained Natsu.

"Your trophy gallery?" inquired the village chief.

"Yeah...our guildmaster has a lot of them..." explained Gray.

"Here are your leg warmers." said Natsu.

Immediately, Natsu handed the leg warmers to the village chief.

"Thank you very much." said the chief.

At that very moment, Naruto and Erza walked into the village after taking a dip in the makeshift pool and getting themselves dressed.

"Did you clean yourselves off?" asked Akachi.

"Yes, we did." nodded Naruto.

Fortunately, the villagers had provided the teenage boy with a shirt to replace the one he had lost...it actually somewhat resembled his old one, but it was blue instead of orange and black.

"I look just like my father now..." thought Naruto.

"So, are we done with the mission?" inquired the ninja.

"Believe it!" exclaimed Natsu.

Naruto sweatdropped. Did Natsu just steal his catchphrase?

Immediately, our four heroes left the village. As they did so, Mufasa decided to ask Akachi a question.

"You do realize that we were going to throw that out, right?" inquired Mufasa.

"Another man's trash is another man's treasure." answered Akashi.

Fortunately for our heroes, they did not run into any more trouble as they headed back to Fairy Tail to celebrate their success.

Sure enough, Makarov was very happy to have a new golden totem to add to his trophy gallery. Then again, the members of his guild had already given him many trophies in the past.

"Thank you for accepting my mission...hopefully the villagers will think of me as a friend..." noted Makarov.

"What was that village anyway?" inquired Naruto.

"Just a village by the name of Babangida..." said the guildmaster.

"Babangida?" questioned Erza.

"Yes...I know." nodded Makarov.

At that very moment, Mirajane came by with good news.

"Can I help you?" asked Naruto.

"Levy managed to get the interdimensional portal working again!" exclaimed the S-Class mage.

"What? She did?" inquired the genin.

"Congratulations Naruto! Now you can go home!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Have a nice trip!" bellowed Gray.

"Try not to hop into more interdimensional portals next time...they might be dangerous." said Erza.

"OK then..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he went to where the interdimensional portal chamber was. Was today going to be the big day?

However, as it turned out, he was going to have to wait a while.

"Excuse me...but would you mind letting us retrieve Lucy first? We have a "Ladies First" policy here..." explained Levy.

"Fine..." nodded Naruto. It was rather depressing that he was going to have wait a bit longer...but he figured he should listen to the magician.

"Wait, aren't we going to need somebody to tell her that the portal is working again?" inquired the genin.

At that very moment, Natsu came in.

"Hello there, Natsu." greeted Levy.

"I'll go get her!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Huh? Um, sure." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Natsu jumped into the portal to retrieve Lucy.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, this is where Lucy hopped off too. Well, it's time for me to go look for her!" exclaimed Natsu.

Noticing that there was a populated city nearby, Natsu decided to search there.

However, he wasn't unnoticed.

At that very moment, Hinata (along with her two ANBU bodyguards) noticed him running towards Konoha.

"Who is that?" asked Isamu.

"I've never seen him before...and I've done scouting duty for Konoha several times..." noted Jurou.

"I think he's rather attractive..." noted Hinata.

"What?" inquired Isamu.

"Never mind. Sorry, I got distracted." said the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Hinata and the ANBU ninja noticed the interdimensional portal, causing the former to raise an eyebrow.

"Wait, didn't Naruto use an interdimensional portal just like this one?" inquired Hinata.

"I suppose he did...why?" asked Jurou.

"If so, I would like to use that portal to search for him..." explained the kunoichi.

"What? You want to use it?" inquired Isamu.

"If it means finding Naruto, then yes." said Hinata.

"OK...but hurry on back!" exclaimed Jurou.

Hinata nodded, and she jumped into the interdimensional portal.

"See you later." spoke Isamu.

Deciding to continue the search for the child without Hinata, the two ANBU members eventually came across a ninja that they had never seen before.

As it turns out...it was none other than Kenichi.

"Who, who are you?" inquired Isamu.

"My name is Kenichi. What brings you here, gentlemen?" inquired Kenichi.

Curious, Jurou recalled hearing that name before...though he wasn't quite sure where.

Shrugging, the two ANBU members decided to ask him some questions.

"Have you seen this boy? He's been missing for a few days now...and we've been wondering where he's gone off too..." asked Jurou curiously.

"Hmm? Oh yes! I've seen him! Right this way, gentlemen." said the ninja.

Raising an eyebrow, Isamu could have sworn that he saw Kenichi smiling for a moment when he asked him about the boy.

"How much does he know?" questioned the ANBU ninja.

_Meanwhile..._

Natsu continued his search for Lucy. Hopefully, he would able to find her soon.

However, all of a sudden, his eyes were beginning to feel rather...strange.

"Huh?" inquired the fire mage.

Suddenly, he began to see everything around him...

"What the-" exclaimed the dragon slayer.

Curious, Natsu tried blinking, and he was seeing normally again.

"That was strange...why did my vision suddenly get so enhanced?" questioned the fire mage.

Still wondering what was happened, the fire mage tried to see if he could enhance his vision again to see if he could find Lucy.

Sure enough, yes he could.

"This is rather unusual...but at least it's going to let me find Lucy." questioned the dragon slayer.

He had to wonder...was this some sort of dragon slayer ability that Igneel had not told him about? He thought he was teaching him everything...

Shrugging, he decided to continue his hunt for Lucy.

As it turned out, she was playing yet another game of Shogi with Shikamaru.

"Hmm...you actually managed to beat me again..." said the shadow ninja.

"Up for another round?" inquired the mage.

"Um, sure..." nodded Shikamaru.

"Lucy!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Curious, the summoner mage turned behind her, and noticed that it was none other than her friend Natsu.

"Natsu!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy gave Natsu a hug.

"Is this a friend of yours?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes! He's my guildmate!" exclaimed Lucy, letting go of Natsu.

"Are you ready to come home?" asked the fire mage.

"I sure am...though admittedly I'm going to miss my friends..." spoke the summoner mage.

"I suppose if we ever manage to get that portal stable you can visit them again..." noted Natsu.

"Yeah, I suppose...say, what's up with your eyes?" nodded Lucy.

"Huh? Well, ever since I came here...I've had this peculiar ability to use my eyes for extended vision...I have to admit, it's rather nifty, huh?" asked Natsu.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"About that...I think you may have the Byakugan." explained the shadow ninja.

"The Byakugan?" inquired Natsu.

"It's a dojutsu that's been passed around throughout the Hyuga clan...it allows the user to see in a near 360 field around them...with the exception of a blind spot on the back of the neck." explained Shikamaru.

"Really? That's very interesting..." explained Lucy.

"I'm not sure how you managed to obtain it...but I hope you enjoy your gift." said the shadow ninja.

"This Byakugan is sweet...but how did I manage to obtain it?" inquired Natsu curiously.

Curious, Lucy recalled how she managed to obtain Naruto Uzumaki's Nine-Tailed Fox as well as his Rasengan when he used the interdimensional portal shortly after she did.

Did someone else use the interdimensional portal while Natsu was looking for her?

"If so...then who was it?" she thought.

_About a dozen minutes later..._

"I sure hope Natsu gets back soon..." said Naruto.

At that very moment, the interdimensional portal began to vibrate, indicating that someone was using it, much to the genin's excitement.

"Are they coming back?" asked the wannabe Hokage.

"I would believe so, yes." nodded Levy.

"Finally...now I can get back home..." noted the genin.

But as it turned out, it was once again not who they were expecting.

"Wait, is that..." inquired Naruto.

Suddenly, Hinata Hyuga stepped out of the portal.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, the Hyuga clan member began to hug Naruto highly.

"Hinata!" cheered Naruto.

Levy raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a friend of yours?" asked Levy.

"It sure is!" nodded Naruto.

"I'm so glad to see you again Naruto...now can we get out of here? Your friends miss you...I know I did." said Hinata.

"Sure, why n-"

However, at that very moment, the interdimensional portal began to close.

"Not again!" exclaimed Levy.

"Uh-oh..." thought Naruto.

Sure enough, the interdimensional portal had completely disappeared.

"Oh no, Hinata! Now we're both stranded in this magical world!" exclaimed Naruto.

"What?!" shouted Hinata.

At that very moment, Happy burst into the interdimensional portal chamber.

"Nooooo!" screamed the Exceed.

"What's up with him?" asked Naruto.

"Natsu was his best friend in the whole world...I don't think he's going to be happy that he's gone...despite his name." explained Levy.

Immediately, Happy grabbed onto Hinata.

"Wha-" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Bring him back to me! Bring him back to me!" bellowed Happy.

"Yeah...he's been like that since Naruto came here. This interdimensional portal is really doing a toll on his mind...he doesn't like being separated from his friends." explained Levy.

"Sorry to hear that..." answered Naruto.

"Can you let go now?" inquired Hinata.

Happy let go of Hinata.

"Sheesh...why does this world have talking cats that walk upright?" questioned the kunoichi.

"Beats me..." answered Naruto.

Suddenly, Hinata's stomach began to grumble.

"Hmm? Are you hungry, Hinata?" asked the genin.

"Well, I suppose eating something will get my mind off of this..." noted Hinata.

Shrugging, the Hyuga clan kunoichi decided to look for something to eat. Fortunately, as it turned out, the cafeteria was nearby.

"Off to lunch I go." said the kunoichi.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, you happen to know where the missing boy is?" asked Isamu.

"Yes. He's right over there." explained Kenichi.

Curious, Isamu looked to where Kenichi was pointing, and gasped in shock.

As it turned out, they were too late to save the boy.

Jurou immediately investigated the body, and discovered that he had been killed by a stab wound to the neck. Apparently, he had been murdered.

"Who could have done this to him?" inquired the ANBU member.

Suddenly, Kenichi began to laugh.

"What's so funny? This is a crime scene!" bellowed Isamu.

Curious, Jurou noticed that in his eyes Kenichi happened to have what appeared to be the Rinnegan...which surprised him due to the fact that he thought it as a legend.

Could he really have such a powerful dojutsu?

"You still haven't caught on? I killed him. I stabbed him in the neck with a kunai. Why do you ask? He was weak and I was strong. He did not belong in this world...so I took him out of it." explained Kenichi.

Isamu's eyes widened with shock. Not only had the ninja they had been speaking to a few moments ago murdered the child they had been hunting down, he was freely admitting it to them.

Immediately, the two ANBU ninja realized what they had to do.

"Alright, you're coming with us." explained Isamu.

However, at this point, Kenichi decided that he was done playing with them.

Suddenly, he transformed his right arm into a buzzsaw.

"What are yo-"

Shortly afterwards, Kenichi began cutting into Isamu, who immediately started to scream. His partner began to scream as well.

Kenichi then turned his arm back into normal, leaving Isamu's corpse on the floor.

"Isamu! No! Speak to me!" exclaimed Jurou.

Overwhelm with shock and grief due to the loss of his comrade, Jurou failed to notice Kenichi sneaking up behind him, who at this point had turned his left arm into a set of claws.

Impaling Jurou through the chest, Kenichi laughed as the former let out his final breath and his blood began to spill.

Dropping the ANBU ninja on the floor like he had done earlier, the Rinnegan possessor decided it was time for him to leave.

"I'd like to stay a bit longer...but since they insist on investigating what I've been doing lately...I guess I'd better get going." noted Kenichi.

Personally, it baffled him how many ninja chose to protect the weak. It seems that none of them realized that they all should be exterminated. The world of ninja was only for the strong, and he happened to be the strongest of them all.

Immediately, he pressed his hand on the ground...

...and summoned an enormous blue serpentine dragon.

Hopping onto the dragon's back, Kenichi got ready to travel.

"Fly, Kaishi!" exclaimed the ninja.

Kaishi nodded, and he began to fly away from Konoha.

_About fifteen minutes later..._

Curious, Naruto decided to see how Hinata was doing. Inevitably, she was going to be rather unhappy about the mess she was in, much like he was earlier.

On the way there, he happened to see Erza.

"Hey there, Naruto. Shouldn't you be home by now? Levy told me that she managed to get the interdimensional portal working again." explained the S-Class Mage.

"I'm afraid the interdimensional portal closed again...I'm stranded here along with my friend." said Naruto.

"Sorry to hear that...wait, your friend?" inquired Erza.

"Yeah...she came looking for me...but unfortunately the interdimensional portal closed on her too..." explained Naruto.

"That's too bad...I hope you two can go home soon." said the S-Class mage.

"Thank you." answered the genin as he went to look for Hinata.

Sure enough, he found the kunoichi eating food at the cafeteria...but much to his surprise, she had already eaten enough to cover half the table.

Also, she was no longer wearing her ninja uniform, and was now wearing a short-sleeved black shirt and some black shorts.

"Whoa! Hinata...did you really eat all that food by yourself?" inquired Naruto.

Hinata turned around and noticed Naruto was in the cafeteria with her.

"I don't know, Naruto! Ever since I went through that portal I've had this enormous appetite...that I can't seem to satisfy." explained the kunoichi.

"Sorry to hear that..." answered Naruto.

"Also, I'm feeling really warm...I took my ninja uniform off and left it in a locker...but I'm still sweating a bit." said Hinata.

"Do you have a fever?" inquired the genin.

"Well, other than that I feel f-"

Suddenly, Hinata's right hand caught on fire.

Naruto immediately screamed.

"Huh? What's the matter?" asked the Hyuga clan member.

The genin immediately pointed to Hinata's right hand.

Raising an eyebrow, the kunoichi noticed that her hand was now aflame, and immediately began to panic.

"Aah! Put it out! Put it out!" bellowed Hinata.

"I'll get a fire extinguisher!" screamed Naruto.

Immediately, the ninja went to get a fire extinguisher.

However, at that very moment, Hinata noticed something strange.

"Wait, shouldn't my hand be burning because of the fire?" questioned the kunoichi.

Curious, Hinata decided to see if she could extinguish her hand with her willpower alone. Much to her surprise, she could actually do so.

"How odd." questioned the kunoichi.

Hinata then decided to see if she could ignite her hand again...which she could.

"This is pretty strange..." thought the kunoichi.

A few seconds later, a chef came by with a shocked look on his face.

"Fire! Everyone get out! Fire!" exclaimed the chef.

Immediately, the guildmates began to panic, except for Hinata herself.

"What? A kitchen fire?" inquired the kunoichi.

Sure enough, there appeared to be smoke coming out from the kitchen.

"There's got to be something I can do..." thought the Byakugan wielder.

Curious, she decided to head to the kitchen to see if there was anything that could be done.

Sure enough, the kitchen was smouldering.

"Oh dear..." murmured Hinata.

Suddenly, the Hyuga clan member had a peculiar urge to try putting some of the fire in her mouth.

Curious, Hinata grabbed onto some of the fire and began eating it.

Much to her pleasant surprise, it tasted delicious.

"OK...my day keeps getting weirder and weirder...am I dreaming?" inquired the kunoichi.

Shrugging, Hinata decided to continue eating the fire.

At that very moment, Makarov came into the cafeteria to investigate the reports he had been hearing about a fire.

He was in fact going to ask Natsu to take care of it...but according to Levy he had left not too long ago to retrieve Lucy.

Suddenly, he noticed Naruto carrying a fire extinguisher.

"I'm coming, Hinata! Hang in there!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Naruto? I thought you were going to leave using the interdimensional portal..." spoke Makarov.

"It closed on me again..." spoke the ninja.

The guild master sighed. Why did the interdimensional portal have to use so much magical energy?

"Say, since you're holding onto that fire extinguisher, why don't you do a favor and help me put out the fire?" asked Makarov.

"Sure...I was going to save it for Hinata, though..." explained Naruto.

"Hinata?" inquired the guild master.

"Yeah, she came through the interdimensional portal to look for me and got trapped here too...right now she's right over th-"

Curious, Naruto noticed that she was no longer sitting at the cafeteria table she was before.

"I guess she managed to put out the fire on her hand on her own..." questioned the genin.

Immediately, the former jinchuriki went to the kitchen to put out the fire and busted down the door.

"Right, time to put out the-"

However, much to his surprise, not only had the fire already been put out, but Hinata was standing there in the kitchen rubbing her stomach.

"Hinata? What are you doing in the kitchen? And what happened to the fire?" asked Naruto.

Hinata jumped in surprise.

"Um, hi there Naruto! About that...you see, I went into the kitchen to help put out the fire...and well...I ended up eating it." explained the kunoichi.

"You ate the fire?!" bellowed the genin in astonishment.

At that very moment, Makarov stepped into the kitchen.

"Was there really a fire? Or was this some sort of prank?" questioned the guildmaster. There did appear to be ashes on the floor...but other than that the kitchen appeared to be fine.

"I don't believe it...Hinata managed to put out a fire...by consuming the flames!" exclaimed Naruto.

"She did?" inquired Makarov.

"Yes, it's true...I ate the fire...it was the best meal I had in ages..." explained Hinata.

Makarov raised an eyebrow.

"Can I come talk to you for a moment? We need some alone time." asked the guildmaster.

"Um...sure." nodded Hinata.

_A few minutes later..._

"I have reason to believe that you and Natsu, one of my best mages, have become interdimensional partners..." explained Makarov.

"Interdimensional partners?" inquired Hinata.

"Yes...when two people use an interdimensional portal at roughly the same time...they end up acquiring each other's abilities...as well as some of their personality traits...it's already happened once before." said the guildmaster.

"It has?" asked the kunoichi.

"Mm-hmm...in Naruto's case, he's become the interdimensional partner of Lucy Heartfilia, one of our latest recruits." explained Makarov.

"He has?" inquired Hinata.

"So far he's inherited her summoner keys, given his nine-tailed fox to her, obtained her guild mark..."

"My pants! They've ripped!" screamed Naruto in the distance.

"...and has inherited her tendency to suffer clothing damage." explained Makarov.

"That's a lot..." said Hinata.

"Could you lift your right sleeve so that I could see your shoulder for a second?" asked the guildmaster.

"Sure." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, Hinata lifted up her right sleeve.

"Hmm...this is just as I thought." explained Makarov.

"Huh?" asked Hinata.

Curious, the kunoichi decided to look at her shoulder in the nearby mirror...as it turned out, she now had the guild mark on her shoulder.

"You weren't kidding." spoke the Byakugan wielder.

"You also appear to have inherited his fire dragon slayer magic...you should be able to manipulate fire...as well as consume it." said Makarov.

"Well, that's going to take some getting used to." noted Hinata.

At least the fire happened to taste delightful...she was personally tempted to go look for more fire to consume.

Curious, the kunoichi mentioned something about Naruto giving his nine-tailed fox to Lucy, and began to wonder if she had given up her Byakugan to Natsu.

Fortunately, for Hinata, as it turned out, she was still able to use it.

"Thank goodness." said the kunoichi.

However, she remembered that it was entirely possible for more than one ninja to have the Byakugan, and began to wonder if Natsu still had this dojutsu anyway.

"Hmm..." questioned Hinata.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay at Fairy Tail...however long that lasts." explained Makarov.

Shrugging, the kunoichi decided to go visit Naruto and tell him the news.

_Kenichi has struck again...and this time, he's killed two ANBU members! Also, he happens to have a dragon on his side, as well as the Rinnegan...not good._

_Also, Hinata happens to have inherited Natsu's fire magic and Natsu happens to have inherited her Byakugan...once again the interdimensional magic has done its job._

_In the next chapter, Hinata's going to accept a mission for Fairy Tail...and unfortunately Natsu and Lucy are going to discover the bodies of the unfortunate child and ANBU members...see you next time!_


	8. Chapter 8: Another Mission

Ninja Tail

_Right...in this chapter, Naruto, Hinata, Gray, and Erza will be going on another mission...that is, they're going away from Fairy Tail again..._

_And yes, so will Lucy and Natsu...they're going on a mission with Team 8 this time._

_Let's watch the show!_

**Chapter 8: Another Mission**

Immediately, Natsu escorted Lucy to the interdimensional portal...but much to their surprise, there was nothing there.

"Natsu...what happened to the interdimensional portal?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Huh?" asked the fire mage curiously.

As it turned out, the interdimensional portal had once again collapsed...thus stranding them both in the world of ninja.

It looks like they wouldn't be going back to the world of magic any time soon, as unfortunate as it was.

"Not again..." murmured Natsu. He was about to rescue Lucy, too. Was there someone out there laughing at him, playing jokes at his expense? He was really starting to get the feeling there just might be someone like that out in the distance.

"What are we going to do?" inquired Lucy. Were she and Natsu going to be stuck in the world of ninja forever?

"Maybe the portal moved? I don't know...this interdimensional magic is starting to confuse me..." explained the fire mage.

"Yeah...I'm starting to wonder how much we actually know about it." spoke the summoner ninja.

"We know that it can take us to other worlds, now can we?" inquired Natsu.

"I believe it can, yes." nodded Lucy.

Curious, Natsu decided to use his new Byakugan to search for the interdimensional portal. Surely it wouldn't have shut down twice in a row, right?

However, instead of finding the interdimensional portal, he instead saw something that utterly terrified him.

"Aah!" screamed the fire mage, his face immediately paling.

"What's the matter?" inquired Lucy.

"I just saw three bodies! They're lying just a short distance away from us!" explained Natsu.

"What?!" asked the summoner kunoichi.

Curious, Natsu and Lucy went to investigate. Sure enough, they saw the bodies of the ANBU duo...as well as the body of Yoshi.

Immediately, Lucy and Natsu both began to feel sick.

"What happened to them?!" screamed the kunoichi.

"I don't know, Lucy...it looks like somebody cut into them with something sharp..." explained Natsu.

"You mean...this is the work of a serial killer?" asked Lucy with fear.

As they quickly discovered, the boy had been stabbed in the neck.

"Who could have done this?" questioned the kunoichi.

"I'm not sure I want to find out..." answered the fire mage. Who would have done such a thing to a child?

"We should tell Lady Tsunade about this..." explained the summoner ninja.

"Lady Tsunade?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes. She's the leader of the Leaf Village." continued Lucy.

"So, she's to the Leaf Village what Makarov is to us?" inquired the fire mage.

"Yes, she is. I have to admit, this world does have a few similarities to our own..." explained the kunoichi.

"It does? Interesting...then again, it doesn't seem to be too far of a distance from ours, considering how quickly I was able to use the interdimensional portal to get here..." noted Natsu.

"I know..." nodded Lucy.

Fortunately for the summoner mage, due to the fact that she was now a ninja, she was able to head towards Konoha very quickly.

She had to admit, she rather enjoyed crossing the treetops.

However, as she quickly remembered, she had to worry about Natsu keeping up with her, since he had not become a ninja yet.

"Wait up, Lucy!" exclaimed the fire mage.

Unfortunately for Lucy, she couldn't simply pick up Natsu and let her ride on her back, since he had motion sickness and would get ill if she tried doing so.

Eventually, she decided to simply tell Natsu where to find the Fifth Hokage's Office, since this was an emergency.

"You can get there by heading north..." explained Lucy. "You'll know the building when you see it." explained the kunoichi.

"OK..." nodded Natsu.

"See you there!" exclaimed Lucy as she continued racing towards Konoha.

"I have to admit...being able to jump like this sure is useful." noted the kunoichi.

Sure enough, she managed to reach the Fifth Hokage's Office very quickly.

"Lady Tsunade! I need you tell something!" exclaimed Lucy.

Tsunade allowed the summoner ninja inside.

"Hello, Lucy. What do you wish to tell me?" inquired the Sannin.

"I've found the bodies of two of your ninja..." explained the kunoichi.

"What? What happened to them?" asked Tsunade.

"I wish I knew...it looks like somebody cut into them...I also found the body of a young boy..." asked Lucy.

"Oh, my..." explained the powerful kunoichi.

"Do you know something about this?" inquired the summoner ninja.

"I believe I sent those two on a mission to retrieve that boy since he had disappeared...you wouldn't have happened to find a third body, now would you?" asked Tsunade.

"No, I did not, why do you ask?" inquired the kunoichi.

"You see, I initially intended to send Hinata Hyuga on this mission alone due to her ability to use the Byakugan to help search for the boy...but since I won some money at poker, I decided to send two ANBU members with her as well." explained Tsunade.

"You won money at poker? Isn't that a good thing?" asked Lucy.

"I'm afraid not...every time I win money...something bad usually happens.. Last week I won a game of blackjack and my apprentice Shizune ended up in the hospital after a horrible accident...thankfully, Sakura was able to heal her...but it was rather frightening nonetheless." explained Tsunade.

"That's terrible." explained Lucy.

"I'm glad that you've told me this...but unfortunately we do not know who managed to kill them...though from what you told me whoever did this was a very powerful ninja." said the Fifth Hokage.

"A powerful ninja? That doesn't sound good." asked the kunoichi.

"Still, I have to wonder where Hinata Hyuga has gone. Did the perpretrator kidnap her? Did they bury her corpse? Are they cannibalistic?" inquired Tsunade.

"Hmm..." questioned Lucy.

At that very moment, Natsu stormed in.

"Here I am, Lucy! I have to admit, my new Byakugan sure is useful." explained the fire mage.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Is this a friend of yours?" asked Lady Tsunade curiously.

"Yes, he is. Wait...the Byakugan..." explained Lucy.

Suddenly, the summoner mage recalled how Hinata also happened to possess the Byakugan, and all of a sudden, she knew what had happened.

"I think I know where she went!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Hmm?" inquired Tsunade curiously.

"I think Hinata may have used the interdimensional portal my friend Natsu did..." asked Lucy.

"She did?" asked the kunoichi.

"Yes...remember how I managed to inherit Naruto's nine-tailed fox when he used the same interdimensional portal as me? Well, Natsu's managed to inherit her Byakugan...so he must have become her interdimensional partner!" exclaimed the mage.

"I have? That explains my new nifty pair of eyes..." explained Natsu.

"Interesting...but why would she use the portal?" noted Tsunade.

"Well, she seemed rather close to Naruto...maybe she decided to use the interdimensional portal so that she could look for him." answered Lucy.

"Hmm? Oh, right...how could I have forgotten that. Well, it's good to see that she's still alive..." spoke the Sannin.

"You don't think the killer followed her through the portal, do you?" asked Natsu.

"Probably not...you don't seem to have inherited any of his traits...though admittedly I do not know much about him. Also, didn't the interdimensional portal close shortly after she used it?" inquired Lucy.

"Right...I guess not." explained the fire mage.

"So, is your friend stranded here too?" asked Tsunade.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Lucy.

"I want to go home...Happy needs me!" complained Natsu.

"I'm sure he does...but I'm sure we'll find a way back eventually." explained Lucy.

Immediately, Tsunade handed Natsu a picture of Hinata Hyuga.

"Hmm?" inquired Natsu.

"Let me know if you manage to find her...of course, while I'm at it, I should probably give you a picture of Naruto too...he's been missing longer than Hinata has." noted Tsunade.

Immediately, Tsunade handed Lucy a picture of Naruto.

"Huh. She's cute." thought Natsu as he looked at Hinata's picture.

"Why does he look so much like me? Is he my interdimensional counterpart or something?" questioned Lucy.

Then again, she did happen to be his interdimensional partner.

Agreeing to Tsunade's orders, Natsu and Lucy both left the Fifth Hokage's office. As they did so, Natsu asked himself a question.

"If I inherited her Byakugan...then what did she inherit from me?" inquired Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Hinata was licking the flame of a torch as if it were an ice cream cone.

"Hey there, Hinata...are you, er, enjoying that torch?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes I am, Naruto. I have to admit, being stranded in this alternate world has been a bit stressful for me...but I suppose as long as I get to be with you it won't be so bad. You're like a brother to me!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Yeah...you're like a sister to me. So, are you enjoying your new fire abilities?" asked Naruto.

"I am, actually. I feel a lot stronger than I was before..." noted the kunoichi.

"Now that I think of it, I've been feeling the same way too...though admittedly I've lost my nine-tailed fox..." spoke the genin.

"That's right...I sure hope that your tailed beast is in good hands...I don't want it to threaten anyone..." noted the Hyuga clan member.

"Right, of course." nodded Naruto.

At that very moment, Gray came by.

"Have you seen Natsu? I've looked all over for him...I asked Happy and all he responded with were tears..." explained the ice mage.

"Yeah...I've afraid he's with Lucy now." explained the genin.

"What?!" exclaimed Gray.

"Yeah...the interdimensional portal closed on me again while Natsu went to retrieve Lucy...and this time it trapped one of my friends, too." continued Naruto.

"That's terrible..." noted the ice mage.

"Hi there. My name is Hinata." said Hinata.

"Pleased to meet you. My name is Gray..." greeted Gray.

"Strangely enough I happened to have inherited his abilities...Makarov says that I can both manipulate and consume fire now." explained the kunochi.

"Really? Does this mean you can breathe fire...like a dragon?" inquired the ice mage.

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

Curious, she decided to see if she could so...which she did almost instantly.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yeah...she's like a phoenix now." explained Naruto.

"Maybe we should start referring to you as Phoenix? We always did refer to Natsu as Salamander..." noted Gray.

"Huh? Um, sure." nodded Hinata.

"Alright. See you later, Phoenix." said the ice mage as he left.

"I have to wonder what I'm going to tell my father if I ever get back home." explained Hinata.

"About you becoming a pyromaniac?" inquired Naruto.

"Yeah...something like that." answered the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Chiyoye decided to pay the duo a visit.

"Um, hi there, Chiyoye!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Greetings...I see you brought a friend of yours with you this time." noted Chiyoye.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. Something about this particular mage seemed...off.

"Er, yeah, I did..." spoke Naruto.

"So...about your world...what is it like?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Well, it's a rather ideal world, to say the very least. I usually enjoy it." explained Naruto.

"I see...to be honest, I've rather interested in this particular world of yours...would you mind if I took a tour?" asked Chiyoye.

"I guess...you could go there." answered Naruto.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. Why exactly did she want to enter Naruto's world?

"Good. I'll see you later...once you've managed to get the interdimensional portal running again..." answered Chiyoye.

At that very moment, the mysterious mage began to walk away.

A few minutes later, she noticed Mirajane sitting on a couch nearby. She seemed rather upset about something.

Curious, Hinata walked up a few feet away from her and introduced herself to Mirajane, who told her her name in return.

"Please to meet you. Is something wrong?" asked the kunoichi curiously.

"It's our latest recruit...I just don't understand it..." explained Mirajane.

"Hmm?" inquired Hinata curiously.

"You see...Chiyoye claims to be fifty-six years old...yet she looks as if she's about twenty-five..." inquired the S-Class mage.

"Really? That's odd." noted the kunoichi.

"How does she do it? I wish I could find a way to make myself look younger like that..." asked Mirajane curiously.

"I don't know..." answered Hinata.

Immediately, the Hyuga clan member began to ponder what could that possibly mean.

Curious, she noticed that there was a missing person paper on the table.

"Hmm? A missing person?" asked the kunoichi.

"That's the third of our mages to go missing this week...I wonder where they went?" inquired Mirajane.

"Funny you should mention that...a missing person was the reason I came here... I was investigating the disappearance of a missing boy...and I found the interdimensional portal you were using." explained Hinata.

"Was it now?" inquired Mirajane.

"Of course, I was also looking for Naruto when I used that portal...and well, I managed to find him." said the kunoichi.

"Alright then." nodded the S-Class Mage.

At that very moment, Elfman decided to visit his older sister. He seemed particularly concerned about something.

"Hello there, brother!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Hey Mirajane. Have you heard about the missing mages?" inquired Elfman.

"Missing mages?" thought Hinata. Was there something rotten going on beneath the guild walls?

"Yes, I have. What could have happened to them all? Did they decide to simply abandon Fairy Tail without telling us? There have been a few members that have done so before..." questioned Mirajane.

Curious, Hinata began to wonder if she should try investigating. Since she had the Byakugan, she'd have an easier job than anyone else in the guild, right?

Shrugging, she decided to continue eating the flame on her torch for the time being...it was rather delicious and she could not help herself. Besides, it was starting to go out, and she didn't want it to go to waste.

"Mmm...tasty." murmured Hinata as she continued licking the flame.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, Shikamaru." said Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy? Shouldn't you be back home by now?" inquired the shadow ninja curiously.

"The interdimensional portal closed on me...along with Natsu." explained Lucy.

"Oh...sorry to hear that." answered Shikamaru.

"I sure hope Natsu and I can get back home soon..." noted the summoner mage.

"Yeah...sheesh, what is with that interdimensional portal? It sounds like such a drag..." questioned the shadow ninja.

"Yeah...I'm starting to feel the same way too. So, how are your friends doing?" asked Lucy.

"They're actually a couple now..." explained Shikamaru.

"What?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Yeah...they said that after they accidentally kissed each other on the lips in the pyramid something clicked..." explained the Naru clan member.

"Yeah...where was that pyramid anyway? I can't remember..." said Lucy.

"It was near a city called Ripoffubah...why?" inquired Shikamaru.

"OK..." answered the summoner kunoichi. Why would they name it something like that? For some strange reason, the name sounded rather familiar.

"So, how is your friend doing? He's probably not happy that he's in the same situation as you are..." asked Shikamaru.

"I think he's doing fine...do you know, where he is?" answered Lucy.

"I believe he went to talk to Neji..." answered the shadow ninja.

Lucy immediately went to look for Natsu.

Sure enough, he wasn't too far from where they were, as Lucy quickly discovered.

"So...you're saying that my cousin is all the way in an alternate world?" inquired Neji.

Natsu nodded.

"What am I going to do?" asked the Hyuga clan member in disbelief.

"I'm sorry..." apologized Natsu.

Immediately, Neji went to alert his uncle of the situation.

At that very moment, Kiba and Shino came by. They looked rather depressed.

Immediately, Lucy and Natsu introduced themselves to them.

"My name is Lucy. What's the matter?" asked Lucy.

"We were planning on going on a mission to search for what we believe may be buried treasure...but unfortunately we can't do it without Hinata..." explained Kiba.

"They say that she's completely disappeared off the face of Konoha..." continued Shino.

Immediately, Akamaru began to howl. He seemed rather depressed that Hinata was gone.

Curious, he noticed Lucy and Natsu, and began to bark at them. Apparently, he did not recognize them.

"Can I help you?" asked Natsu.

"That depends...do you have good tracking skills?" inquired Kiba.

"Well, I have the Byakugan." explained the fire mage.

Much to Kiba and Shino's surprise, as it turned out, Natsu could use that particular dojutsu.

"Where did you get that?" inquired Kiba. Somehow, he got the feeling that he wasn't a member of the Hyuga clan, as he did not have black hair. In fact, he was the only person he knew that happened to have pink hair.

"Through the wonders of magic, why?" asked Natsu.

Shino raised an eyebrow. Did he really obtain the Byakugan through magic? He thought that magic only existed in fairy tales.

"Do you think he can help us?" asked the bug user, still curious to how Natsu had managed to obtain the Byakugan.

"I think he likely could give us a hand...why are you asking?" asked the dog user.

"Ruff!" barked Akamaru.

"Alright...we have no idea how you managed to get that Byakugan when you aren't a Hyuga clan member...but you can come along." said Shino.

"Can I come too? Natsu's new to doing missions for Konoha...though admittedly they're similar to those back home." asked Lucy.

"OK...you can come along too...but do you have any skills when it comes to reconnaissance?" inquired Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Well, I can summon animals." explained the kunoichi.

"That will do then." nodded Kiba.

"Where are we going?" asked Natsu.

"To a cavern across the sea..." explained Shino.

"Wait, won't we have to use a boat?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes, we will." nodded Kiba.

"I better get my barf bag then..." noted the fire mage.

"Hmm?" asked Shino.

"He suffers from motion sickness." explained Lucy.

"Alright then..." nodded the bug user.

_Meanwhile..._

Once again, Erza and Gray were going on a mission.

"I have to admit...it's going to be rather depressing not going on a mission with Natsu for a while..." noted the ice mage.

"Don't you always fight with him whenever you go on a mission together?" asked Erza.

As it turned out, Erza was wearing her Ice Empress suit of armor for this mission...which oddly enough somewhat resembled her Lightning Empress armor. The sword in question happened to resemble ice as well.

"Yes, but we're still friends, aren't we? We've known each other for ages!" exclaimed Gray.

"True..." nodded Erza.

At that very moment, Naruto and Hinata came in.

"Hey there, you two. How are you doing? Are you here to accept a mission too?" inquired Erza.

"Who is this?" inquired Hinata.

"This is the prettiest girl in the w-I mean Erza!" exclaimed Naruto.

Curious, Hinata noticed that Naruto's cheeks turned red when he mentioned her name.

Immediately, Hinata told Erza her name and shook her hand.

"I decided to nickname her Phoenix..." explained Gray.

"Pleased to meet you...Phoenix." said Erza.

"So, what mission are you two doing?" inquired Hinata.

"We're heading to a village by the name of Icevale so that we can help them with their problems, seems they're suffering from some sort of monster, whoever that may be..." explained the ice mage.

"Yikes..." noted the Hyuga clan member.

"Of course, now that I think of it...I think you would be perfect for that sort of mission." explained Gray.

"Really? How come?" asked the kunoichi.

"You have Natsu's fire magic, don't you? That means you'll plow through whatever ice monsters you come across...and I don't think you'd even need a coat, to be honest. Then again, I know I won't." said Gray.

"Oh yeah..." nodded Hinata. She had to admit, while she was a bit frightened of the fire magic at first, she quickly began to realize just how useful it was.

Of course, it still was going to be a long story to tell to her father and cousin...but she felt that she could live through that. She did survive using an interdimensional portal, didn't she?

"Can I come with? I've just been reunited with her, and, well..." explained Naruto.

"Yes, you can." nodded Erza.

"Yes!" exclaimed the genin.

Immediately, the foursome set out to the village to help them with their problems...after Naruto put on a coat that Mirajane had generously provided him, of course.

Of course, this particular coat had the picture of a kitten on it and was overall rather feminine(and pink, no less)...but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"There...now I won't freeze to death...thank you, Mirajane!" thought the ninja.

As it turned out, it was north of Fairy Tail.

"It's good to see that these missions have been rather close to the guild so far...I have to admit though...first a jungle, now a tundra?" inquired Naruto.

"I know...Fiore's environment seems to be going a bit crazy as of late." explained Erza.

"Sorry to hear that..." answered the ninja.

Immediately, the four Fairy Tail mages entered the tundra.

It was time for another mission.

_Well, here's the latest chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!_

_In the next chapter, Lucy, Natsu, Shino, and Kiba are going to search for treasure..unaware that someone else wants the treasure as well._

_Oh, and Hinata, Naruto, Gray, and Erza are going to head to Icevale so that they can deal with what's ailing the villagers..._


	9. Chapter 9: Shiver Me Timbers

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...our heroes are going to continue their missions...as before they're going to end up in some rather crazy situations. That's what you want, right?_

_I hope you enjoy!_

**Chapter 9: Shiver Me Timbers**

Naruto, Hinata, Gray, and Erza entered the frozen tundra that lead to Icevale. Sure enough, it was very cold, and Naruto was glad that he had brought a coat.

Personally, he began to wonder what a village was doing out in the cold like this. Wouldn't they want to live somewhere warmer?

Then again, he had visited a jungle earlier that also happened to contain a village...so who was he to judge?

"How many villages are there in your world, anyway? At home we have at least five of them..." inquired the genin.

"Speaking of which, this does actually remind me a bit of my home..." noted Gray, who began to frown.

"Does it now?" asked Erza.

"It sure does." nodded the ice mage. Already, he was feeling homesick.

Immediately, Gray began to take his shirt off, causing Hinata to raise an eyebrow.

"Why is Gray taking his shirt off? Isn't it freezing?" inquired the kunoichi.

"He has a habit of taking off his clothes...he in particular doesn't like wearing a shirt." explained Naruto.

"Why not?" asked Hinata.

"Maybe he thinks he's too sexy for it?" inquired the genin.

"Maybe..." answered Erza.

"That's better! Let's get going now." said Gray.

"How are we going to get to the village anyway? Did you bring a map like before?" inquired Naruto.

As it turned out, Erza did do so.

"Right...according to this map, there's a cable car that we can use to get directly to the village and back..." explained the S-Class mage.

"Really? That's awfully convenient for us." noted Gray.

"I guess they must have known that they were going to receive visitors." questioned Naruto.

Sure enough, there was a cable car in question that lead directly to the village.

However, as Hinata saw the cable car...she began to feel a bit...ill.

"Is something the matter, Hinata?" inquired Naruto.

"Huh? It's nothing." answered Hinata.

Immediately, the four of them began to enter the cable car, and it began to direct them towards the village.

"I have to admit, it sure is nice to get to use this cable car to get to the village...rather than have to go on foot like we did for our last mission." noted Naruto.

"Yeah...isn't that rather convenient for us." nodded Erza.

"Icevale, here we come!" exclaimed Gray.

However, at that very moment, Naruto began to notice that Hinata's face looked a little...green. She also happened to be clutching her stomach. Did she have a stomachache?

"Ugh...my stomach..." said the kunoichi.

"Are you OK, Hinata?" inquired the ninja.

Suddenly, Hinata began to vomit, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sure enough, she appeared to be rather ill.

Gray immediately raised an eyebrow. Why did he get the feeling that he had seen this before?

"What's going on?!" bellowed the genin.

As it turns out, Erza knew the answer.

"Oh dear...I think you've inherited more than Natsu's fire magic, Phoenix..." said the Requip mage.

"What?" inquired Hinata curiously.

"You see, Natsu happened to suffer from motion sickness that affected him whenever he tried using a method of transporation...a car, a truck, a motorbike, you name it." explained Erza.

"I see..." nodded the kunoichi.

"Of course, now that you've become his interdimensional partner, you seemed to have inherited that from him as well." continued the S-Class mage.

"Ugh..." murmured Hinata. That was rather unfortunate.

"It's OK, Hinata! We'll be off this cable car in no time...we won't make you use one again..." said Naruto.

"But how will we get back?" inquired the kunoichi.

"We're ninja! We can just jump across the tundra...Erza and Gray can use the cable car again and we'll all be happy." explained Naruto.

"Good idea..." nodded Gray.

"Let's hope that works..." said Hinata, who at this point was lying on the floor.

Suddenly, the cable car began to stop.

"Huh? Why are we stopping? I don't think we're at the village yet." explained Gray.

Oddly enough, Hinata seemed rather relieved by it.

"Thank goodness..." murmured the kunoichi.

"What could have stopped the cable car?" questioned Erza.

Curious, Naruto looked out one of the windows, and screamed in horror.

As it turned out, it was none other than what appeared to be the Abominable Snowman.

"It's the Abominable Snowman!" exclaimed the genin.

Curious, Erza looked out the window, and discovered that a Vulcan had latched onto their cable car.

"Well, we might be in trouble." noted the knight in shining armor.

Immediately, the Vulcan detached the cable car from its cable, causing Naruto, Hinata, Gray, and Erza to fall.

"Aah!" screamed Naruto.

"Whoa!" bellowed Hinata.

"Eek!" exclaimed Gray.

"Sheesh." murmured Erza.

Fortunately for our four heroes, none of them were terribly injured by the cable car crash, though it wasn't a pleasant experience nonetheless.

However, they still had to worry about the Vulcan, who was punching through the metal like nobody's business.

"We had better get ready to fight..." noted Naruto, pulling out a kunai.

"Right, of course." nodded Hinata, putting her hand on fire.

Gray immediately pulled out some icicles while Erza pulled out her ice sword.

Naruto began to summon shadow clones to attack the Vulcan. Sure enough, they seemed to hinder him...though unfortunately he was able to make them all explode into smoke with one punch each.

Unfortunately for Gray and Erza, they didn't seem to be doing much damage to the Vulcan.

"Why isn't my ice magic working?" inquired the ice mage.

Immediately, the Vulcan punched Gray and sent him flying.

"Waugh!" screamed Gray.

"Oh, dear." noted Erza. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be in too much pain, though admittedly he landed facefirst in the snow.

"Hmm...maybe I should try a different sword." noted the knight in shining armor.

On the other hand, Hinata's fire magic was doing quite nicely. In fact, it was making the Vulcan screech.

"I guess I really was made for this mission." though the kunoichi.

Curious, Erza tried switching out her Ice Empress sword with her Flame Empress sword before attacking the Vulcan again.

This worked surprisingly well. Once again, the sasquatch began to screech.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" inquired Erza.

"I'm still not hurting it..." noted Gray.

Immediately, Naruto hit the Vulcan with his Rasengan, causing it to collapse on the floor.

"Did we get it?" inquired the genin.

Thankfully, it appeared that they did.

"Wait...don't Vulcans usually travel in packs?" questioned Erza.

"We might want to get out of here then..." noted Hinata.

Sure enough, they began to hear what appeared to be howling in the distance.

Fortunately for Hinata, she was feeling a lot better now that she didn't have to use the cable car, and was able to leap across the snow with ease, much like Naruto himself.

Unfortunately for Gray and Erza, they did not have this sort of luxury.

"Wait for us!" demanded Gray.

"Don't leave us behind!" commanded Erza.

Naruto and Hinata sweatdropped.

"Oh that's right...you can't leap like we can, now can you?" inquired the ninja.

Oddly enough, Hinata did not feel motion sick when she leapt like a tiger.

"I guess it only occurs when I'm in vehicles..." thought the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

After picking up Gray and Erza so that they could get to Icevale, the four members of Fairy Tail found themselves at their destination.

"So, what's their problem?" asked Naruto curiously.

Sure enough, the mayor of the town made his appearance. He was wearing a top hat, a tuxedo, and a monocle, and also happened to be carrying a cane.

"Can we help you?" asked Gray.

"Yes, you can. My name is Ebemener Scourge." explained the mayor.

"Ebemener Scourge?" inquired Hinata.

"First of all, thanks for accepting my request...is there anything I can do for you?" inquired the man.

"Well, I'm kind of hungry." answered the kunoichi.

"Yes, yes! You can have something to eat." nodded the mayor.

"Sounds good..." noted Naruto.

Unfortunately, he got the feeling that the mayor did not have ramen, which was a shame, because he was looking forward to having some.

Fortunately, he was proven wrong.

"Yes!" exclaimed Naruto as he began to consume the ramen.

As it turns out, Erza was eating some cake...rather messily.

"Er, you might want to eat a bit more slowly, Erza...wouldn't want you to choke." suggested Naruto.

"You should tell that to your friend Hinata." answered Erza.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

As it turned out, Hinata had once again eaten about half the food on the table.

"Good grief, Hinata! It's only been a hour since we first went on this mission!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I know, Naruto. I've become such a glutton...I feel like Choji." noted Hinata.

"Just how much did you eat?!" exclaimed the genin.

"Well, I ate some turkey...I ate some ham...I ate some pudding...I ate two bananas...and I think I just ate the roast beef." answered Hinata.

"Sheesh!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah...I hope the mayor doesn't mind." noted the kunoichi.

Fortunately for the sake of the mayor's budget, Gray simply wanted an ice cream cone...which he had in bulk.

"I guess living in a snowy town has its perks. Then again, I should know." noted the ice mage.

Immediately, Gray began to sigh.

After they had finished eating (which due to Hinata took forever and a day), they decided to see what the mayor wanted from them.

Immediately, he showed them a picture of a horrible monster that oddly enough vaguely resembled Santa Claus. The monster in question dressed exactly like him...however, rather than wearing a red and white outfit, he was instead wearing a green and black outfit.

Also, his skin happened to be grey, his eyes happened to be red instead of white, his beard happened to be grey as well, and he had sharp claws on his hands instead of gloves.

"Yikes." thought Naruto.

Underneath the picture was the monster's name...which as it turns out was "Phanta Claws."

"Phanta Claws?" inquired Hinata curiously.

"I'm afraid he's terrorizing my people...he feeds my citizens to his flesh-eating reindeer, attacks them with his army of evil toys built by his army of evil elves, terrorizes children with his right-hand snowman Frosty the Mankiller, and puts coal in our stockings!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge.

"That's terrible..." noted Gray.

"Yes...I'm requesting you to slay this monster so that we can all sleep peacefully..." said the mayor.

"Sure...where can we find him?" inquired Naruto.

Ebemener Scrooge showed them a picture of his scary-looking factory with Phanta Claws' face carved onto it.

"Well, that factory certainly doesn't look pleasant..." murmured the genin.

"Please! We really need your help! We're never going to have a merry Christmas again with him around!" exclaimed the mayor.

"Right, of course." nodded Hinata.

"You can count on us!" bellowed Gray.

"Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I never thought that we'd get a mission that involved saving Christmas...but we will do as you say." spoke Erza.

Immediately, the foursome left the mayor's house, unaware that as they did so that a broad smile was beginning to appear on his face.

_Meanwhile..._

Shikamaru was pondering the events that had been unfolding lately. Not long after a girl from another world had entered his life, she had brought a friend with her.

He had to wonder...how exactly did interdimensional portals work, anyway? Did they really take people across from one world or another?

Personally he wanted to research them...he began to wonder just how many worlds there were anyway. Were there a dozen? A hundred? A thousand?

He began to recall how Lucy had inherited many of Naruto's abilities when she used the same interdimensional portal as he did, and began to wonder if he would become stronger if he used an interdimensional portal as well.

At that very moment, his sensei decided to pay you a visit.

"Hey there, Shikamaru! How are you doing as jonin? I'm very proud of you." said Asuma.

"I'm fine. Have you heard the news?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Yes. Naruto and Hinata have both vanished due to an interdimensional portal...and in their two place two strangers have arrived, am I correct?" explained the jonin.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Who would have thought something like this would happen one day?" asked the Nara clan member.

"I suppose there's some things about the universe that we don't understand..." nodded the sensei.

"I just hope that Naruto and Hinata are doing fine...Lucy and Natsu seem to be adapting well, at least. Then again, considering that Lucy and Natsu have inherited some of their abilities, they may have inherited some of theirs as well." noted Shikamaru.

"I actually didn't know that an interdimensional portal could do that..." questioned Asuma.

"We didn't even know that they existed until about a week ago..." answered the shadow ninja.

"True..." nodded Shikamaru's sensei.

"Would you like to play a game of shogi? Lucy actually managed to beat me a few times to be honest." explained the shadow ninja.

"She did? She must be a genius..." questioned Asuma.

"Well, from what I do know about her...she does seem to be rather smart." noted Shikamaru.

"Your move." said the Sarutobi clan member.

_Near the ocean..._

"So, this is the boat we're going to use? I have to admit, it looks fairly expensive..." spoke Lucy.

As it turned out, this particular boat was a frigate with several cannons on it in case the crew ever got attacked.

"Yeah...Lady Tsunade actually won this boat in a raffle...of course, a few days afterwards somebody TPed the Hokage Monument." explained Kiba.

"The Hokage Monument?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes, it's right over there." nodded Shino, pointing to where the monument was.

Sure enough, there was a mountain that had the faces of all the Hokages carved onto it, including Lady Tsunade.

"I wish we had a mountain like that back home..." noted the fire mage.

"Maybe we will some day." answered Lucy.

"She was actually going to sell this frigate for money...but we told her that she could make more money if we used it to look for buried treasure." explained Kiba.

"You'd be surprised what you can find out in the seas." noted Shino.

Immediately, the four entered the frigate. Already, Natsu was starting to vomit.

"Natsu, the boat hasn't even started moving yet!" exclaimed the mage.

"It hasn't?" inquired Natsu curiously.

Suddenly, the boat began to move, and the fire mage began to clutch his stomach.

"Ugh..." murmured the dragon slayer.

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't going to be a long trip...is it?" asked the mage.

"The island isn't too far from here...why do you ask?" inquired Shino.

"I just don't want Natsu to suffer too much..." answered Lucy.

"Look at all the stars...they're swirling around my head...isn't it beautiful?" inquired Natsu.

"Yeah...we might want to get there soon..." nodded Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

Fortunately for Natsu, it wasn't a long trip to the island, as Shino said. However, as they quickly discovered, they weren't the only ones searching for the treasure.

Suddenly, they began to hear noises coming from a nearby ship.

"Hmm?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Shino decided to take a look...and he immediately went to warn the rest of his group.

"We're in big trouble." warned Shino.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Suddenly, the mysterious ship began to fire cannonballs at them.

"Wah!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"Yarr!" bellowed the captain of the ship.

Curious, Lucy looked at the ship, and discovered that there was a pirate flag on top.

"We're under attack by pirates!" exclaimed the summoner kunoichi.

"I'm afraid that ninjas have been under attack by pirates for years." explained Shino.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Shino immediately handed Lucy a ninja history book, directing it towards the page showing a boy wearing a straw hat, a sleeveless red vest, and blue trousers with a monkey-like face strangling none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who was strangling him in return.

"How did he get into this history book?" questioned the kunoichi.

"I'm not quite sure, to be honest." answered Shino.

"Did he use time travel? I believe you warned him not to try that..." noted Kiba.

"It's true, I did." nodded the bug user.

"I'm afraid ninjas and pirates never seem to get along..." said the dog user.

"Ruff." murmured Akamaru.

At that very moment, their sailor decided to jump overboard.

"Every man for himself!" exclaimed the seaman.

"Some sailor he was." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately, this left them without anybody to steer the boat, leaving them a sitting duck against the pirate ship.

"What do we do? We're going to sink if we keep letting them shoot us!" bellowed Kiba.

"One of us is going to have to steer the ship so that we can avoid the cannonballs..." answered Shino.

Lucy sighed.

"I guess I'll volunteer." answered the mage.

Immediately, she grabbed onto the steering wheel and began to move away from the pirate ship.

Unfortunately, the pirate ship continued to pursue them.

"Don't let the landlubbers get away!" bellowed the pirate captain.

Curious, Natsu decided to use his Byakugan to see how many pirates were on the ship. As it turned out, there were about a dozen.

"Uh-oh..." thought the fire mage.

Oddly enough, one of the pirates happened to have blood on his beard...incidentally, he appeared to be the captain.

"Hmm...that pirate captain has blood on his beard." noted Natsu.

"What?" inquired Kiba.

As Shino explained to Natsu, it was none other than the notorious pirate captain Captain Bloodbeard, whose beard was said to be stained with the blood of his many victims...as his name implied.

"I'm going to make ye all walk the plank! Have fun in Davy Jones' locker, ye landlubbers!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

Natsu's teeth immediately began to chatter. He was up against a cold-blooded nautical predator!

"Seeing though you have fire magic, maybe you could try setting the ship on fire? I heard that fire was the last thing that you would want on one of those..." suggested Kiba.

"Um, are you sure I can hit him from here? It's kind of far away..." asked Natsu nervously.

Shino raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm...Natsu may have inherited Hinata's lack of self-confidence..." explained the bug user.

"Lack of self-confidence?" inquired Lucy curiously as she tried to avoid the cannonballs.

"Well, back when we first met her, Hinata did not believe in herself. She believed that she wasn't going to help us and that she was only going to slow us down..." continued Shino.

"It was a shame...she was actually rather helpful towards us...we would have had a much harder time without her." noted Kiba.

Akamaru nodded.

"Of course, she beat a missing-nin to death with her bare hands the week before we ended up being separated from her, so maybe he'll eventually outgrow it. I don't know." answered the dog user.

"I can hope so." answered Lucy.

Reluctantly, Natsu tossed a fireball at the ship. Unfortunately, due to his prior seasickness and the fact that he no longer believed in himself, it wasn't nearly as powerful as it could have been.

Nonetheless, it was still able to do a fair amount of damage. The pirates frantically began to put out the fire, which was already beginning to spread.

At that very moment, Lucy decided to ask if there were any leaks on the boat.

Curious, Kiba decided to look down to check. So far there were three cannonball holes inside the ship's hull.

Sure enough, there was some water entering the boat. Natsu began to panic.

"We're going to drown! We're going to drown!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Not only has Natsu lost his confidence, he's become high-strung." noted Lucy.

"Looks that way." nodded Shino.

Fortunately, there was a bilge pump inside the boat that they could try to use to control the flooding. Kiba and Akamaru began to work together to help prevent the boat from sinking.

As for Shino, he decided to summon his bugs to see if they could provide him with some supplies to repair the ship with.

Thankfully, they were able to do so.

"Have we stopped the flooding?" inquired Kiba.

"I believe so...but they may be planning to fire at us again. Keep using the pump." warned Shino.

Kiba and Akamaru nodded while Shino repaired the ship. Oddly, they no longer heard the cannons firing.

Deciding to investigate, Shino discovered the pirates were still trying to put out the fire, and they weren't being attacked at the moment.

"That's fortunate." noted Shino.

Curious, the Abarume clan member recalled that the frigate had cannons of its own, and wondered if they should try launching a counterattack.

Unfortunately, though the cannons were already loaded (and had ammo to spare), there were no matches to light the cannons with.

"Why didn't they put some onboard?" wondered Shino.

Fortunately, he quickly realized that they had a remedy for that.

"Natsu, I would really appreciate it if you lit the cannons for us." said the bug user.

"But what if we miss?!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Natsu, if you just stand around and do nothing, these hooligans are going to sink our ship!" bellowed Lucy.

"OK..." answered the fire mage.

Immediately, Natsu lit the cannons, causing an extensive amount of damage to the already damaged ship.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Shino continued reloading the cannons while the fire mage reluctantly continued to light them, and eventually, the pirate ship sank into the depths of the ocean.

"Yes!" bellowed Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they weren't out of trouble yet. As it turns out, the pirates had brought lifeboats with them in case of an emergency.

"Ye landlubbers sunk me battleship! For that, yer gonna die!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"He sure is persistent." noted Lucy.

"Maybe we should look for a way to pop them? They look like they've been inflated." asked Shino.

Shrugging, the summoner kunoichi pressed her hand on the ground to see if she could summon sea creatures as well as land ones.

Fortunately, this was the case. Immediately, sharks began to attack the lifeboats, causing them to burst.

"Yaarrrr!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

To make matters worse for the pirate captain, three of his crew members could not swim.

"Help us!" screamed one of the pirates.

"We're drowning!" exclaimed another pirate.

"Save me!" screamed yet another pirate.

For a moment, Captain Bloodbeard considered helping them...only to find that they had already drowned.

Letting out a sigh, he commanded his crew to grapple the ship so that they could climb aboard.

"Incoming!" bellowed Shino.

"Oh no..." murmured Lucy.

"They've got swords! We're going to get cut to ribbons!" screamed Natsu.

Lucy sighed.

Fortunately, Kiba and Akamaru were able to detect the pirates due to their powerful sense of smell (who strangely enough happened to smell like seaweed), and they were able to join their friends in a battle royale.

At that very moment, Lucy let go of the steering wheel so that they could help her friends fight.

"Well, I guess it's time to show them who the real landlubbers are..." noted Lucy.

_Naruto and his friends have been sent on a mission to save Icevale from a Santa Claus-esque monster...and of course, Lucy and her friends are being attacked by pirates._

_In the next chapter, well, we're going to continue where we left off. Sound like a plan?_


	10. Chapter 10: Holiday Hijinxs

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Team Natsu (er, Team Naruto) is going to head towards Phanta Claws's factory in order to stop him from ruining Christmas...but it's not going to be a simple matter of punching him in the stomach and moving on with it. Otherwise this chapter wouldn't be very long..._

_And of course, Lucy, Natsu and Team 8 (sans Hinata, who oddly enough is part of the aforementioned team) are going to continue battling the pirates...and don't worry...they're not going to end up as zombies because the treasure is cursed...this is the world of ninja we're speaking of, not the world of magic._

_Also, Chiyoye is going to show up again...in case you haven't figured it out yet, she's up to no good._

**Chapter 10: Holiday Hijinxs**

Deciding to take a break from working on the interdimensional portal (which thankfully, she would be able to get operating again soon), Levy decided to read a book.

In this case, it was about Fairy Tail's history.

She had heard that more Fairy Tail recruits had disappeared...she was really starting to get rather worried. She hoped that the book would get her mind off of it.

She in particular was looking forward about reading about how Fairy Tail came to be.

"It's a bit hard to believe that we weren't nearly as big of a guild as we were today...but I suppose we all have to start somewhere." spoke the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"Do we now?" inquired a voice.

Curious, Levy looked around, and noticed that Chiyoye was standing a few feet away from her, much to her surprise.

"Chiyoye! You scared me!" exclaimed the bookworm.

"My apologies." answered the mage.

Levy immediately noticed that Fairy Tail's guild mark had been placed right over Chiyoye's forehead.

"So, is there anything you wanted me to help you with? In about half an hour from now I need to go see my teammates...they say that they wanted my help with something." asked Levy curiously.

"Oh, I just wanted to know what was behind that door." explained Chiyoye.

"Hmm?" inquired the mage.

Curious, the leader of Team Shadow Gear noticed that the mage was referring to the classified door not too far from where was sitting.

"Er, I'm afraid you can't go behind that door. Only S-Class Mages are allowed in there." explained Levy.

"Are they now?" inquired Chiyoye.

"Yes...the spellbooks inside that room were entrusted to us by the Magic Council themselves. They said that they would be dangerous if they ended up in the wrong hands...why do you ask?" asked the 17-year old.

"Oh, I was just wondering." answered the recruit.

"To be honest, our guildmaster assigned me as the leader of Team Shadow Gear...but he's still hesitant to let me in there...said that there were some books he didn't want anyone in this guild to have...not even Erza." explained Levy.

"Well, I'll be seeing you then..." nodded Chiyoye as she left the library.

"Hmm..." questioned the leader of Shadow Gear. Was she hiding something from her?

Shrugging, she decided to continue reading her book.

"You know...it's funny...our interdimensional portal happens to be the exact same color as our guild mark...what a coincidence." noted Levy.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Naruto and his friends, they had attracted an attention of a pack of wolves.

"I wonder why the wildlife keeps trying to kill us..." noted the genin.

"First the tiger, and now this..." questioned Erza.

"I'm starting to wish that my partner Kiba was here...he knows canines like the back of his hand." noted Hinata.

"Does he now?" inquired Gray.

Immediately, one of the canines bit Naruto in the hand.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the ninja.

"At this rate I'm going to get my shirt ripped off again..." thought the genin.

Fortunately, it appeared that the wolves weren't going to do them much harm...considering the fact that Hinata was summoning a flame barrier to protect them from their fangs.

"There...let's see them jump over that..." answered the kunoichi.

Sure enough, most of the wolves weren't willing to try doing so.

"Good thinking, Hinata." noted Gray.

"Yes...it looks like they're retreating." nodded Erza.

"Oddly they seem rather worried about something..." noted Naruto.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sounds of sleigh bells ringing.

"Huh? Is Phanta here?" inquired the genin.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to see if Phanta Claws was indeed coming.

However, as it turns out, it was simply some of his reindeer.

"He's not here Naruto. Just his reindeer." explained the kunoichi.

"Aww..." complained Naruto.

Curious, Hinata noticed that one of the reindeers had a rather peculiar-looking nose. It appeared to be...glowing.

"Hmm?" inquired the kunoichi.

Taking a closer look, Hinata discovered that the reindeer was charging for an attack.

"Everybody get down! Everybody get down!" warned Hinata.

Immediately, Erza and Gray took cover. Unfortunately, it appeared that Naruto had a bit of trouble catching on.

"I don't recall this being a dance floor..." questioned the genin.

Getting a bit...desperate, Hinata tackled Naruto to the ground.

It was not a moment too soon, as the shiny-nosed reindeer immediately shot a laser beam at the foursome.

"Thanks for warning us..." noted Gray.

"What kind of reindeer is that?!" bellowed Naruto.

"According to the mission guide, he is known as Rudolf the Laser-Shooting Reindeer...the other reindeer wouldn't let him play in their reindeer games because of his nose...so he began to violently kill them." explained Erza.

"That's rather petty, don't you think?" questioned Hinata.

"Yeah...it was specifically why he was chosen by Phanta to guide his sleigh...well, that, and the fact that he can shoot lasers out of his nose." continued the knight.

Sure enough, Rudolf was getting ready for another round of lasers...but thankfully our heroes were prepared this time.

However, he wasn't alone. Immediately, reindeer began to fly over the fire barrier.

"Oh, that's right...they can fly, can't they?" inquired Gray.

"Yes, they can." nodded Erza.

Immediately, the reindeer began to attack our heroes, hoping to devour their flesh.

"I can't believe Phanta Claws would use these ferocious creatures just to drive his sleigh..." noted Naruto.

"He's a psychopath." nodded Erza.

Sure enough, one of the reindeer tried to take a bite out of Gray's arm...who found himself being frozen for his trouble.

"Who would have thought that Christmas Eve was going to be such a nightmare?" questioned the ice mage.

"I know..." nodded Hinata.

More reindeer appeared...by the looks of it they were trying to trample them.

"Keep your distance!" warned Erza.

Curious, Naruto decided to see if he could summon anything that would give them an edge against man-eating reindeer.

Eventually, he came across a key that had the crest of the ram on it. Much like Aquarius's key, it happened to be golden.

"Here goes nothing." noted the genin.

Immediately, Aries appeared in a burst of yellow light.

"Greetings!" exclaimed Naruto.

Aries immediately noticed the man-eating reindeer looking at her hungrily. Apparently they were in the mood for lamb chops.

"Are you sure that I can take these reindeer on? They look rather...vicious." questioned the sheep.

"I'm starting to feel a strange sense of deja vu..." noted Hinata.

"Of course you can! You're a summon spirit!" exclaimed the genin.

"OK...I'll give it a shot. Wish me luck..." answered the ram spirit.

Immediately, Aries used her Wool Bomb technique, which utterly devastated the reindeer. She immediately let out a sigh of relief.

"Will you help us defeat Phanta Claws?" inquired Naruto.

"Who is Phanta Claws?" inquired the ram spirit curiously.

"A ferocious monster...who happens to look somewhat like Santa." answered the genin.

"Sorry, I can't do it." answered the spirit.

"Very well..." sighed Naruto as he recalled his summon. It looks like he was going to have to use another summon spirit if he wanted to continue fighting Phanta Claws.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Rudolf was now going to deal with them himself. He immediately flew over the fire barrier and begin to fire a barrage of laser beams at them.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Gray. Those lasers burned his skin.

"Ugh..." murmured Hinata. That was one tough reindeer.

Oddly enough, Rudolf happened to remind her of somebody that she knew...though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

At that very moment, the laser-firing reindeer began to charge up another laser.

However, this time Erza was prepared.

"Let's see how he likes a shield with a reflective surface..." said the knight in shining armor.

Immediately, she used her shield to deflect the laser right back at Rudolf...

...who collapsed on the floor in a heap.

"I guess he won't be bothering us anymore." noted Naruto.

"Let's keep going." agreed Gray.

Immediately, the foursome continued to Phanta's Factory.

_Meanwhile..._

"Yer no match for me crew, ye landlubbers!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard as he drew his sword.

"We're not letting you take our ship!" exclaimed Kiba.

"Arf!" bellowed Akamaru.

"Why does he keep calling us landlubbers?" asked Lucy curiously.

"He sure loves saying that word..." noted Shino.

"I'm scared!" bellowed Natsu.

"To be honest, we all are at some level. They're total lunatics." nodded the summoner mage.

"Attack!" bellowed the pirate captain.

Immediately, the pirates began to swing their swords at the crew. In retaliation, Shino began attacking the pirates with his bugs.

"This is worse than when we got scurvy!" bellowed one of the pirates.

"Get them off me! Get off!" exclaimed another pirate.

"I normally use those bugs for espionage...but since we're under attack by bloodthirsty criminals..." noted Shino.

At that very moment, Captain Bloodbeard lunged towards Kiba.

Thankfully, Akamaru stopped him by biting him into his right leg...as his left leg was a pegleg.

"Yeowch! Get him, Patchy!" screamed the captain.

At that very moment, a parrot began attacking Akamaru, who began to howl. The bird was surprisingly ferocious.

Realizing that her friends (both old and new) needed her help, Lucy began to summon animals to attack the pirates.

In this case, they were a pack of sea lions.

"Yarr! What in Davy Jones' locker?!" screamed the pirates as the sea lions began to attack them.

Oddly enough, the sea lions were bouncing the pirates around on their noses.

"Well, that should keep them busy..." noted Lucy.

However, at that very moment, a pirate with thick, bulging muscles (who may or may not have been on steroids) grabbed the summoner mage so that she couldn't move.

"Let go of me, you pervert!" screamed the kunoichi.

"Hahaha!" laughed the pirate.

Fortunately for Lucy, she always had a certain fire mage to help her out whenever she ended up in terrible situations...

...or did she?

However, as it turned out, Natsu was cowering in fear.

"If the big fish don't give me, the sea will! They're going to make me walk the plank for sure!" bellowed the fire mage.

"Natsu...um, can you do me a favor? This pirate is kind of...squeezing the breath out of me." asked Lucy curiously.

"But he'll beat me up!" exclaimed Natsu.

"You're one of our best mages...a measly pirate shouldn't be a match for you!" answered the summoner mage.

"Are you sure?" asked the fire mage.

Lucy nodded.

His hands trembling, Natsu punched the pirate in the face.

"Aargh!" screamed the raider.

Naturally, this freed the summoner mage from his iron grip.

"Thanks..." answered Lucy.

Natsu returned to cowering in fear, causing the kunoichi to sigh.

Fortunately for the quartet, it appeared that the pirates had decided to retreat for the time being using their emergency lifeboats.

"We'll be back later, ye landlubbers!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"I'm getting tired of you calling me that." answered Lucy.

Sure enough, Patchy the Parrot returned to his master once more.

"How long do you think they'll be gone?" inquired Kiba.

"They might be planning on returning once they're learned where they can locate the treasure." suggested Shino.

"I see..." nodded Lucy.

"We had better make sure we're ready then." nodded Kiba.

"Ruff!" agreed Akamaru.

"Right...of course..." nodded Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, this is the factory...it's even scarier than it was in the picture that Ebemener Scourge gave us..." spoke Naruto.

"Yes, I know..." nodded Hinata.

Sure enough, there was a large amount of smoke coming out from the pipes in the chimney.

"Not doing favors for the environment, now is it?" questioned Erza.

"We might want to get an umbrella in case they're acid rain." nodded Gray.

"Say, do you hear something?" asked Naruto curiously.

At that very moment, Frosty the Mankiller jumped down in front of them.

Immediately, he let out a roar, causing the teenage ninja to gasp.

"It's Frosty the Mankiller!" screamed the genin.

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"Does he kill women too?" inquired the kunoichi.

Hinata's question was answered when Frosty tried to rip her face off.

"Sheesh." thought the Hyuga clan member.

Unfortunately, Frosty the Mankiller was not alone. Evil snowmen began to pop out of the ground.

"I wish we had a snowblower right about now. To think I built some of these when I was a child..." noted Gray.

"Talk about irony." agreed Erza.

Immediately, the evil snowmen began to attack the foursome.

"Who would have thought that snowballs would be so painful?" questioned Naruto as he began to duck and cover.

Fortunately, Hinata was able to melt the snowmen...but more of them kept on coming.

Curious, she began to wonder if she should try attacking Frosty directly. He was the snowman summoning them, after all.

Unfortunately, much to her surprise, her fire attacks didn't seem to be harming him much. He simply used the snow around him to heal himself whenever he found himself wounded.

"This is becoming a war of attrition..." noted Erza as she continued cutting through the snowmen.

Suddenly, Hinata noticed that Frosty was wearing what appeared to be a magical hat. Maybe she should try attacking there?

It seemed as good of an idea as any, as her friends were rapidly being overwhelmed by the snowmen. Naruto was running away from a snowman driving a zamboni, Gray was (strangely enough) being terrorized by a snowman with a snowblower, and last but not least, Erza was being run over by a snowman driving a snow plow.

"I guess it's up to me." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she tossed a fireball at Frosty's hat.

The hat immediately fell on the floor...which caused the snowman to revert back into normal.

Consequently, this caused the other snowmen to turn back to normal as well...much to the relief of Hinata's teammates.

"That was close..." noted Naruto. Who would have thought that they were going to be attacked by killer snowmen?

Curious, Hinata noticed that there appeared to be evil magic radiating from Frosty's hat, and began to pick it up curiously.

"Here's hoping he doesn't end up possessing my body..." thought the kunoichi.

Fortunately, nothing like that happened...in fact, the evil magic inside the hat began to disappear.

"That's a relief." noted Hinata.

Curious, she decided to put the hat back on Frosty again...who oddly enough did not seem to be much of a mankiller anymore.

Immediately, he began to hop away.

"That was strange..." noted Gray.

"At least he won't be bothering Icevale anymore...hopefully." answered Naruto.

Erza opened the door to Phanta's workshop.

"What exactly are we going to find in here?" thought the magic knight.

Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

_Meanwhile..._

After entering the island where the treasure was allegedly located, the foursome began to search for the treasure.

Kiba and Akamaru used their powerful sense of smell, Shino used his bugs, Lucy used her summons, and Natsu...well, he mostly cried like a baby.

"C'mon Natsu! I'm sure we can find the treasure if you help us!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"But what if we don't?!" exclaimed the fire mage.

Lucy sighed.

"Don't tell me you're giving up this easily..." answered the summoner.

"Fine...but don't expect me to succeed in finding it..." answered Natsu as he began to use his enhanced senses.

Immediately, they entered the cavern...and were attacked by a flock of bats. Well, Shino was anyway.

"I'm starting to question having so many bugs inside me is really such a good idea." noted the bug user.

"Yeah..." nodded Kiba as he began to help his comrade fend off the flying mammals.

"Why are bats the only mammals that can fly?" inquired Lucy as she began to summon some owls.

"That's a question that I'm not quite sure of myself." nodded Shino.

"These bats are scaring me..." noted Natsu.

Immediately, the owls began to attack the bats, causing them to retreat.

"It's a good thing that bats have natural predators..." acknowledged Lucy.

"Yes." agreed Shino.

"Now that I think of it...it is rather dark in here." noted Kiba.

"I'm scared!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Then use your fire as a torch." answered Lucy.

Natsu immediately set his hand on fire to light up the cave.

"That's better." nodded Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru. Personally he never really had to rely on his sight to begin with...he just had to use his hearing and his sense of smell.

Nonetheless, he was glad that they had a light source. That way, they wouldn't have any...accidents.

Curious, the foursome continued into the cavern to see if they could find anything that would lead them to the treasure.

However, as it turns out, there were some...boobytraps.

"This is the pyramid all over again!" thought Lucy.

Immediately, a boxing glove emerged from the ground and punched Kiba in the stomach.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the dog user.

Akamaru whimpered out of concern for his master.

"We might want to proceed...slowly." noted Shino.

"Are we going to die?" asked Natsu.

"I would like to think that we aren't." answered Lucy.

Already, sweat was beginning to fall down the fire mage's face.

"I'm starting to wonder what I should tell my guildmates if I ever get back home..." thought the kunoichi.

If this kept up, Natsu wasn't going to want to go on missions...and everyone was going to suffer for it.

Hopefully he would eventually turn back to his old self...or at least stop being so frightened all the time.

At that very moment, a can of bug spray appeared and sprayed itself in Shino's face.

"Agh!" exclaimed the bug user.

"Shino! Are you OK?" asked Kiba.

"I think so...who would have thought that they would have a bug spray trap?" inquired the Abarume clan member.

"They must be prepared for everything..." noted Lucy.

At that very moment, a metallic hand appeared and tried to tear at the kunoichi's dress.

"No thanks." answered the kunoichi.

Oddly enough, she had not actually suffered any real clothing damage since she had gotten to the world of ninja. Did she transfer that to someone else? If so, she was starting to feel sorry for them.

"I sure hope that they're doing OK..." noted Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

Lady Tsunade was standing inside the Hyuga clan household, where Hiashi Hyuga and his nephew were sitting. She was trying to explain to Hiashi Hyuga what had happened to his beloved daughter.

"What?! Are you saying she's stranded in some sort of alternate world?!" exclaimed Hiashi.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Tsunade.

"This is terrible..." answered the Hyuga clan leader.

"I sure hope that she comes back soon..." agreed Neji. He was personally hoping that Hinata's latest mission was going to be a success...which it technically was.

"The interdimensional portal may have saved her life, however...as you may be well-aware of, the two ANBU members that accompanied her were found dead, as well as the missing child." explained Tsunade.

"It did?" inquired Hiashi.

"Yes...I believe she used it a few moments before the ANBU members were attacked...she apparently wanted to look for Naruto." explained Tsunade.

"They were like brother and sister, weren't they?" asked the leader of the Hyuga clan.

"Also, due to the magic of the interdimensional portal...somebody who isn't part of your clan has inherited the Byakugan." continued the kunoichi.

"They have?" inquired Hiashi Hyuga.

"Yes...in Hinata's stead we have a young man by the name of Natsu Dragneel...we believe that he has inherited his Byakugan from her..." explained Tsunade.

"Has he now?" asked Neji curiously.

"Yes...as such, we sent him on a mission along with Hinata's teammates..." continued the Fifth Hokage.

"Did you?" asked the head of the Hyuga clan.

"Since he was new to being a ninja, we brought his friend from this mysterious world...a young lady by the name of Lucy Heartfilia...who oddly enough has several similarities to your daughter." explained Tsunade.

"Really?" asked Neji.

Tsunade immediately handed Neji a paper detailing Lucy Heartfilia's life story...which she had handed her a day earlier to tell her more about herself.

"I'm scared..." noted the Hyuga clan member.

"Let me see that, Neji." answered Hiashi.

Neji nodded as he handed his uncle the paper.

"Hmm...are you sure that she and my daughter weren't separated at birth?" inquired the head of the Hyuga clan curiously.

"Well, we don't know everything about the interdimensional portals yet. This is still rather new to us." noted Tsunade.

"I see..." nodded Hiashi.

"I just wanted to let you know this in case you ever decided to search for her..." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"I just hope that she returns soon..." answered the head of the Hyuga clan.

"If we can find out how to make an interdimensional portal...she probably will." nodded Tsunade.

"Good luck then." nodded Hiashi.

Immediately, the Fifth Hokage left the Hyuga household.

"How did it go?" asked Shizune.

"I don't think he will be declaring war on us to try to get her back...so I think it went well." answered Tsunade.

Shizune let out a sigh of relief.

"Say, what's Shikamaru doing?" inquired Tsunade's apprentice.

As it turns out, he was trying to create an interdimensional portal of his own. Unfortunately, it appeared that he couldn't create one big enough for Lucy and Natsu to fit through.

"Can I help you?" asked Tsunade.

"I'm trying to see if I can use my chakra to travel across dimensions..." answered Shikamaru.

"How is that going for you?" inquired the Fifth Hokage.

"I've only been able to create small ones unfortunately...so far I've only managed to send a few small objects across." explained the ninja.

_Meanwhile..._

"Ow!" exclaimed Makarov.

Something had hit him on the head...

"Where did that come from?" asked the guildmaster curiously.

For some strange reason, he kept finding litter in his office. Since when was his office so filthy?

He could have sworn that he had cleaned it up yesterday. Was someone breaking in and messing up the place?

"I might need to have a talk with my guild..." questioned Makarov.

_Back to the world of ninja..._

"Let us know if you make any progress." said Tsunade.

Shikamaru nodded.

"I sure hope that we can get Naruto and Hinata back..." spoke Shizune.

"So do I." nodded the Fifth Hokage.

"It feels like forever since we've seen the two of them..." noted Tsunade's apprentice.

"Yes...Sakura in particular is very upset about all this. She feels that this is somehow all her fault. She said that she punched him in the face a few days before he disappeared..." answered the Sannin.

"How would it be her fault?" inquired the apprentice.

Tsunade shrugged. It was rather surprising what people would blame on themselves.

"Why exactly did she punch Naruto, anyway?" asked Shizune.

"She caught him staring at a picture of a pretty girl in a bikini." explained Tsunade.

"Yikes..." murmured the kunoichi.

"Then again, I did break both of Jiraiya's legs for spying on me while I was in the shower." noted the Sannin.

"Sheesh...I don't want to make you angry." acknowledged Shizune.

"Believe me, you wouldn't like me when I was angry." nodded Tsunade.

"Er, do you want me to do you a favor? Just ask me and I'll do it!" exclaimed the apprentice.

"No thank you. I just want to get some sleep..." explained the Sannin.

"Right, of course! I'll prepare your bed for you!" exclaimed Shizune.

"Really, I'm fine." answered Tsunade.

"I'll...er, see you later!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Tsunade waved farewell to Shizune as she went to bed.

"I just hope that wherever Naruto and Hinata are...they're doing alright." noted the Sannin.

_Well, it looks like our heroes are still working on their missions...will they be able to succeed once again? Then again, they always seem to succeed in what they do...they're so good at being heroic._

_But what exactly is Chiyoye planning?_

_See you later!_


	11. Chapter 11: Pirate vs Ninja

Ninja Tail 11

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to enter Phanta Claws's factory so that they can stop Phanta from ruining Christmas...only to discover a rather shocking secret about him._

_Oh, and Lucy (as well as Team 8) are going to adventure into the cavern...but of course Captain Bloodbeard and his fearsome crew are going to be following them..._

**Chapter 11: Pirate vs. Ninja**

Erza, Gray, Hinata, and Naruto entered the factory...which as they discovered was full of scary-looking toys.

"What exactly has he been building in here?" questioned Gray.

"Well, Ebemener did warn us that he was building evil toys..." noted Hinata.

"He clearly isn't right in the head." acknowledged Erza.

"I don't know...I think that this teddy bear is kind of cute." spoke Naruto as he picked up a cute-looking teddy bear.

Suddenly, the teddy bear tried to bite him in the hand, causing him to scream.

"Aah!" exclaimed the genin.

Shortly afterwards, the evil toys began to come to life.

"We might want to run..." noted Gray.

Nodding, the foursome decided to head deeper into the factory so that they could find Phanta.

Instead, they found what appeared to be elves making evil toys.

"So...is this their assembly line?" inquired Naruto.

Oddly enough, the elves had gray skin like their master...and were wearing red instead of green.

"We might want to...avoid getting their attention." noted Hinata.

At that very moment, Gray sneezed...causing the elves to start paying attention to them.

"Curse my freaking allergies!" bellowed the ice mage.

The elves immediately began to arm themselves...with candy cane swords, explosive christmas ornaments, gingerbread cookie flamethrowers, and oddly enough, reindeer antlers.

And speaking of reindeer...there were more reindeer waiting to eat their flesh.

"What are we going to do?" inquired Naruto.

Getting a bit...desperate, Hinata used her Byakugan to look for a way out of their situation.

Sure enough, there was an exit nearby...but it lead directly to Phanta Claws, who was loading his sleigh.

"I'm afraid that we need to hurry..." explained the kunoichi.

"Is it Phanta?" inquired Gray.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Hinata.

"We'll hold them off! You two keep on going!" exclaimed Erza.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded Naruto.

Immediately Naruto and Hinata leapt away while the evil elves approached the two Fairy Tail mages.

"So...how long do you think we can hold them off?" asked Gray.

"I've been in battles just like this before...I think we'll be fine." answered Erza.

Suddenly, one of the elves tossed a Christmas ornament bomb at the duo.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Then again...they do have explosives." noted the knight.

As it turns out, Phanta Claws was getting ready to take off...taking a minute to view his naughty list.

Much to Hinata's surprise, everyone in Icevale appeared to be on that list...except for Ebemeaner Scourge himself.

"How very odd..." questioned the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Phanta began to take off on his sleigh, forcing Hinata and Naruto to jump inside to stop him.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" bellowed the evil Santa.

Immediately, Naruto and Hinata braced themselves as the sleigh lifted off into the sky.

"Here's hoping that we don't fall to our deaths..." noted Hinata.

"Isn't the ground covered with snow?" inquired Naruto.

"It may not break our falls, Naruto...we might end up breaking our necks instead." explained the kunoichi.

"Oh, right..." nodded the genin.

At that very moment, Phanta Claws noticed them.

"What the-you two rascals get off my sleigh!" bellowed the evil Santa.

Immediately, Phanta began to try to push them off.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Oof!" bellowed Hinata as she was knocked to the ground.

"I'm going to give Icevale a very special Christmas this year...and you two aren't going to stop me!" bellowed the evil Santa.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy suddenly noticed that there appeared a piano in the cavern, for some strange reason, and began to wonder what was going on.

"What is this old piano doing here?" inquired the kunoichi.

Curious, Lucy decided to look at the instructions to see what she needed to do.

"Play the music correctly or else you will die...well, good thing I happen to know how to play a piano..." noted the mage.

"I hope you're correct..." answered Natsu.

Curious, Lucy noticed that there was also a music sheet in front of the piano detailing which song to play...as well as an added note.

"Three guesses to which movie the author is referencing...er, I'm not sure what that means." noted the kunoichi.

Shrugging, Lucy began to play the piano...but unfortunately, she made a mistake.

At that very moment, a heavy sandbag nearly fell on Shino.

"Be careful." warned the bug user.

"Sorry, my finger slipped." answered Lucy.

Once again, the kunoichi continued to play the piano. Immediately, the door to the treasure room began to open.

However, at that very moment, Kiba began to smell something.

"You might want to hurry, Lucy. I sense that the pirates are on their way here..." explained the dog user.

Akamaru began to howl.

"What?!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, the fire mage began to use his Byakugan to see if Kiba was correct. Sure enough, the pirates were making their way towards their location...and this time they were carrying guns.

"Finish the song! Or we're going to die!" bellowed the fire mage.

Unfortunately, Lucy made another mistake, causing a boxing glove to punch Kiba in the stomach.

"Ugh...my lunch..." murmured the dog user.

"How many booby traps are connected to this piano?" inquired Lucy curiously as she continued to play the instrument.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata and Naruto continued trying to stop Phanta Claws...who unfortunately was having his reindeer do some rather impressive tricks with his sleigh to shake them off.

However, at that very moment, Hinata remembered something important.

"Oh, that's right...I have motion sickness now. I shouldn't be jumping into people's sleighs..." noted the kunoichi.

Feeling rather sick, Hinata eventually began to vomit.

"Ugh..." murmured the Hyuga clan member.

And as it turned out, she had vomited on Phanta Claws's face.

"Whoops?" inquired Hinata.

"Aargh! I can't see!" bellowed the evil version of Santa.

At that very moment, Phanta lost his grip on the reindeer's reins, and he began to fall off the sleigh.

"No no no!" bellowed the evil version of Santa as he fell.

Unfortunately, this left the sleigh completely out of control...and it began to fall.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Oh boy..." murmured Hinata.

Fortunately for Hinata, she landed on the snow sitting down.

"That was rather lucky..." noted the kunoichi.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he crashed into the ground head-first and was buried up to his waist.

"Where did everybody go?!" exclaimed the genin.

Thankfully, Hinata pulled Naruto out of the snow.

"Thank you..." answered the ninja.

"Well, do you think we stopped Phanta?" inquired Hinata.

"I think so...how is he going to deliver those evil toys without his sleigh?" asked Naruto.

"I suppose...but what if he survived the fall?" asked the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Phanta began to emerge from the snow. He seemed rather...angry.

Then again, considering his reindeer had run off and his sleigh had been wrecked, this wasn't much of a surprise.

"Somebody's been very naughty..." said the evil version of Santa as he pulled out a snowball launcher.

"I guess we're going to have to beat the Christmas cookies out of him..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, Hinata and Naruto got ready to rumble.

_Meanwhile..._

Using his cryokinetic abilities to make several ice weapons, Gray began to fight off the evil elves.

Likewise, Erza was using her sword to thin their herds as much as possible.

Unfortunately, they simply would not leave them alone. They kept on coming. In fact, more and more of their adversaries were beginning to reveal themselves.

They were a rather diverse bunch, to say the very least. Not only did the army include evil elves, it also included evil snowmen (much like the ones Frosty the Mankiller had sent earlier before Hinata found a way to purify him), more of the flesh-eating reindeer, as well as more of the evil toys.

The evil toys themselves included airplanes that dropped explosives on them, action figures that were armed with miniature firearms (including lasers of all things), vehicles that tried to run them over (many of which were being driven by said action figures, including Barbie of all toys), more of the evil teddy bears, a doll that tried to stab Gray in the face, and a jack-in-the-box that happened to be explosive.

"How many of you are there?" bellowed Gray.

"Enough for all the children in the world...or at least for Icevale." explained one of the elves.

"Well, that's not a good sign..." noted Erza. Icevale was rather large for a town in the middle of the tundra.

"How long do you think we'll be able to hold them off?" inquired the ice mage.

"Hopefully enough for Naruto and Phoenix to deal with their leader..." answered the knight in shining armor.

Shrugging, Gray decided that he should keep on fighting as long as he could...even if the odds were stacked against him and Erza.

However, at this point, they were already starting to lose ground. It was only a matter of time before Gray and Erza would end up reaching each other's backs.

At that very moment, an elf came by wielding a chainsaw...which had red and green stripes on it for some particular reason.

"Yeehaw!" bellowed the elf as he began to charge towards Erza.

Thankfully, the knight in shining armor was able to send him packing...but not before giving her a small cut on her cheek.

"Oh great...I'm starting to bleed." noted Erza.

"That's not a good sign, is it?" asked Gray.

"No, it is not." nodded the knight in shining armor.

Shortly afterwards, an elf threw some hail at Gray, who began to experience irony.

"Ow! Why can't I be immune to my own element like Natsu is?" inquired the ice mage.

"Didn't you train to become resistant to the cold?" asked Erza curiously.

"I didn't develop resistance to blunt objects..." answered Gray.

"I see..." nodded the knight in shining armor.

_Meanwhile..._

Fortunately for Lucy and Team 8, the former was successfully able to play the piano without anyone suffering too many injuries.

Oddly enough, Lucy noticed that the song in question was "Never Gonna Give You Up"...which she had the urge to sing to Shikamaru.

"I wonder why?" inquired the summoner mage.

Curious, she began to wonder what he was currently doing. Surely he was doing something active, right?

_Meanwhile..._

"Zzz..." murmured Shikamaru in his sleep. As it turned out, he was currently taking a nap.

Currently, he was dreaming about doing an S-Rank mission with his teammates.

"Yes...keep at it...you're doing well...I know that we can do this mission...everyone's counting on us." said the Nara clan member.

At this point, he was starting to drool.

"Yes! We did it! Our formation was perfect!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

_Back to us..._

Unfortunately for Team 8, the pirates were not too far from them. In fact, they were going to be upon them in a few minutes.

"We better hurry." noted Shino.

Immediately, the foursome headed towards the treasure room...which oddly enough only included one treasure chest.

"Strange...I was expecting more than this..." questioned Kiba.

"Arf!" nodded Akamaru.

"Well, admittedly this cavern wasn't very big." noted Lucy.

"We're not going to get cursed if we take gold out of this chest, are we? I don't want to end up as an undead!" exclaimed Natsu.

"I don't think we're going to get cursed, Natsu. We're not in the world of magic anymore...don't you remember?" inquired Lucy.

"Oh, right." answered the fire mage.

"Yarr!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Darn it! He's already here!" bellowed the summoner mage.

"Give me and me crew me treasure, or I'll make ye walk the plank on yer own ship!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Our frigate had a plank? I guess I didn't pay attention..." noted Shino.

"Yes, we did. I don't know why since we were never going to use it..." questioned Lucy.

"But we need that to pay for Tsunade's gambling debt..." answered Kiba.

"Too bad! Nobody cares about her!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

Kiba's face turned red.

"What did you say?!" exclaimed the dog user.

Akamaru began to growl at Captain Bloodbeard.

"I know I don't!" bellowed the captain.

Immediately, Kiba and Akamaru began to attack the pirate captain...Shino seemed angry at Bloodbeard as well, though admittedly his facial expression seemed the same as always.

"Why does he never show emotion? He reminds me of Erza..." thought Lucy.

As it turned out, Natsu was hiding behind the treasure chest.

"C'mon, Natsu! Fight like a man! I'm a woman and I'm fighting like one." answered the kunoichi as she began to create a few clones of herself.

Reluctantly, the fire mage stepped out from his hiding place.

"There! Was that so hard?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, it was!" exclaimed Natsu.

Lucy began to sigh. At least the fire mage seemed to be showing some progress.

Nonetheless, it was going to be a while before he was back to his old self.

_Meanwhile..._

Phanta Claws immediately opened fire on Naruto and Hinata with his snowball launcher...which as they discovered was surprisingly deadly.

And to make matters worse, Phanta was using his Christmas magic to summon snowmen to help him attack the duo.

Deciding to deal with the snowmen while her best friend in the world continued fighting Phanta, she began to prepare some fireballs.

Immediately, Naruto summoned some shadow clones so that they could pelt Phanta with some snowballs of his own.

Unfortunately, this appeared to irritate him more than anything else.

"You're on the top of my naughty list!" bellowed Phanta.

"You sure you don't mean the bottom?" asked the genin.

"Whatever! I'm going to bury you alive in coal!" screamed the evil version of Santa.

Suddenly, an avalanche of coal began to move towards Naruto.

"Aah!" screamed the genin.

Fortunately for Naruto, he was able to leap away from the coal. Unfortunately for his clones, they were not as lucky, and they all disappeared into smoke.

Naruto kept on attacking Phanta...but due to the fact that he had very sharp claws, he realized that he couldn't get too close to him if he didn't want to get shredded.

Apparently, he was going to need to decide on a different course of action.

"I guess it's time for one of Lucy's summons..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he reached into his bag to see if he could find anything that would be useful in defeating evil holiday icons.

"Let me see..." said the genin.

Curious, he noticed that one of the keys had a circle with two horns sprouting on other side. A head of a bull was carved into a base.

Shrugging, he decided to give this one a shot.

In this case, this particular key allowed him to summon a helpful minotaur by the name of Taurus...who didn't seem too happy to see him.

"Good moo-rning, Luc-wait a minute! You're not Lucy!" inquired the bull.

"Sorry...I'm afraid that she's elsewhere in the moment." explained Naruto.

"But she was so hot..." complained Taurus. It wasn't every day that he got summoned by an attractive female.

"I'm afraid your old mistress is going to have to wait...I'm your master for the time being." said the ninja.

Taurus let out a sigh.

"If you want, I could try transforming into a pretty girl for you...I've got just the jutsu for that." explained the ninja.

"What's a jutsu? And what do you need help with?" inquired the bull.

"Oh, I just need you to hit that fat guy over there as hard as you could...just don't hit my friend Hinata...she's on my side." explained Naruto.

"She's attractive..." noted Taurus.

Naruto sweatdropped. Was his summon going to try to flirt with Hinata? He wasn't sure how she was going to react to that.

Doing as his new master commanded, the minotaur immediately plowed into Phanta Claws's fat belly.

This worked surprisingly well. Phanta Claws immediately fell on the floor...which gave Hinata an opportunity to attack him.

As it turned out, she was still trying to melt the snowmen...so Naruto tried to get her attention.

"Hinata! Now's your chance to hit him with your Gentle Fist!" exclaimed the genin.

"Hmm? Alright then." nodded Hinata.

"I suggest you try hitting him in his big round belly...it seems as good of a target as any place else." noted Naruto.

"You're right...it is one enormous weak point, isn't it?" questioned the kunoichi.

"Yeah, pretty much." nodded the genin.

"I've got to go on a diet..." murmured Phanta.

Immediately, Hinata hit Phanta in the stomach with her Gentle Fist technique as hard as she could.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the fat magician.

Curious, Hinata noticed that for some strange reason...Phanta Claw's clothes had turned red.

"Huh? I could have sworn that he was wearing green earlier..." questioned the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she decided to hit Phanta Claws again...whose claws suddenly disappeared.

"Something's going on here..." thought Hinata.

She then hit Phanta again, causing his beard to turn white.

"Wait a minute...let's do this one more time." thought the kunoichi once again.

Hitting Phanta again one last time...she immediately noticed his skin was no longer gray...and his eyes were no longer red.

At this point, she began to realize who "Phanta Claws" really was.

"Santa? Is that you?" questioned Hinata curiously.

At that very moment, Naruto began to charge up a Rasengan.

"Um, Naruto...you should hold your fire. I think we've been hoodwinked." questioned Hinata.

"Huh?" inquired the genin curiously.

Curious, Naruto decided to throw his Rasengan off into the distance. Hopefully it wouldn't hit anyone.

"What happened? Where did the monster go? I could have sworn he was here a few minutes ago...did he flee for the hills?" inquired Naruto.

"I think Santa's been the victim of evil magic, Naruto." explained Hinata.

"Has he now?" asked the genin curiously.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Gray and Erza, at this point they were surrounded. There were simply too many evil elves, evil reindeer, evil action figures, evil dolls...you get the idea.

"Is this going to be our last mission?" inquired Gray.

"This may very well be our last stand." nodded Erza.

However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, the evil elves, evil reindeer, the evil snowmen, and the evil toys...suddenly stopped looking so evil.

"Huh?" inquired Gray.

Shortly afterwards, the factory itself started to look less dreary. Gradually, it was becoming more and more colorful.

"What's going on?" inquired Erza.

Also, nothing was attacking them anymore. In fact, it appeared that the evil toys wanted to hug them...though admittedly one of the teddy bears wanted to hug Erza in the chest.

"Well, at least we're safe...that's for sure." noted Gray.

"I still have to wonder what exactly just happened...did an evil spell suddenly just wear off? It looks like it did." spoke Erza.

At that very moment, the elves began to continue making toys...which thankfully were no longer evil-looking and were not going to be used to wage war.

"Are we done?" asked the ice mage curiously.

"Something tells me that Naruto and Phoenix defeated the evil Santa...so yes." nodded Erza.

"I just can't help but shake the feeling that we're not finished here..." questioned Gray.

"Then again, maybe not." answered the knight in shining armor.

_A few minutes later..._

"What happened?" inquired Santa as he began rubbing his head.

"I think some sort of evil magician casted a spell on you to make you turn evil...and you ended up spreading it to everyone else that you knew personally." explained Hinata.

"I wonder who tried to ruin Christmas?" inquired Naruto.

As it turned out, Santa could not remember what had happened recently.

However, he did recall seeing a man wearing a top hat and a cane right before he started going insane.

"Wait a minute..." questioned Hinata.

"Is this someone we know?" inquired Naruto.

"Let's just say that we're going to need to pay Ebemener Scourge a visit." explained the kunoichi.

Sure enough, Erza and Gray arrived on the scene.

"Santa? Is that you? You still owe me that toy train since when I was five..." said Gray.

"Funny...I always thought that Santa only existed in fairy t-oh wait, that's right. I'm in a fairy tale world now..." noted Naruto.

"What exactly is going on?" inquired Erza.

"We need to talk to Ebemener Scourge...I think he's the one behind this. I suggest that you get ready to fight again." explained Hinata.

"Um, sure..." nodded the knight in shining armor.

Fortunately, the mayor's house wasn't too far from them.

Curious, they decided to look out the window to see if they could find anything.

As it turned out, Ebemener Scourge was checking Christmas off a checklist full of holidays.

"Well, I've officially ruined Christmas for everyone...that'll teach Santa not to give me clothes for Christmas...but what holiday do I go after next? Halloween always scared me as a child...but maybe I should go after Valentine's Day. My girlfriend dumped me on that particular holiday. Or maybe I should go after St. Patrick's Day...that holiday always made me drunk..." noted Ebemener Scourge.

"He's definitely behind everything." explained Hinata.

"Alright then..." nodded Erza.

Immediately, the S-Class Mage punched down the door to Ebemener Scourge's house, much to his surprise.

His head sweating, he began to greet them rather nervously.

"Um, h-hello there, Fairy Tail mages! What brings you here?! Did you s-slay Phanta Claws for me?!" exclaimed the evil mayor.

"You're in a lot of trouble." said Gray.

"What? How come? I assure that I never did anything wrong...except maybe embezzle from my citizens once or twice. It was only a dollar or two, I swear!" answered Ebemener.

"That doesn't explain how expensive his manor looks..." thought Hinata to herself.

"As bad as embezzling from your people is...that's not what we want to talk to you about." explained Erza.

"You tried to ruin Christmas!" bellowed Naruto.

"What are you talking ab-oh wait...you caught me plotting my next holiday attack, didn't you?" inquired the mayor.

"Yes, we did." nodded Gray.

"You're in a lot of trouble, Ebemener Scourge." answered Erza.

"Oh dear...it looks like I've been busted. Well then, I guess the only thing left now is to..."

Ebemener Scourge transformed his cane into a sword.

"...kill you all and mount your heads over my fireplace!" bellowed the mayor.

Naruto and Gray gasped in shock while Hinata grasped her neck. Erza simply frowned.

"Well, this cannot be good." noted Erza.

Immediately, Ebemener Scourge lunged towards the foursome with his sword, hoping to cut them to ribbons.

Thankfully, Erza intercepted the sword...and got into a swordfight with the corrupt mayor.

"It looks like we're in for a challenge..." noted Naruto.

"Don't worry, Naruto! There's four of us and only one of him! I'm sure that we're going to be fine!" exclaimed Gray.

At that very moment, Ebemener Scourge snapped his fingers, and Team Natsu began to hear loud footsteps outside.

"What was that?" inquired Hinata.

At that very moment, two enormous snow golems burst through the walls and began to roar at the foursome. By the looks of it, Ebemener Scourge had summoned them to grind them into paste.

"You were saying?" asked Naruto.

"I have a big mouth..." noted Gray.

_Meanwhile..._

Kenichi soared across the sky with his dragon, looking for more weak shinobi to eradicate from the world.

He had to admit, he always felt satisfied whenever he personally slew a ninja that was vastly inferior to himself, though personally he felt that he should pick up the pace, as he had felt that he had been rather inactive over the past few weeks.

Then again, he had not visited the Land Of Fire in quite some time, as he did not usually feel that it was thriving with the frail.

However, there did not appear to be any sign of any potential victims at the moment, as he had ventured into the wilderness miles away from Konoha.

Curious, Kenichi used his Rinnegan to look for signs of chakra, as he usually did whenever he wanted to search for more victims.

However, to his mild disappointment, he did not find any in his proximity. He was going to need to search elsewhere.

"Well, that's a bit of a shame...but at least I appear to be doing my job well. There's not a weak ninja in sight." noted the ninja.

Kaishi immediately roared in satisfaction. As it turned out, Kenichi had bended him to his will not too long ago using his dark chakra, so he shared much of the personality that his master did.

"Keep on searching...I'm sure that we'll find someone eventually. And when we do find someone...you'll know exactly what to do." said the darwinist ninja.

Kaishi nodded.

"Very good." answered Kenichi.

Immediately, the ninja and his dragon continued soaring through the skies.

_What's this! It turns out Ebemener Scourge was the real threat to Icevale this whole time...who would have thought that he was so petty? It looks like it's up to our heroes to try to stop him..._

_Oh, and Lucy and Team 8 will finally get the treasure they wanted...or at least Lady Tsunade did._


	12. Chapter 12: Christmas Mourning

Ninja Tail XII

_In this chapter...our heroes are going to complete their missions again! Hooray! But there's going to be more to this story than our heroes simply going on missions and helping people...things are going to get a bit more complicated soon._

_But for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Chapter 12: Christmas Mourning**

As Erza continued her swordfight with Ebemener Scourge, Naruto, Hinata, and Gray prepared themselves to deal with the snow golems.

Fortunately for Hinata, thanks to her fire magic, she was having a field day. One could say that she was...on fire.

"Aargh!" screamed the snow golems. Apparently, attacking a fire user when you were made of snow wasn't such a good idea.

Unfortunately for Gray, due to him being an ice user, he wasn't having a field day.

"Darn it! Why aren't my ice weapons working?" inquired the ice mage.

As for Naruto, well, he wasn't doing as much damage to the snow golems as Hinata...but he was doing damage nonetheless. His Rasengan in particular was actually making them dizzy.

He was in fact considering using a summon that would help him defeat the snow golems...but he had already used two summons today, and he was starting to feel a bit sleepy.

"Huh...these snow golems actually aren't as tough as they look...I guess the bigger they are, the harder they fall. I might want to be careful though...wouldn't want to get too carried away now." thought the genin.

Realizing that he was getting nowhere using ice against the snow golems, Gray decided to give Erza a hand instead. Surely Ebemener would be a goner if they forced him to enter a two-against-one swordfight, right?

However, as it turned out, Ebenezer Scourge had prepared for that.

Using his free hand, he took off his hat...

...and revealed a pistol.

"He literally brought a gun to a swordfight." thought Gray.

"Well, it looks like it's time for me to pump you full of lead." noted Ebenezer Scourge.

"You have a gun underneath your hat?" asked Erza.

"As a matter of fact, yes I do! And did I mention that it's loaded?" inquired the mayor.

Immediately, Ebenezer began to shoot at Gray while he continued his swordfight with Erza.

Despite being occupied at the moment, he was still a rather accurate shot, and Gray had to rely on using an ice shield to defend himself.

Fortunately for Hinata, she managed to melt one of the snow golems using a rather large fireball.

"Well, that's one golem down...Naruto, are you doing OK over there? I know that can't simply use fire to melt the golems like I can...but..." inquired the kunoichi.

As it turned out, the remaining snow golem was slamming Naruto in the ground. Very hard. In fact, there appeared to be some cracks in the floor.

"Ow! Oof! Ouch! Eek! You are one tough golem!" screamed the genin.

The snow golem began to smile in satisfaction. It was only a matter of time now before his opponent was a dead man.

"I guess not..." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she tossed another fireball to force the snow golem to let Naruto go...which melted him in the process.

"Thanks...sheesh, look at the size of those puddles..." spoke Naruto.

"Yeah...here's hoping we don't slip over them." noted Hinata.

"Somebody's going to have to get a mop..." nodded the summoner genin.

Realizing that his snow golems had been defeated, Ebemener Scourge decided that it was time to summon some more.

However, these ones weren't made of snow.

Snapping his fingers, two coal golems began to descend from the chimney.

"First the snow golems, now this?" murmured Naruto.

"What do you think I was making Phanta Claws give children coal for? Granted...I could probably use these to power a train or something considering how expensive they are...but I think I'll make an exception today considering you want to bring me to justice..." asked Ebenezer Scourge.

"Oh, yeah...of course." nodded Hinata.

Unfortunately, it appeared that using fire magic wasn't going to do her any good this time, as the coal golems were fire-resistant. Hinata realized that she was going to have to get somebody else to fight the coal golems instead...

...which in this case was Gray.

Fortunately, Ebemener Scourge had run out of ammo for his pistol, so it looked like he could help her.

"Can you freeze the coal golems for me? My fire magic doesn't seem to be hurting them much...and I don't think I can just punch them out." asked Hinata.

"Sure." nodded Gray.

Immediately, Gray went to fight the coal golems while Hinata helped Erza fight Ebemener Scourge.

Unfortunately, as she discovered, he had a shotgun underneath his coat.

"How many weapons do you have?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Just three...though personally I wonder if I should get four..." questioned Ebemener Scourge.

Immediately, Ebemener used his shotgun to attack Hinata...miraculously, he managed to do it with one hand.

"Gosh..." thought Hinata.

Fortunately, the kunoichi was able to evade the shotgun blasts due to her Byakugan...though one of them grazed her shoulder.

Immediately, she began to rub it.

"You OK?" asked Erza.

"Yeah, I think so..." nodded Hinata.

Fortunately, Gray's ice magic was about as effective against the coal golems as Hinata had thought. Already, they were starting to fall apart.

Of course, Naruto had some first-degree burns on his face.

"These golems are strong..." thought Naruto.

Fortunately, using the power of his shadow clones, he successfully managed to defeat the coal golems along with Gray...

...at that very moment, Erza knocked Ebemener Scourge's sword out of his hand.

Ebemener began to sigh. Not only had he run out of magic to summon more golems with...but he wasn't able to swordfight Erza anymore. It looked like he had lost.

"Surrender, Ebemener!" bellowed the magic knight.

There was only one thing left to do. He was going to have to flee like a coward.

Using the last of his magic, he summoned a toboggan.

"So long, friends! I've decided I'll ruin Halloween next! I'll make it the most boring holiday there is!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge as he entered the toboggan.

Immediately, he began to speed off into the night.

"Darn it! I won't be able to get any candy this year..." complained Naruto.

Immediately, Ebemener began to flee on his magical sled. It was surprisingly fast.

"Is there anything we can do to pursue him?" inquired Gray.

"I would...but I'd get motion sick." noted Hinata.

"I don't think we'll have to lay a finger. Look who's shown up!" exclaimed Erza, pointing in Ebemener's direction.

At that very moment, the evil magician crashed into Santa Claus's big round belly. He began to chuckle nervously.

"Um, hey there Santa...you don't mind that I tried to ruin your holiday, did you? And that I sent somebody to assassinate you so that my next mayor campaign was a success? I mean, I'm sure that you're forgiving! They say that you're so jolly and all..." asked Ebenezer Scourge nervously.

Santa Claus began to cast a spell.

"What! Don't touch me!" exclaimed Ebemener.

At that very moment, the evil mayor of Icevale began to freeze.

"Aargh! I...hate...Christmas!" bellowed the magician as he was frozen solid.

Santa Claus shook his head. Why did people always try to ruin his holiday? None of the other holiday mascots seemed to have this problem...so far, his holiday had been under attack by a man with green skin...mutant snowmen...a sack of bugs...a robot version of himself...the list went on.

_A few minutes later..._

Ebemener Scourge was being loaded into a police van so that he could be brought to justice. He had no less than a dozen life sentences, one for every day of Christmas.

"I would have gotten away with it too...if it weren't for you meddling-"

"I've already heard that line over a dozen times. Try coming up with something more original." answered Erza.

"Fairy Tail sucks! I hope your guild crumbles!" bellowed Ebemener.

"That's better." answered the knight in shining armor.

"You're a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!" bellowed Naruto as he pointed at Ebemener.

"Say, where's Phoenix?" asked Gray curiously.

On cue, Hinata suddenly stepped out of the mayor's house.

"Hey Hinata...what were you doing in there?" asked Naruto.

"Well, since he obviously isn't going to be at his manor for a while...I decided to empty out his fridge." answered Hinata, rubbing her stomach.

"You did? How much did you eat?" inquired the genin.

"I ate all of it...even the spinach puffs." explained the fiery kunoichi.

"Noooooo!" bellowed Ebemener Scourge.

"Oh dear...he doesn't seem too happy that you ate his spinach." noted Naruto.

"Curse you!" exclaimed the mayor as the authorities took him away.

"I wonder...now that Ebemener is gone...who's going to lead Icevale?" inquired Gray.

"We've decided to make Icevale a democracy." explained an Icevale citizen.

"I see." nodded Erza. It seemed as good of a governing system as any.

"Well, I guess we can head back to Fairy Tail now to receive our reward..." noted Naruto.

"Sounds good...but I'm not using the cable car." explained Hinata.

"Right, of course..." nodded Gray.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, how was the mission?" asked Makarov as Naruto and Hinata entered his office.

As it turned out, Gray and Erza had gone to an ice cream parlor so that they could have milkshakes...and they weren't on a date.

"It went fine...we managed to purify Santa and defeat the evil mayor...who happened to be really corrupt...why do people keep going crazy with power these days? Can't they stay sane like my sensei Jiraiya? Then again, his obsession with pretty girls seems a bit...weird." explained Naruto.

"Yeah...I still wonder how I managed to purify Santa and Frosty though...I'm still a bit curious about that. Do I have some sort of purity spell that I'm not aware of?" questioned Hinata.

Curious, Makarov handed the kunoichi a scanner so that she could scan her magic...and her chakra.

As it turned out...Hinata could use her Gentle Fist to purify those that have been afflicted with dark magic...due to the profound lack of darkness in her body.

"Hmm?" inquired the kunoichi. She didn't have darkness inside her body? Personally she thought that everybody had some light or some darkness in their bodies somewhere.

Then again...now that she thought of it, when was the last time she ever did something wrong? The only time she remembered doing something wrong was when she took a cookie from her father's cookie jar without her permission back when she was five years old...and even then she apologized no less than a dozen times.

"Wow...I must be an angel or something." noted Hinata. At this rate she was going to develop angel wings and a halo.

Then again, her father happened to be human, so that probably wasn't going to happen...unless he happened to have been holding out on her.

"Maybe I should tell him that if I ever get back home...then again, I will have a lot of things to tell him." noted Hinata.

Curious, Naruto decided to use the scanner on himself to see how much darkness was in his body. Was he pure too?

As it turned out, he had very little, though he wasn't empty like Hinata was.

"Meh, I can't say I'm pure considering I invented the sexy jutsu..." noted Naruto.

"This lack of darkness inside my body is starting to scare me..." thought Hinata.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually..." answered the guildmaster.

"I hope so..." answered Hinata.

"Well, I'm going to bed...see you later, Hinata." said Naruto as he went to Lucy's apartment.

At that very moment, a certain kunoichi remembered something rather important.

"Um...I think I'm going to need a place to stay too." noted Hinata.

"I suppose you could live at Natsu's house...so long as you have Happy's permission." explained Makarov.

At that very moment, Happy came in.

"She's going to be my housemate?" inquired Happy.

"I need a place to stay..." noted the kunoichi.

"Well, since you're a pretty girl...I say yes!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Hinata's cheeks turned red.

"There! Now you have a place to stay...I just hope that you like Exceeds." explained Makarov.

"Well, one of my partners back at my world happens to be a dog person...but I think I'll be fine." nodded Hinata.

"Very good! I'll see you tomorrow." said the elderly man.

Immediately, Hinata left along with Happy so that she could get some rest.

As she did so, Makarov's expression suddenly turned into a frown.

"No less than a dozen of our new recruits have disappeared now...where have they gone off too?" inquired the old mage.

At this rate, nobody else was going to want to join Fairy Tail...and his guild would be stonewalled.

"Something isn't right about this..." noted Makarov.

_Meanwhile..._

Kiba and Shino battled the pirates using their individual jutsus respectively, while Lucy began to summon some more animals.

Once again, Captain Bloodbeard found himself being bitten in the leg. He sure hoped that Akamaru did not have rabies.

Then again, considering that Akamaru was eagerly listening to his trainer's commands and was not foaming in mouth, he probably wasn't.

"That'll teach you to insult our mistress!" bellowed Kiba.

"Arf!" nodded Akamaru.

Once again, Captain Bloodbeard summoned his parrot Patchy.

"Let's give him an eyepatch of his own, shall we, Patchy?" inquired the pirate.

Immediately, Patchy began to peck at Kiba's face.

"Not again!" bellowed Kiba.

"What should I summon this time?" inquired the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she decided to summon a monkey.

Immediately, the monkey began to attack the pirates.

"Well, so far so good." spoke Lucy.

Unfortunately, some of the pirates decided to aim their guns at the summoner ninja.

"Uh-oh..." thought the mage.

Immediately, she began to hide behind the treasure chest for cover. Thankfully, it was a fairly large chest.

Once again, Natsu was cowering in a corner.

"Um, Natsu...I think I need your help again." answered Lucy.

"But they've got guns!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Would you rather they shoot me in the face?" asked the summoner mage.

Natsu immediately tossed a fireball at the gun-wielding pirates to scare them away.

"Thank you." answered Lucy.

"You're welcome..." nodded Natsu nervously.

"I wonder how he's going to keep saving my life with his ego damaged like this..." thought the kunoichi.

Then again, she had become stronger due to the magic of the interdimensional portal...so maybe she wouldn't always need Natsu to give her a hand.

Curious, Lucy began to charge up another Rasengan.

However, she quickly noticed how small it was...and wondered if she could make it bigger than that.

Immediately, she tried to expand the Rasengan...

...and made it about the size of her head.

"Not bad!" exclaimed Lucy.

Testing out her new Rasengan, she immediately tossed it at the pirates...which knocked them down like bowling pins.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the pirates.

Oddly enough, the Rasengan then began to bounce, and it hit Captain Bloodbeard in the face.

"Yargh!" bellowed the pirate captain.

"I might have made the Rasengan extra bouncy..." noted Lucy.

Thankfully, it did not hit any of her friends...nonetheless, she began to wonder if she should try using her chakra to take control over it as it bounced.

Also, she noticed that the Rasengan gradually became smaller as it bounced, until it eventually disappeared.

"Interesting..." noted Lucy.

Shino's insects were doing well against the pirates...who at this point had several bones broken.

However, one of the pirates had a trick up his sleeve.

Immediately, he sprayed insect repellent on Shino.

"Agh!" bellowed the ninja.

Some of his insects immediately began to leave his body, which of course somewhat weakened him.

"Being weak against pesticides really isn't doing me any favors..." noted the bug user. Apparently, the pirates weren't as dumb as they looked.

Immediately, Shino began to back away from the pirate exterminator...only to nearly get slashed by another pirate for his trouble.

"Um, Kiba...I could use a little help here...those pirates want to make sushi out of me..." said Shino.

Fortunately for Kiba, he had managed to hit Patchy on the head and he had knocked him out cold, much to Captain Bloodbeard's sorrow.

"Huh? Alright then! We'll give you a hand...and a paw!" exclaimed Kiba.

Immediately, Kiba and Akamaru combined to form a two-headed wolf, causing Captain Bloodbeard to scream like a little girl.

"Why did he just scream like a little girl?" inquired Lucy.

"That's how I've been screaming lately..." answered Natsu.

"OK..." answered the kunoichi. Had Natsu really lost that much of his masculinity? She was starting to wonder if she could even call him a man.

Then again, he did appear to be slowly regaining his confidence as Shino and Kiba had said...though at the very moment he was still rather girly.

Immediately, the two-headed wolf began to attack the pirates attacking Shino, thus saving his skin...and what was living underneath his skin.

"Thank you." said Shino.

Kiba and Akamaru then knocked Captain Bloodbeard out cold with a swipe to the face.

Realizing that their leader had been defeated, the pirates began to surrender.

"We surrender! Don't hurt us!" bellowed one of the pirates.

"Hmm..." thought Lucy.

_A few hours later..._

"Thank you for being so helpful towards paying off my gambling debt. Not only did you give me the treasure, you also brought me some slaves to help me!" exclaimed Tsunade.

As it turned out, Lucy and Team 8 had made the pirates work off their debt to society...by making them pay off Tsunade's debt.

"Yarr! I can't believe me crew and I have become slaves! We should be the ones enslaving the landlubbers, not the other way around!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Is this some sort of karma? I believe we took some prisoners last week..." questioned the pirate.

"Get back to work!" demanded Tsunade.

Immediately, the pirates continued working in the mines a short distance from Tsunade's office.

"So...is there any missions you would like us to complete?" asked Lucy.

"Not at the moment. You can go try to relax." answered the Fifth Hokage.

"Alright then!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Can one of the pirates look after my dog? I'm going to be away for a while..." spoke Kiba.

"Yes, they can." nodded Tsunade.

"Thanks!" exclaimed the dog user.

"I guess I'll go head back to my clan...they've got another insect that they want to show me..." said Shino.

Immediately, Shino went back to his house.

"I don't have a place to stay..." complained Natsu.

"Is there anywhere you know that happens to be fireproof?" inquired Lucy.

"There's a house over there...though admittedly it hasn't been used for ages." explained Tsunade.

"Is someone planning to sell it?" asked the genin.

"They gave me the deed to the house, actually...said that they felt like giving me a gift." said Tsunade.

Immediately, the Sannin gave Natsu the deed to the house.

"Thanks..." answered the fire mage.

"Have fun living in your fireproof home." said Lucy.

"I will." nodded Natsu.

Immediately, he went to live in his new house...which thankfully did not collapse on top of him.

"Good to see that it's still in good condition despite not being used for a while..." noted Lucy.

"I have a decent construction crew." answered Tsunade.

"That's nice." nodded the kunoichi.

Shrugging, Lucy decided maybe it was time for her to head home as well. It had been a rather long mission...especially for Natsu since he got seasick easily.

On the way there, she happened to see Shikamaru, who appeared to be working on something.

"Hey there, Shikamaru! What are you doing?" inquired Lucy.

"I'm trying to make an interdimensional portal so that you can get home..." explained Shikamaru.

"Really? That's awfully nice of you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yes...I haven't been able to make one that's very big though...it appears that making an interdimensional portal takes time." answered the shadow ninja.

"Yes, it does...maybe you should get some of your friends to help you?" asked Lucy.

"Huh? You're right! Why didn't I think of that? I should probably get Ino and Choji to help me...they say that our clans can do anything when they work together..." explained Shikamaru.

"Like make an interdimensional portal?" inquired the mage.

"Yes! Of course!" nodded the shadow ninja.

"Right...well, good luck helping me get back home!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Have fun! I'm going to talk to Ino and Choji...right after I take a nap." said Shikamaru.

Immediately, he decided to take a snooze right there on the spot.

"Ah, Lucy...there you are...would you mind doing me a favor? I could use your assistance...hmm? You want to play Shogi? Alright then..." murmured the shadow ninja.

Lucy began to giggle. As it turned out, Shikamaru was dreaming about her.

Then again, they had been talking only a few minutes ago, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Have fun in Dreamland." spoke the kunoichi as she went to Naruto's apartment.

Immediately, she went to bed, happy to how the mission had gone.

Suddenly, somebody knocked on the door.

"Hmm?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, it was none other than the mailman, who wanted to deliver her a package.

"Hmm? What's this?" asked the kunoichi.

As it turned out, it was none other than a ninja headband.

Lucy smiled. Apparently, she was now officially recognized as a ninja.

Apparently, it had been delivered by none other than Tsunade. There was a letter attached to it as well.

"Dear Lucy Heartfilia...due to your work for the good of Konoha...we have decided to give you a ninja headband of your very own...you may keep it even if you wish to return to your old guild and retire from being a Konoha ninja." said the letter.

"How sweet..." thought Lucy.

Curious, the summoner mage put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.

"It looks surprisingly good on me..." noted the ninja.

Also, Tsunade had given her an outfit so that she could dress like a ninja.

Putting the ninja outfit on, she once again looked into a mirror.

"Again, I look good." thought the summoner mage.

Immediately, she went to bed so that she could get ready for her next mission.

Shortly afterwards, she began to dream about heading back home.

"Finally...now I can see my friends again...then again, I did make friends back on the other side...I hope I can get to see them again too..." noted Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is Natsu's house?" inquired Hinata.

"Yes, it is! It's mine too!" exclaimed Happy.

"It's nice that he gave you a place to stay." noted the kunoichi.

"He sure did! We're the best friends in the history of ever!" bellowed the Exceed.

"You sure are easily excited..." spoke Hinata.

"That's why they call me Happy!" answered Happy.

"Er, why is there a tree growing through the wall?" inquired the kunoichi.

"A tree? I never noticed it!" exclaimed the magical cat.

"But it's huge..." answered Hinata.

"Ignorance is bliss!" bellowed Happy.

"OK..." answered the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, the house was rather messy, to say the very least. Hinata began to wonder why Natsu would want to live in a place like this.

Shrugging, she decided to look for the bedroom.

As she discovered, Natsu slept on a hammock.

"Well, this is going to take some time getting used to..." noted Hinata.

Shrugging, she decided to try something new for a change.

"Well, at least this hammock is rather comfortable..." spoke the kunoichi.

As it turned out, Happy slept in a cat basket not far from where the hammock was.

Sure enough, he was sleeping...and was dreaming about fish.

Shrugging, Hinata decided to see if Natsu had any pajamas that she could wear when she went to bed.

Of course, considering that Natsu was male, she probably was looking in the wrong place.

But eventually, she did manage to find something that she wanted to wear...a pair of pink pajamas with an Exceed's face on them.

"This pink pajamas sound nice...though I wonder why Natsu would want to wear those...I don't think pink is really his color..." noted Hinata.

Shrugging, she went to the closet and put on the pajamas.

"Off to bed I go..." said Hinata.

As she did so, she noticed that Natsu had a picture of himself along with Happy on his drawer. Apparently, Happy wasn't kidding when he said that they were best friends.

Of course, Hinata couldn't help but stare at Natsu's muscular body.

"I sure hope that I can meet him one day..." thought the kunoichi.

Immediately, she decided it was time to go to bed.

"Zzz..." murmured Hinata in her sleep.

_Meanwhile..._

After she realized that she was going to get caught if she tried adventuring into the classified book section of the Fairy Tail spellbook library, Chiyoye decided that she was going to have to be a bit...creative.

Immediately, she began to forge a mission request on the mission hall. It was going to be the biggest mission Fairy Tail was going to have in years...if the mission actually existed.

Careful so that it didn't stand out among any of the other mission requests (other than how big it was), Chiyoye carefully attached the request to the mission board using a nail and a hammer.

"There...now I can create a distraction so that I can find what I'm looking for..." said the new recruit for Fairy Tail.

As she did so, she began to chuckle to herself.

"Soon I shall be able to be able to find that spellbook I've always wanted...and then I'll be all set..." she thought.

She had to admit, she was a bit surprised how many books the Magic Council had entrusted Fairy Tail with...apparently, they felt that they all deserved to have them in their spellbook library.

Then again, she hadn't been particularly interested in joining a small guild. The more powerful the guild was, the better, she had thought.

Of course, there was the possibility that somebody might find out what she was planning to do even when the entire guild was occupied with her fake request...which as it turned out was going to take them far away from the guild base.

"No matter...if somebody catches me sneaking into the forbidden section of the library...I can just make them disappear...just like I did with those fresh Fairy Tail recruits...heh heh heh." she thought.

_Uh-oh! It looks like Chiyoye is responsible for the missing mages...but what exactly did she do to them? And just what is that mission request?_

_You'll get to find out in the next chapter...mind you, it's going to be a rather scary one...then again, it is almost Halloween...so maybe you should be expecting that._


	13. Chapter 13: Chiyoye's Dark Secret

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, we're going to find out what's befallen the missing Fairy Tail members...mind you, it's not going to be pretty...you might not want to read this in the dark._

_Also, Lucy's going to go on a mission with Natsu and Shikamaru...but they're going to have to call it off...why you ask? Because of a certain ninja._

**Chapter 13: Chiyoye's Dark Secret**

Hinata found herself being woken up rather abruptly. As it turned out, it was none other than Happy.

"What? Happy, why are you waking me up?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Did you hear the latest?" asked the Exceed.

"Hmm? What is it?" asked Hinata curiously.

"We just received our biggest request in the history of ever!" bellowed Happy.

"What? We did?" inquired the kunoichi curiously.

"Yes! Everyone in the guild is going to be participating in this mission!" exclaimed Natsu's best friend.

"I have to admit...it feels rather weird having a talking cat as a pet..." noted Hinata.

"Don't you want to go to the guild to check it out?" inquired Happy.

"Sure...just let me get dressed." answered the Hyuga clan member.

Happy nodded, and Hinata changed back into her black shirt and shorts.

_A few minutes later.._

Hinata entered the guild hall, curious to what was going on.

Sure enough, Naruto and the rest of the guild were waiting for her.

"Hey there, Hinata! I can't believe we just got a request like this...then again, I haven't been here for that long..." noted Naruto.

"What is the request?" asked Hinata curiously.

"We need to slay a dragon!" exclaimed the genin.

"A dragon?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Not just any dragon! It's one of the most powerful dragons there is!" bellowed Naruto.

"Gosh." thought Hinata.

Sure enough, every member of the guild seemed to be present. Gray was eating an ice cream cone, Erza was sharpening her swords, Cana was drinking alcohol, Makarov was checking to see if everyone was there, Elfman was flexing his muscles, Mirajane was looking at herself in a mirror, Levy was reading a book, Droy was eating some chicken wings, Jet was running on a treadmill, and Happy was jumping out and down.

After a quick role call, Makarov explained the situation to his guildmates.

"Greetings, my friends. As you may be aware of, this is our biggest request yet. It has been ages since we have been called upon to slay a dragon...let alone a dragon of this caliber. As such, we are all going to go on this mission together, including myself." said the leader of Fairy Tail.

"We are?" asked Gray.

"Yes. In order to stop the dragon, we are going to need to work together as a team...Team Shadow Gear, this should be second nature to you. As for everyone else, you should try to settle your differences." explained Makarov.

Everyone in the guild nodded.

"Very good. We shall be leaving shortly." said the guildmaster.

Hinata raised her hand.

"Yes? Can I help you?" asked Makarov.

"Don't we need somebody to look after the guild while we're gone?" inquired the kunoichi.

Makarov looked rather surprised.

"Hmm? Oh yes! Now I remember! We do need somebody to look after the guild while we're away...any volunteers?" inquired the guildmaster.

Curious, the guildmates began to think of a potential candidate. They all wanted to go on the mission...but Hinata was right. They didn't want to leave their guild base unattended.

Eventually, somebody raised his hand.

It was none other than Naruto.

"Hmm? You want to look after the base, Naruto?" asked Makarov.

"If nobody else wants to, I'll do it." nodded the genin.

"Alright then! It's settled! Make sure that our guild base is in good shape when we return." said the guildmaster.

"Sir, yes, sir!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, the rest of Fairy Tail left the guild while Naruto stayed behind.

"Well, I hope that they do well on their mission." spoke the ninja.

He had to admit, it was rather quiet with them gone. He was hoping that they would be back soon...especially Erza and Hinata.

"Then again, according to the mission request, the dragon was rather far away..." noted Naruto.

Suddenly, he began to hear noises coming from the library.

"Hmm?" asked the genin curiously.

Immediately, he went to the library to investigate...and discovered Chiyoye entering the classified section of the library.

"What the-" said Naruto. Did Chiyoye stay behind as well? He didn't see her at the guild hall along with the rest of the guild.

Curious, he realized what she was doing, and realized that she was breaking one of the guild rules.

What exactly was she breaking the rules for? Surely she wouldn't do so just for a thrill...then again, maybe not.

More curious than before, Naruto began to wonder if Chiyoye had already stolen spellbooks from the classified section of the library, and decided to search her guild room to see if he could find anything suspicious.

Oddly enough, Chiyoye's room in question wasn't far from the library.

At first glance, her room did not stand out from anyone else in the guild. It simply had several magical items inside, such as wands, orbs, crystal balls, and the like.

It also contained two bookcases, but they did not have the Fairy Tail stamp on them, so apparently they weren't stolen.

For a moment, Naruto decided that there was nothing out of the ordinary and Chiyoye was simply deciding to be mischevious, only for him to suddenly notice that there was something off about one of the bookcases.

As it turned out, one of the books had been taken out from the bookcase and had been left on a table.

"I guess I'll put that book back in if she's not reading it, I guess." spoke Naruto.

The genin immediately put the book inside the bookcase...and noticed that it moved out of the way, much to his surprise.

However, it did not lead to a secret passageway. Instead, it simply lead to a chest filled with more books.

"Well, nothing incriminating about that." noted Naruto.

Curious, the genin once again decided that he did not have evidence against Chiyoye. Shrugging, he decided to simply examine the books, which were innocent in themselves.

"I didn't know that she had a chest to store more books in...but I guess she just wanted some extra ones..." noted Naruto.

However, as he continued pulling out books to examine them, he suddenly noticed something suspicious.

"Hmm? What is this button doing here?" thought Naruto curiously.

Shrugging, he decided to press the button...

...and suddenly a secret passageway appeared.

"What's this?" asked the genin curiously.

Curious, Naruto decided to enter the secret passageway.

Immediately, he noticed that it wasn't well-lit, and began to feel rather nervous.

Nonetheless, he decided to enter anyway.

As it turned out, the secret passageway in question led below Chiyoye's room and below the Fairy Tail guild base.

However, the secret passageway still wasn't too suspicious in itself. By the looks of it, Chiyoye was simply into things that were scary. The passageway led to a room with pumpkins, plastic skeletons, a white sheet made to resemble a ghost, and other Halloween decorations.

In other words, there still wasn't anything incriminating against the sorceress that he could use as evidence.

Curious, Naruto noticed that there was a candle that he could use to light up the room.

"Well, I was rather scared for a second, but maybe I was wrong about Chiyoye." thought the genin.

Still, he was going to have to report her for breaking into the classified section of the Fairy Tail library. She simply wasn't allowed in there.

However, Naruto decided to investigate a bit further for a while, and noticed that there was a switch beneath the ghost sheet.

Flipping the switch, a werewolf and a vampire statue appeared.

"Interesting..." thought Naruto.

For a moment once again, the genin thought simply to leave Chiyoye be...only to notice that the statues were facing apart.

"Shouldn't they be making eye contact?" asked Naruto curiously.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to turn the statues around, as he did not feel Chiyoye would mind too much.

However, as it turned out...this led to another secret passageway.

This secret passageway was even darker than the first, as it turned out. Naruto was glad that there was a candle that he could use in order to see things.

However, this was where he was starting to get disturbed. Inside this room were two bookcases much like the ones he had encountered earlier.

However, these books weren't innocent like the ones he had found upstairs. These were dedicated to dark magic.

"Something tells me that Makarov isn't going to like this..." thought the genin.

At that very moment, Naruto decided that maybe it would be best if he went to look for Makarov (though admittedly this would be leaving the guild base attended) and tell him of the situation, but his curiousity lingered on. Was there another secret passageway?

Curious, Naruto noticed that once again there was something off about the bookcases...though in this case the books were all on the bookcase together.

In this case, one of the bookcases seemed to be out of position. Whereas one of the bookcases was close to the center, the other was all the way to the right.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to move the right bookcase closer.

Immediately, a metallic door suddenly appeared. Apparently it had been hidden by a cloaking spell.

"Hmm?" inquired the genin.

As it turned out, the door in question was locked.

"Well, I guess I did all I could do." noted Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to call it quits and head back above, trying to make it look like he was never there.

He then decided to lie down on Chiyoye's bed for a few moments. He needed time to consider everything that he had learned.

Clearly, she was some sort of dark mage. Naruto began to wonder if she had joined a dark guild before she had entered Fairy Tail. It was a logical guess.

Naruto then prepared to get out of Chiyoye's bed, when suddenly he felt something strange.

Curious, the genin discovered that there was a skeleton key inside her pillow.

"This might be the key to that room I saw earlier..." noted Naruto.

Retracing his steps, the genin headed back to where he was. He immediately used the key to unlock the door, and discovered that it led to another passageway.

This particular passageway was pitch-black. All of a sudden, Naruto began to feel nervous.

The more he explored Chiyoye's room, the more nervous he became. Something was clearly very wrong here.

At this point, he was tempted to flee Fairy Tail and never come back...but he realized that in order to find why Chiyoye had joined the guild, he was going to have to press on.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto decided to head into the passage.

Fortunately, there was a light switch that Naruto could use to light up the passageway.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Naruto pressed the switch...

...and immediately gasped in horror.

Inside the room were no less than a dozen skeletons lying on twelve different operating tables...and unlike the plastic skeleton he had found in Chiyoye's room earlier, these were clearly authentic.

"What-what's going on?!" exclaimed Naruto.

Reluctantly, the genin decided that he needed to take a closer look. How exactly did Chiyoye murder these people? And just who were they?

Naruto immediately examined one of the skeletons...and gasped in shock. On its palm was none other than the Fairy Tail guild mark.

It was obvious that these were all the missing recruits.

Curious, Naruto recalled his sensei Jiraiya telling him about his former friend Orochimaru, who had abducted Konoha villagers so that he could experiment on them.

Was this what was happening now? Did Chiyoye really abduct these recruits for science?

Taking another look, the genin noticed that there was what appeared to be an operating table nearby, complete with straps for the arms and legs. Clearly she wanted another victim.

At this point, Naruto realized what he was going to have to do. He was going to have to tell Makarov immediately.

However, as soon as he tried to leave, he felt something grab his arm.

Curious, Naruto decided to look behind him, and screamed in horror.

It was none other than the skeleton that he had searched earlier that had grabbed him.

Looking around, Naruto discovered that the rest of the skeletons were rising from their tables as well. Once again, he began to scream.

The skeletons proceeded to seize the genin, and took him towards the operating table at the end of the room. They proceeded to strap him down so that he couldn't get away.

"Let me go!" screamed Naruto.

"Well well well. It looks like somebody's been poking their nose where they don't belong. Oh well. This makes things so much easier for me."

The genin gasped in shock. It was Chiyoye's voice.

Immediately, the skeletons moved out of the way so that she could approach Naruto.

"You? You're behind the disappearances?! What did you do to them?!" screamed the genin.

"As a matter of fact, I am. As for what I did to them...well, it was simple. I drained them out of their magic...then their life." explained Chiyoye.

"You drained the life out of them?!" exclaimed Naruto.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I stripped them right to the bone, as you can see before me." continued the dark mage.

Naruto immediately felt sick.

Suddenly, he noticed that Chiyoye was holding onto a book. It was labelled "Book Of The Dark Arts".

"What is that book?" asked the genin curiously.

"Oh this? Why, it's the same exact book I've been looking for since I came here...it has all the dark spells that I've ever wanted to use in my entire life..." explained Chiyoye.

Naruto began to feel rather nervous.

"I was actually about to take my leave...when my skeletons alerted me that you had broken into my room...but it's all the more convenient for me that way. To be honest, as much as I enjoyed draining the magic from those fresh recruits, I must have a taste of that chakra you and your fellow ninja have been using..." said the dark mage.

All of a sudden, Naruto realized why Chiyoye wanted to enter his world, and his eyes widened.

"Right then...this is going to be quick...but it's certainly not going to be painless, I can tell you that." explained the dark mage.

Chiyoye pressed her hands on Naruto's chest.

Immediately, the genin began to scream in pain.

The dark mage began to laugh as he began to close his eyes.

"Am I going to die?" thought the genin. Already he was starting to have flashbacks.

However, at that very moment, he suddenly heard Chiyoye scream, and wondered what was going on.

Naruto opened his eyes, and discovered that someone had stabbed the necromanceress in the stomach. She was currently clutching it in pain, and it appeared that she was bleeding.

As he discovered, it was none other than his friend Erza.

"Erza? Is that you?" inquired the genin.

"Yes, it is...what's exactly happening here, Naruto?" inquired Erza.

"It's Chiyoye! She's behind everything! Can you untie me?" asked Naruto curiously.

Immediately, Erza helped Naruto free himself from the operating table.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Chiyoye's stab wound had not killed her.

"Attack!" exclaimed the necromanceress.

Immediately, the skeletons began to surround the duo.

Fortunately for Erza and Naruto, they were able to attack the skeletons effective by working together.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the skeletons weren't going to be destroyed easily. Cutting them apart did little to impede them, and their limbs continued to attack even when separated from their bodies.

Deciding to try a different tactic, Erza decided to try smashing the skeletons instead.

This worked surprisingly well, and they were reduced to dust.

"Well, so much for the skeletons..." thought the magic knight.

However, at that very moment, Chiyoye managed to sneak up on Erza.

"Don't let her touch you!" screamed Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Erza.

At that very moment, Chiyoye grabbed onto Erza's leg, causing her to scream in pain. Thankfully, she was able to force the necromanceress to let go before she could hurt her too much.

However, this was still enough to completely heal her injuries, much to Erza's surprise.

"What did she-" asked Erza.

"She's a life-drainer, Erza! If she manages to get a good enough grip on you, you're dead!" warned Naruto.

"That's terrible..." answered the magic knight, realizing what had happened to the missing recruits.

Immediately, Naruto and Erza got ready to fight Chiyoye.

However, much to her surprise, she didn't seem interested in fighting them.

"Oh dear...it looks I'm outmatched. Well, at least I managed to get a taste of your chakra before I went." noted Chiyoye.

"Well, I'll be seeing you again...once I've gotten stronger."

Suddenly, Chiyoye disappeared into a burst of purple smoke.

"Where did she go?" inquired Naruto.

"I think she teleported away, Naruto." answered Erza.

"Thanks for saving me, Erza...if it weren't for you, I would have died a horrible death..." exclaimed Naruto.

"You're welcome, Naruto...I can't believe Chiyoye would sink this low..." answered Erza.

"Wait...didn't you go on that mission to slay that dragon? Now that I think of it...it was likely a fake." explained Naruto.

"I kept hearing a voice in my head that was telling me to turn back...and that you were in danger." answered Erza.

"I'm glad you trusted your instinct, Erza...otherwise I would have been dead." nodded Naruto.

"We have to tell Makarov immediately." answered Erza.

Naruto nodded. However, as they left Chiyoye's room, he began to wonder...

...what exactly did Chiyoye mean about becoming stronger?

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy woke up from bed, eager to help Konoha with their missions once again. Ever since she had acquired a ninja headband along with a ninja uniform, she had been feeling a lot more confident about being a ninja.

On the way there, she stopped to get some ramen. She simply could not stop eating it, even if she had eaten no less than a dozen bowls over the last week.

She had to admit, she had inherited many things from Naruto...but since she was in many ways still her own person she decided not to complain too much.

After all, he did give her some new abilities...though admittedly he had also taken her summoner keys from her.

"I hope they're doing OK..." thought Lucy Heartfilia. Unlike other summoner mages, she always thought that her summons were friends...and wondered if they were missing her in return.

At least they had managed to make a new friend...right?

On the plus side, she had been reunited with her buddy Natsu...who despite popular belief was not her boyfriend.

If anybody was her boyfriend, it was Shikamaru, the hottest ninja in the world.

"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Just kidding.

"I must admit, he is rather handsome...but we're not there yet! Why are you implying such things?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

My apologies.

"OK...it's time for me to stop breaking the fourth wall...enough crazy things are happening in this fanfic as it is...darn it! I just did it again!" answered Lucy.

Speaking of her friend Natsu, she had decided that she wanted to go on a mission with him like she had done before. Incidentally, he was reluctantly accepting one for himself. It was merely a C-Rank Mission.

Personally, Lucy thought Natsu could go on a mission that was much higher-ranked than that. Surely he could go on at least a B-Rank mission, right? They didn't call him Salamander for nothing.

"Well, at least he's actually accepting a mission for himself rather than helping another person do theirs...that's an improvement, at least." noted Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Shikamaru wanted to go on that mission as well. Apparently he had noticed Natsu was feeling rather unconfident and had decided to aid him.

"Hmm? You two both want to go on the same mission?" asked Lucy curiously.

"It seemed rather easy...it's not even far away from home, to be honest." answered Shikamaru.

"I wanted a mission that was peaceful!" exclaimed Natsu.

"I see...well then, why don't you two work together then? I'm sure that you can give each other a hand...though admittedly each of you could probably do it alone." noted Lucy.

"Sure...do you want to come with? You seem to be dressed in ninja garb...which admittedly looks great on you." noted Shikamaru.

"Thank you! Tsunade gave it to me to show her appreciation at my willingness to help others...and yes...what is the mission?" said Lucy.

"Oh, it's rather simple...we're on a diplomatic mission to visit another clan not too far away from us...they have just enough members to be considered a clan now...they're known as the Yasuragi Clan." explained the shadow ninja.

"Yasuragi Clan?" inquired Natsu, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes...they've only been around for a month or so...so you probably haven't heard of them. I only heard about them yesterday to be honest." noted Shikamaru.

"It's good to see that the world of ninja has another clan..." nodded Lucy.

"Not all clans are good, but from what we've seen from them so far they don't intend on harming anybody else. We're giving them a peace offering so that we can be friends...or something like that." explained the shadow ninja.

"Really? That's awfully sweet of Tsunade..." explained the mage. Then again, she had given her a gift not too long ago.

"She feels that the more ninja she has on her side, the better. And considering just how powerful our clans are when united...she's probably right." said Shikamaru.

"I see." nodded Lucy. Apparently, Lady Tsunade believed in strength in numbers...which explained how populated Konoha was.

"Can we get going? Being in public makes me nervous...I want to go out in the wild where we won't find so many people..." said Natsu.

"Yes, of course." answered the summoner mage. Natsu was at least brave enough at the moment to accept another mission, so at least that was something.

Immediately, Natsu, Lucy, and Shikamaru set out to visit the Yasuragi Clan. They left Konoha's borders and once again headed out into the wilderness.

Sure enough, according to the map, the Yasuragi Clan wasn't too far from them.

But unbeknowst to them, they weren't the only ones planning on paying them a visit.

As it turned out, Kenichi was also planning on visiting them as well. He was still riding his dragon, and he was still searching for victims.

"Hmm? Do you see something?" inquired the ninja curiously.

Kaishi nodded.

Curious, Kenichi used his Rinnegan to scan his surroundings...and discovered that it was exactly what was he was looking for.

It was none other than a clan of weak ninja...the exact type of clan he wanted to eradicate from the world.

All of a sudden, he knew what his next target was.

"Alright then...it's time for us to separate the strong from the weak." said Kenichi as he began to smile.

Kaishi roared in triumph.

Immediately, Kenichi and Kaishi began to fly towards the village the Yasuragi Clan were residing in.

In the process, he passed above Lucy, Natsu, and Shikamaru's heads.

Fortunately for the trio, he did not notice them, as he was currently focused on his current assignment.

However, the trio managed to notice him.

"What was that?!" exclaimed Lucy in surprise.

Curious, she heard a rather loud roaring sound, causing her to jump.

Immediately, Natsu began to hide behind a tree. It sounded like some sort of ferocious creature.

"I'm not sure...was that some sort of dragon? I could have sworn that it was some sort of flying reptile...then again, maybe I was just hallucinating..." inquired Shikamaru.

Oddly enough, he had heard that those beasts were rather scarce...though admittedly several ninja techniques had been named after them nonetheless. Apparently, people were rather impressed by their power.

"I think so...I also believe that there was somebody riding on its back...what was he doing up there? Did he tame the dragon somehow? I wonder how he managed to pull something like that off..." continued Lucy.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise.

"Hmm?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I don't get it...I thought he was just a rumor. And what exactly is he doing so close to Konoha? The rumors never mentioned about him coming here...he always was somewhere else..." explained the shadow ninja.

"Who was just a rumor?" inquired Natsu.

"Um, Natsu...Lucy...if the rumors about that man and that dragon are true...we need to call off the mission." said Shikamaru.

"Call off the mission? But we just started not too long ago. Tsunade's not going to be happy if we tell her that we failed." explained Lucy.

"I will admit that Lady Tsunade will be disappointed, but she'll be much more upset if she found us all lying dead on the floor like those unfortunate ANBU members. It is for our own safety." answered Shikamaru.

"Our own safety?" inquired the kunoichi. All of a sudden, she was starting to feel rather frightened of that mysterious dragonrider. He certainly didn't sound like a good person.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Oh, that's right. You aren't from the world of ninja...I guess I better explain the rumors then." explained the shadow ninja.

"The rumors?" asked Natsu.

"Yes...rumor has it that there's a man who can summon a dragon that travels across the world in order to purify it of ninja he considers inferior to himself...or in other words kill them." explained Shikamaru.

"What?!" exclaimed Lucy. The dragonrider was a serial killer?

Curious, Natsu used his Byakugan...and discovered that the mysterious dragon rider was heading straight towards the clan that they were originally intending to go to.

He had a bad feeling what he was intending to do.

"Now that I think of it...I believe Lady Tsunade told me that if I ever saw him in the Land Of Fire...or heard about his whereabouts, I needed to tell her right away." explained Shikamaru.

"I guess we should tell her what we saw then. Konoha may be in danger." nodded Lucy.

"Oddly enough I don't think he's even paid us a visit before...but I agree. We need to tell Tsunade about this immediately. Any place that man goes is a place that we need to stay away from...as well as everyone else." nodded Shikamaru.

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, Lucy, Natsu, and Shikamaru headed back towards Konoha to tell them the bad news.

_Well, we've managed to find out what Chiyoye's been planning this whole time...did I scare you? I'm afraid that she's not going to be one of the comedic villains we've seen so far...I will admit Ebemener Scourge was a rather goofy character even if he was a serious threat to Christmas...but I can't say the same for her._

_Of course, I can't say the same for Kenichi, either! I'm afraid he's planning an attack on the Yasuragi Clan as we speak...and yes, he's not planning on leaving any survivors._

_I hope you enjoy this chapter even if it was rather scary instead of comedic..._

_Peace!_


	14. Chapter 14: Genocide

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...we're going to learn more about Kenichi...and he's going to do something that is terrible._

_Oh, and we're going to see some different characters for a change...you should probably know who they are._

**Chapter 14: Genocide**

Lucy, Natsu, and Shikamaru entered the Fifth Hokage's office to tell her the bad news.

"Did you complete the mission?" inquired Tsunade.

"I'm afraid not..." answered Lucy.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?" asked the Sannin.

"You see...we had a chance encounter...with the dragon rider." answered Shikamaru.

"You did?!" exclaimed Tsunade.

"Yes, we did..." answered Natsu.

"That's very serious..." explained the Sannin.

"Up until now I thought that he didn't really exist...and that people simply told tales about him to scare people..." answered Shikamaru.

"How I wish that were true..." nodded Tsunade.

"You knew about his existence?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Yes, I did." nodded the Fifth Hokage.

"Who is he?" inquired Lucy.

"His name is Kenichi. He is part of the Chikawa Clan..." explained Tsunade.

"The Chikawa Clan? I thought they were all wiped out..." said Shikamaru.

"Yes, they were." answered the Sannin.

"So, are you going to tell us about Kenichi?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I am...but first, let me start from the beginning. Before I tell you about Kenichi, I shall tell you about his clan." explained Tsunade.

"The Chikawa clan were not an evil clan...but they were very arrogant. They believed that they were the best clan there was...or at least one day they would. They would often go on missions simply to show how superior they were." explained the Sannin.

"Sounds like their leader had an ego..." spoke Lucy.

"Yes. Unfortunately, his clan took his message that they should try to be the best that they could be too literally. That said, he wasn't such an arrogant man himself...though admittedly he could have done more to discourage them from being egotistical." noted Tsunade.

"I see." nodded Lucy.

"Where was I? Ah yes. Eventually, a rather special ninja was born to them...a ninja that happened to possess the Rinnegan. That ninja was known as Kenichi...Kenichi Chikawa." explained Tsunade.

"Go on..." answered Natsu.

"Suffice to say, their clan was very excited. They believed that he was their hero and that he was going to bring honor to their clan, just like his ancestors before him." said Tsunade.

"If he's a hero, then why are you so afraid of him?" asked Lucy.

"Believe me, Lucy, he is anything but...but to his clan they thought he was. They in fact wanted them to be their leader once their old one retired or passed away." continued the Fifth Hokage.

"Interesting..." murmured Natsu.

"For a moment, it did seem that he was going to bring honor to his clan. He accepted the compliments with stride and waved whenever anyone else saw him." said the Sannin.

"I'm assuming things didn't stay that way." answered Shikamaru.

"I'm afraid not. Unfortunately, the compliments began to get to him. He started becoming rather arrogant, and he believed that he was the strongest ninja there was." explained Tsunade.

"Incidentally, he was not an only child. He in fact had a younger brother by the name of Ayumu...who unlike him happened to be the laughingstock of his clan. He was a rather weak ninja, to say the very least." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"Sorry to hear that..." answered Lucy.

"Unfortunately, this weakness caused Kenichi to view him with scorn, and eventually, he decided to take action against him." continued Tsunade.

"What did he do?" inquired Natsu.

"He stabbed him to death with a kunai." answered Tsunade.

Natsu gasped in shock.

"Naturally, his parents discovered what had befallen their son, and they immediately began to mourn his death. This baffled Kenichi, who thought that his brother had deserved to die, and could not understand why they would be upset that somebody so weak had perished." explained Tsunade.

"Eventually, he decided to kill them as well, blowing them to bits with paper bombs."

"How terrible..." murmured Lucy.

"Afterwards, he began to see his entire clan as being beneath himself. He started luring other ninja that considered him to be his friend out in the nearby forest so that he could slay them while no-one was watching." said Tsunade.

"Wait...why didn't his clan investigate the murders?" inquired Shikamaru.

"If his clan had a sense of humility, they likely would have included him on a list of possible suspects. But they believed that their chosen hero would never do something like this to them, especially not his brother or his parents." continued Tsunade.

"So...what are you saying is...he's a serial killer?" asked Lucy.

"I'm afraid that he's worse than that." answered the Sannin.

Lucy gulped.

"Eventually, Kenichi decided that his entire clan needed to be purged. Using the animal path of his Rinnegan, he summoned a dragon to lay waste to this entire village. He burned it to the ground...and left no survivors." explained Tsunade.

Natsu began to cry. It was a rather sad story.

"Since then, Kenichi had made it his goal in life to completely eradicate the weak from the world of ninja. To this end, he has wiped out clan after clan after clan." said the Fifth Hokage.

"Has anyone ever tried to stop him?" asked Shikamaru.

"I'm afraid it's not so simple...you see, Kenichi never leaves a pattern in his attacks. One moment he could strike in the Land Of Water...the next he could strike in the Land Of Lightning..." continued Tsunade.

"Sorry to hear that." answered Lucy.

"And those that do encounter him often end up retreating...they simply find him to be too horrifying to fight. And considering how many clans he's wiped out...that's not too surprising." answered the Sannin.

"Why is he just a rumor around Konoha then?" inquired Shikamaru.

"We happen to be rather fortunate...due to our alliances between our clans, Kenichi does not consider us weak enough to assault us. Other clans...they weren't so lucky." explained Tsunade.

"That explains it..." answered Lucy.

"However, considering how close he's been to our city lately...I'm starting to wonder if that's beginning to change." continued the Fifth Hokage.

"Oh, my..." murmured the kunoichi.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you called off the mission...where exactly was he heading?" asked Tsunade.

"I believe he was heading towards-oh, god..." murmured Natsu.

"I think he's going to strike again..." answered Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

The chieftain of the Yasuragi clan smiled in satisfaction. Konoha was offering to accept them as one of their own...and now they could really get started.

Incidentally, he had white hair as well as a beard. He in fact somewhat resembled Makarov...though unlike him he happened to wear a headband on his forehead, since he was a ninja rather than a mage.

Granted, they probably wouldn't end up as famous as any of the other clans of Konoha considering how large they already were...but at least they would be accepted nonetheless.

"Greetings, my fellow clan members! Today is the day we're going to be joining forces with the Leaf Village! It is a special day indeed..." said the chief.

Immediately, the villagers began to celebrate. They were going to get recognized. Hopefully their clan would prosper.

"At this very moment...their ninja are going to be giving us a present of good will...personally I wonder what it is...but I think I'm going to enjoy it." said the chief.

The villagers nodded. Whatever it was, it sounded good.

Suddenly, he noticed that there appeared to be someone in the distance.

Curious, he wondered if it was the same ninja that were going to be giving him a present as a token of good will.

Unfortunately, it was not.

It was none other than Kenichi and Kaishi...and he was planning to destroy the entire village.

At that very moment, Kaishi began to open his mouth...

...and began to spew flames over the village.

Within seconds the village was on fire!

Immediately, the members of the Yasuragi clan began to scream in horror. Just what exactly was going on?

Realizing that a ninja was responsible and that he was plotting their deaths, they began to flee from Kenichi...

... but he had a way to counter that.

Using the magnetic abilities of his Deva Path, Kenichi sent the fleeing villagers straight into the mouth of his dragon.

Kaishi eagerly devoured them, much to his master's delight.

"Trying to escape from me, are you? Oh, how many of you have already tried that...and failed." replied Kenichi.

However, not all of the members of the clan were simply going to flee from the dark ninja. They had a village to protect.

Immediately, some of the Yasuragi ninja began to toss kunai and paper bombs at his dragon, hoping that this would impede him.

Unfortunately, these would not do the Yasuragi ninja any good. Due to the scales covering Kaishi's body, kunai and paper bombs were completely useless against him. They were going to need a jutsu if they wanted to injure him...and a powerful one at that.

Some of the Yasuragi ninja tried tossing kunai and paper bombs at Kenichi instead, but due to his ability to repel objects as well as attract them, they simply bounced off his body.

"You call these ninja tools? Don't make me laugh. This is a true ninja tool." said the last of the Chikawa clan as he began to pull out a paper bomb.

Unlike a regular paper bomb, this particular bomb happened to be purple.

Kenichi dropped it to the ground...and immediately there was an enormous explosion that shook the village and devastated its defenders.

"This was even easier than I thought it would be..." thought the ninja. He had to admit, using his chakra to upgrade standard ninja tools to give him an edge over other ninja sure was proving useful.

The Yasuragi chief immediately gasped in shock upon seeing this mysterious ninja. He had thought that he was just a legend.

And yet here he was, standing before him...and within minutes he had wiped out his people.

And as he quickly discovered, he was next.

At that very moment, Kenichi began to approach.

"What do you want from us?" inquired the Yasuragi chief.

"Oh, nothing much...I just want you to die...and for you to stop plaguing the world of the strong. You are a pest and must be exterminated." answered the ninja.

"Don't do this! Just because we're weaker than other ninja doesn't mean we have to die like this! Stop!" screamed the ninja leader.

Ignoring the leader of the Yasuragi clan's cries for mercy, Kenichi used his Human Path to rip out the soul from the man's body, killing him instantly.

He smirked in satisfaction a few seconds later.

"Well, now that I've crushed that insect underneath my heel...I suppose it's time for me to move on. There are other clans that need to be eradicated...and I'm not going to stop until I've destroyed them all." said the ninja.

Before he left, Kenichi checked to see if there were any survivors using his Rinnegan. Occasionally, he would end up finding somebody that had tried to hide from him...not that it did them any favors in the end.

Sure enough, he could not find any survivors. The entire clan had been eradicated, and his mission was complete.

"It looks like a job well done." he thought.

Immediately, he went onto his dragon's back and began to fly off into the sunset.

_Meanwhile..._

At that very moment, Fairy Tail came to investigate the reports of the dragon that was terrorizing the populace.

However, much to their surprise, there did not appear to be any sign of the dragon.

Makarov raised an eyebrow.

"Where is the dragon?" asked Makarov curiously.

"A dragon? What are you talking about?" inquired a citizen.

Immediately, Makarov began to wonder if he had been deceived.

Now that he thought of it, Erza had decided to turn back because there was a voice in her head telling her to do so...maybe she was right on the money.

Who could have sent them that fake mission request?

Sighing, Makarov decided it was time to head back to his guild...which he arrived at a few hours later.

However, much to his surprise, he noticed that Naruto and Erza seemed very worried about something.

"What's the matter?" inquired Makarov.

"It's Chiyoye...she killed the missing Fairy Tail recruits!" bellowed the genin.

"What?!" bellowed the guildmaster.

Immediately, the other members of the guild gasped in shock. Was Chiyoye really responsible for what had been happening lately?

"She also stole the Book Of Dark Arts..." continued Erza.

"Oh...oh no." answered Makarov.

"This is bad, isn't it?" inquired Naruto.

"I'm afraid so..." nodded the leader of the guild.

"What should we do?" asked Gray curiously.

"Prepare for the worst." answered Makarov.

"I believe that she happens to be a necromanceress...she used some skeletons to attack me when I went to rescue Naruto..." explained Erza.

"Necromancy? Isn't that considered taboo in Fiore?" questioned Levy.

"Yes, it is." nodded Makarov.

"I have to admit...it was rather smart of her to use those skeletons to guard her personal chambers..." noted Naruto.

"Where do you think she went?" asked Jet curiously.

"Well, she mentioned something about becoming stronger." answered Erza.

"If so...then we may be in danger." nodded Makarov.

Naruto then remembered that Chiyoye got her strength from draining the life and magic from her victims (or in his case, chakra), and began to wonder if she was looking for more victims.

"That doesn't narrow down where she could have gone though..." answered Droy.

"We might need to search for her." nodded Hinata.

"But where do we look?" asked Naruto.

Makarov began to ponder.

_Meanwhile..._

Fortunately for Chiyoye, her teleport spell had taken her a fair distance away from the Fairy Tail guild.

She let out a sigh of relief. As much as she didn't like to admit it, she wasn't powerful enough to take on Fairy Tail yet...though admittedly she had drained the magic out of their fresh recruits.

On the plus side, they did not seem aware to where she had gone. Of course, this did not mean that they were going to search for her...and she began to wonder if she should try disguising herself.

Personally, she was expecting to be playing Exceed-and-mouse with her victims rather than being the mouse and Fairy Tail the Exceeds, but apparently that was inevitable considering that she was now a wanted criminal. Ah well. She didn't want things to be too easy.

Curious, she remembered that she had the guild mark on her forehead even though she had decided to leave Fairy Tail, and decided that she might as well remove it.

However, just when she was about to do so, a passerby ran up to her. He was a young man with black hair and blue clothing.

Apparently, he wanted her help with something.

"What is your name? My name is Michael." said the man.

"My name is Chiyoye..." answered the necromanceress.

"You're a Fairy Tail mage, are you not? Can you give us a hand?" asked the citizen of Fiore.

Raising an eyebrow, Chiyoye realized that people still thought that she was a Fairy Tail mage depsite her defection, and decided that she could use it to her advantage.

"Sure..." nodded the necromanceress.

Immediately, the citizen directed her towards a nearby city...which unfortunately was the perfect place for her to begin her reign of terror.

This particular city was known as Elm Town...despite being a city.

"Our mayor wants a word with you. He says that he wants to know what happened to his citizens...they all decided to join Fairy Tail and then they disappeared...Makarov never explained what happened to them." explained Michael.

Chiyoye chuckled. She knew at once that he was referring to the dozen mages that she had killed to increase her power.

However, after realizing how large the city was...Chiyoye realized that she was going to have to start out slow. If she drew too much attention to herself, the city guard was going to catch her...and they would inevitably have other mages on their side.

So, she decided that she was simply going to murder one person at a time for the time being...

...and a helpful man had just provided himself.

Immediately, Chiyoye approached Michael and touched his forehead.

"Hmm? Why are you touching me?" asked the man.

And then the screaming began.

_Meanwhile..._

"Do you have anything that we can use to track her down?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Well, we've managed to find something that we can use to keep track of her mana to see how much stronger she is getting...as for tracking her down, we're still working on that." answered Makarov.

Immediately, the guildmaster placed a crystal ball on the table that they could use to monitor her power.

Fortunately, it appeared that Chiyoye was still not particularly powerful at the moment, as the mana in the crystal ball was still blue. Apparently, the mana in the crystal ball would change in color whenever Chiyoye grew powerful enough.

However, Naruto noticed that the mana in the crystal ball was slowly increasing...meaning that Chiyoye was slowly getting more powerful.

"The sooner we manage to find her, the better, right?" asked the genin curiously.

"Yes." nodded Erza.

"I guess we better get looking." answered Naruto.

"Actually, I would suggest that you would keep on doing missions at the moment for now...in case you haven't noticed, the people of Fiore still need our help..." answered Makarov.

"What? But what about Chiyoye?" inquired the genin.

"We'll work on locating her, but for now, we keep on doing missions. We're still receiving them and we still need to do them." nodded Makarov.

"OK..." nodded Naruto.

"I now realize why she looks so much younger than she really is...ugh, I think I'm going to be sick." answered Mirajane.

"I'm going to go drown my sorrows..." said Cana.

"Me too..." nodded Elfman as he followed Cana.

Jet immediately dashed away.

Droy went to get something to eat.

Levy went back to reading a book.

"I'll go get an ice cream cone..." said Gray.

"I'm scared..." said Hinata.

"It's OK...I'm sure we'll manage to catch her eventually." nodded Naruto.

"I hope so." answered the kunoichi. By the looks of it, she was going on a killing spree...and she had already hurt enough people as it was.

"I'll see you tomorrow Naruto...I can't believe Chiyoye deceived us all like this...I had my suspicions when Mirajane mentioned that she was a lot older than she looked..." noted Hinata.

"We can't let her get away with what she's done...to think those mages had only been part of Fairy Tail for a week at the most..." answered Naruto.

"Yes...that's why we should try hunting her down and bringing her to justice." nodded the kunoichi.

"Yes...but as we said, we need to keep working...Makarov said that we can't slack off...even if admittedly there's a serial killer on the loose..." noted Naruto.

"Yes, of course...as I said, I'll see you tomorrow...along with Happy." nodded Hinata.

"Bye!" exclaimed Happy.

"See you later!" bellowed Naruto.

Happy and Hinata immediately went back home.

Naruto immediately let out a sigh. Personally, after everything that had happened to him today...he didn't think he was going to be able to sleep peacefully.

Were they going to catch Chiyoye soon? From what he had seen from her some far, she had the rather peculiar ability to get herself out of dangerous situations.

"They're going to have to be good if they want to catch her..." thought Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

At the Phantom Lord guild base, Master Jose was not happy. As he had just discovered, Fairy Tail had become rather well-off thanks to their recent recruit, Lucy Heartfilia.

Suffice to say, he was rather jealous.

Not only that, they had also apparently obtained two new recruits that was all the way from another world...thanks to the magic of an interdimensional portal.

He was not amused.

As soon as his lackies Boze and Sue gave him the latest newspaper, he began to tear it to shreds.

"I...hate...Fairy Tail!" he screamed.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Boze.

"It's that obnoxious Fairy Tail guild! Ever since that idiot Makarov told me that his guild was better than mine while he was intoxicated, I just can't take them anymore!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"Don't you think you're getting angry over something petty?" asked Sue.

"Don't tell me what to do! I'm your master!" bellowed Master Jose.

"Right...of course." answered Boze.

"No matter. Thanks to this personal spellbook of mine, I can create an interdimensional portal that's even better than his. Unlike that interdimensional portal that opens and closes on a whim...I can activate it for as long as I want!" exclaimed the leader of Phantom Lord.

"That's rather impressive." noted Sue.

"And I'm going to be testing it...using some of my best mages!" continued Master Jose.

Immediately, the Element 4 entered the room.

"Bonjour, monsieur Jose!" greeted Monsieur Sol.

"Greetings, my S-class mages...today we are going to be testing out an interdimensional portal...one is superior to that imbecile Makarov's." said Master Jose.

"Really?" asked Juvia.

"It should lead exactly to that alternate world that Makarov is getting reinforcements from...I want you to investigate it. See if you can recruit some followers to join our cause." ordered the Shadow Gear.

"That seems reasonable." nodded Totomaru.

"Under no circumstances are you to fail me. Understood?" inquired Master Jose.

"What if we get blown away to the Land of O-"

"I said under no circumstances!" bellowed the leader of Phantom Lord.

"Yes, master..." nodded Aria.

Immediately, the Element 4 entered the portal to see where it lead.

As it turned out, the interdimensional portal in question led to what appeared to be a village.

However, on closer inspection, it was actually a series of laboratories.

"How very odd...I recall working in one of these once...but I'd never imagine seeing so many of them at once..." noted Totomaru.

"Juvia wonders who could have built all these..." spoke the water mage.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned, Orochimaru was also planning on doing an experiment.

However, in this case, he planned on experimenting on a person.

Who was it? It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. After getting his hands on his best friend Sasuke Uchiha...Orochimaru began to wonder if he should try experimenting on a jinchuriki for a change.

If he could get one of the tailed beasts on his side, destroying Konoha would be a cakewalk. Alternatively, he could use to simply blackmail them. Maybe get some new test subjects for his laboratory.

Of course, in order to do that...he was going to have to capture the teenage boy.

Immediately, he called for his right-hand man...which of course was Kabuto.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru?" inquired Orochimaru's second-in-command.

"I need you to get the Sound Four...they've got another mission to complete..." answered Orochimaru.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow. He had not called upon them for almost three years now...

"You heard me the first time, didn't you?" asked Orochimaru.

"Yes, of course." nodded the medical ninja.

Immediately, Kabuto went to retrieve the Sound Four. Miraculously, they were still alive after their disasterous encounters with the Leaf and Sand Ninja.

Fortunately for Orochimaru, Kabuto was able to bring them back from the brink of death using his healing jutsus...and they were once again in shape to go on missions...which typically involved killing people, since they were psychopaths.

He had even managed to prevent Kimimaro from dying...though unfortunately he still suffered from his terminal illness.

Unfortunately, even after almost three years, he had no cure for the illness. He may have been a good ninja doctor, but he wasn't the legendary Tsunade.

What exactly did Kimimaro catch, anyway? He hadn't found any illness like it in his medical books. Considering that he was able to bring even a powerful ninja like him to his knees...he was starting to wonder if it had set some sort of record.

The Sound Four arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

"You called for us, master?" inquired Sakon.

"I'm sending you on a mission to retrieve a boy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki...who you happened to have met almost three years ago..." explained Orochimaru.

"Well well well, if it isn't for that little twerp...oh, how I've been waiting to get revenge on him..." noted Jirobo.

"I'm going to wring him by his-

HONK!

"-ing neck!" bellowed Tayuya.

As it turned out, Jirobo now had an air horn that he could use whenever Tayuya swore...which was rather often.

"As satisfying as it would be to kill the boy...I assure you that he is of more use to us alive...as you may well be aware of...he happens to have a nine-tailed fox inside him...that of course will die alongside him if he perishes." explained Orochimaru.

"God-

HONK!

"it! Why can't we kill him?! That little-" bellowed Tayuya.

HONK!

"deserves to die!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I was hoping to play a game with him first anyway..." answered Kidomaru.

"I'm really glad I got this air horn..." thought Jirobo.

"Do whatever it takes to capture the boy...just make sure he arrives to me alive..." answered Orochimaru.

"Are we under a time limit again? I remember our last mission ended with you deciding to take Sasuke as an apprentice instead of a body...since you were suffering too much." inquired Sakon.

"No no no. You're not under a time limit this time. By all means, feel free to take your time...I know that Jirobo and Kidomaru will." noted Orochimaru.

Jirobo began to eat some potato chips while Kidomaru twiddled his six thumbs.

Immediately, the Sound Four left Orochimaru's laboratory to search for Naruto...unaware that he was no longer the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox.

However, at that very moment, they noticed the interdimensional portal that Phantom Lord was using.

"What the-

HONK!

"-is that?" inquired Tayuya.

As it turned out, the Element 4 had already left to explore their surroundings...and the Sound Four noticed them from a distance.

"Who are those four? They oddly remind me of ourselves..." noted Jirobo.

In particular, the one wearing a monocle reminded Jirobo of himself for some particular reason...he wondered why.

"You think they're Leaf Ninja?" asked Sakon curiously.

"Probably not...they don't dress anything like them." answered Kidomaru.

"If they're Leaf Ninja, I'm going to slit their-

HONK!

"-ing throats with a kunai!" bellowed Tayuya.

"Would it kill you not to swear for a change?" asked Jirobo.

"Yes, it would! Shut up!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Aren't you a cute couple." noted Sakon.

Tayuya and Jirobo sweatdropped.

"Should we...go inside? I have to admit I'm rather curious." noted Kidomaru.

"I guess we could take a closer look..." nodded Sakon.

Immediately, the Sound Four entered the portal to investigate...unaware that in doing so they were going to become a bit...different.

_Are you surprised to find out what Kenichi has done to his own clan? What do you think of him now?_

_Of course, I probably already know the answer...and I probably know what you think of Chiyoye too...and yes, she's going to be killing a lot of people soon..._

_In the next chapter...Naruto is going to meet some old "friends" of his...but thankfully his new friends (and Hinata) will aid him._


	15. Chapter 15: The Sound Four

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...Naruto's going to be encountering...the Sound Four! But thankfully his friends are going to be helping him..._

_Unfortunately, they're not his only problem...Phantom Lord is planning on attacking Fairy Tail...basically they're in strife._

_Of course, I've also received a complaint that Kenichi has been overpowered...not to worry, you won't see him wipe out a clan like that again...at least not for a while. Just for record, he's one of the main antagonists in my story...as for the other main antagonist...you should probably know who they are._

**Chapter 15: The Sound Four**

"I have to admit...Kenichi sounds really powerful...apparently he has the power to single-handedly destroy a clan..." noted Lucy.

"It's good that he isn't planning on invading Konoha..." nodded Natsu.

"I wonder if there's a way to stop him...from what Lady Tsunade had told us...he's already wiped out over a dozen clans..." answered Shikamaru.

"Surely if there's a will there's a way, right?" inquired the summoner mage.

"I suppose...to think that his first victim was his own brother..." questioned the shadow ninja.

"I know...it's shocking." nodded Lucy.

"You think we would survive if we encountered him again?" asked Natsu.

"We might want to keep track of his whereabouts..." answered Shikamaru.

Curious, Natsu noticed that two ninja were talking to each other about what had happened recently.

Apparently, the Yasuragi clan village had mysteriously been burned to the ground.

Undoubtedly, it was the work of Kenichi.

Natsu sighed. He was afraid that was going to happen.

"I can't believe it...an entire clan has disappeared...just like that!" exclaimed one of the ninja.

"Yes, I know." nodded his partner.

"I wonder what happened to them..." questioned one of the ninja.

"You think this was the work of a ninja?" inquired the other ninja.

"Who would do such a thing?" inquired the first ninja.

Natsu sighed. If only there was something that they could have done to save them.

Hopefully, somebody would put an end to Kenichi's reign of terror someday.

But for now, he was just going to have to keep on doing more missions for the good of Konoha.

"Right...I'll just keep on doing missions with my friends...and try not to get in too much trouble..." thought Natsu.

Speaking of his friends, he wondered how his best friend Happy was doing.

Now that he thought of it, he was starting to miss the Exceed. It simply wasn't going to be the same doing missions without him.

Now that he thought of it...when was the last time they didn't do something together?

He just hoped that wherever he was...he was doing OK. Maybe if they managed to reopen the interdimensional portal he could come to pay him a visit.

Then again, it was possible that would make Happy end up getting trapped in the world of ninja as well...and he didn't want him to end up being stranded too.

Of course, that would also lead to the possibility of him becoming someone's interdimensional partner...since it had already happened twice.

"I hope that wherever he is...he's having a good time." thought the fire mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Happy let out a cough.

"What's the matter?" inquired Hinata.

"I think I've got a hairball." answered the Exceed.

Hinata immediately gave Happy the Heimlich manuever.

"Thank you..." answered the Exceed.

"You're welcome." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, Happy began to frown.

"What's the matter?" asked Hinata.

"I miss Natsu..." answered Happy.

"I see..." nodded the kunoichi.

"To be honest, I can't even remember how long he's been gone..." said the Exceed.

"It's been about a week..." answered Hinata.

"Really? It's already been that long?" inquired Happy.

"Yes, I know...time seems to be flying fast these days." noted the kunoichi.

"Uh-huh!" nodded the Exceed.

"It's been two weeks since Naruto's arrived here..." answered Hinata.

"Really? Is he homesick yet?" inquired Happy.

"I'm not sure...he seems to be enjoying being a wizard...even if he formerly was a ninja." answered the kunoichi.

"Isn't he still technically a ninja?" asked the Exceed curiously.

"It's true, he is. Then again, so am I." nodded Hinata.

"But you're a dragonslayer now!" exclaimed Happy.

"It's true, I am..." answered the kunoichi as she lit her right hand on fire.

"Can you make fireworks with that?" inquired the Exceed.

Hinata nodded, and began to do so.

"Hooray!" exclaimed Happy.

"You sure we should be doing this indoors?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I don't know!" answered the Exceed.

"Hmm..." questioned Hinata. She was starting to hope that Natsu had house insurance.

Then again, if she did end up burning the house down...she might end up getting in trouble for insurance fraud.

"Everyone knows that I would never do something like that...right?" inquired Hinata.

Then again, she had a pretty high insurance policy back home.

"Should we go outdoors?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Sure!" nodded Happy. He needed some fresh air.

Immediately, Hinata and Happy went outside the house.

"In retrospect...maybe we should try doing this during the nighttime...it'd be easier to see the fireworks that way." questioned the kunoichi.

"True..." nodded Happy.

_At the Fairy Tail guild base..._

Fortunately for Naruto, as he discovered, they did in fact sell ramen at the Fairy Tail cafeteria...though admittedly they only started doing so recently.

Immediately, Naruto started consuming the ramen. It was delicious.

"I'm starting to feel at home...though admittedly it's probably going to be a long time before I get back..." answered the genin.

Yet for some strange reason, he got the feeling that something big was going to happen today. He couldn't quite put his finger on it...but it sounded like something that concerned him.

"What could it possibly be?" inquired the genin.

Considering what happened when Erza decided to trust her instinct, he wondered if he should try trusting it as well.

"Hmm..." thought the genin.

Was something bad going to happen? Then again, Chiyoye had already left the Fairy Tail guild long ago.

Of course, there was the possibility that she was up to something.

Curious, he decided to check the crystal ball that Levy had set up...thankfully, she didn't seem much more powerful than when he first saw her.

"That's a relief..." answered Naruto. Suffice to say, it looks like she wasn't a threat to Fairy Tail at the moment.

Nonetheless, he got the feeling that something big was happening back at his world as well. He was starting to wonder if Chiyoye wasn't the only one threatening his friends.

"I'm starting to get worried..." thought the genin. Were his friends on the other side in danger too?

"Is there anywhere that's safe?" he said out loud.

"I wish I knew that answer myself." answered Mirajane.

"Hmm?" inquired Naruto.

"Apparently, a citizen in Elm Town has been murdered...they found his body right outside the city...his skin was pale as snow..." said Mirajane.

"You think this was Chiyoye's handiwork?" asked the genin.

"Apparently. The authorities believe that this was the work of the wizard...as he had appeared to have fallen victim to a spell." nodded the S-class mage.

"Sheesh..." murmured Naruto.

"Apparently, that's just a sign of what's to come..." noted Mirajane.

Curious, Naruto noticed that Droy was eating food in the cafeteria...and a lot of it.

Oddly enough, he reminded him of someone he knew personally...but just who was it?

"Hey there!" exclaimed the genin.

"Um, hello!" answered Droy.

"Are you enjoying those chicken wings?" asked the genin.

"Yes, I am." nodded the member of Team Shadow Gear.

"Are you going on a mission soon?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes...usually I do some with my teammates...I happen to be part of a team called Team Shadow Gear...Makarov said that together we can do anything..." continued Droy.

Once again, Naruto was reminded of a trio that he knew personally. Just who were they?

"Well, I'm done with my lunch now...I'm going to go see Jet and Levy." said the plant user.

"See you!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, Droy went to go visit his friends and teammates.

"Now that I think of it...Levy also reminds me of someone else I know...who could it possibly be?" inquired the genin.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to continue eating his ramen. It was as delicious as it was back in his home world.

_Meanwhile..._

Makarov was checking his mail for today. For a moment, it seemed as if nothing unusual was happening.

Of course, there was that rumor that one of his mages had gone rogue...but other than that he was doing fine.

However, at that very moment, he found something that surprised me.

It was a letter bearing Phantom Lord's insignia.

"Hmm?" inquired Makarov.

Curious, the elderly man opened the letter to see what it read.

He immediately gasped in shock.

"What?!" bellowed Makarov.

Dear Makarov,

Hand over Lucy Heartfilia to us or your guild shall be destroyed!

Sincerely,

Master Jose

Makarov gasped in shock. It was none other than his old friend, Master Jose...

Apparently, he wanted Lucy Heartfilia...he began to wonder why.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to grant that request even if he wanted to. Lucy was stranded all the way in an alternate world...and he did not have the means to bring her back.

It looked like he was going to have to prepare for the worst.

"It looks like we're going to war..." thought the old man.

Hopefully, his guild would not suffer too many casualties. War could get rather...messy.

Sighing, the leader of Fairy Tail decided that he needed to warn them of the situation.

_Meanwhile..._

"Did they receive your letter?" asked Boze curiously.

"Oh, I'm sure that they have." answered Master Jose.

"You think they're going to surrender Lucy Heartfilia to us?" inquired Sue.

"I would hope so...her father promised to pay us through the house for her safe return." replied the man.

"Sounds good!" exclaimed Boze.

At that very moment, Master Jose's interdimensional portal happened to vibrate.

Oddly enough, it happened to be purple rather than the Fairy Tail's blue. Then again, it matched their guild symbol.

However, rather than the Element 4, they encountered someone completely different.

Suddenly, the Sound Four emerged from the portal, much to their surprise.

"Where are we? This looks a bit like Lord Orochimaru's laboratory..." noted Sakon.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered Kidomaru.

"What the-" said Boze.

Master Jose sighed. Apparently, somebody had gotten curious and had investigated the interdimensional portal...much like the new recruits of Fairy Tail had apparently done.

No matter. He knew exactly what to do.

Using his magic, Master Jose sent the Sound Four back into the portal, causing them to scream in the process.

He then redirected the interdimensional portal towards the Fairy Tail base...so that they would be their problem rather than his.

"There...that takes care of that problem..." answered Master Jose.

"Who exactly were these people?" inquired Sue.

"I don't know...and I do not care." answered the shadow mage.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, the interdimensional portal redirected the Sound Four towards the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Immediately, the four began to rub their heads.

"Now where are we?" asked Jirobo.

Kidomaru shrugged.

Curious, they noticed that the guild hall was decorated with rather expensive ormanents. Apparently, someone was rich.

Shrugging, the Sound Four decided to do what a group of juvenile delinquents did best.

Immediately, they began to wreck the guild hall for their own personal pleasure.

After all, that was what they were before they had decided to join Orochimaru and become a group of teenage serial killers.

Immediately, they began to break a rather expensive-looking vase.

They had to admit...they hadn't done something like this in ages...

However, their actions were not unnoticed.

Suddenly, Naruto began to hear loud noises coming from the guild hall, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Hmm?" inquired the genin curiously. It sounded like something had been smashed.

Curious, he decided to investigate the matter further while taking a bowl of ramen with him.

"Wouldn't want someone else to eat this." thought the genin.

Immediately, he entered the guild hall...

...and dropped his jaw in shock as well as his ramen bowl, breaking it in the process.

At that very moment, the Sound Four noticed him.

"Get him! Don't let him get away!" screamed Sakon.

The other members of the Sound Four nodded.

Immediately, Naruto was forced to run...or in this case jump.

Naturally, the Sound Four began to chase him.

Personally, he was surprised that they were still alive after all this time. Did they magically return from the dead?

Immediately, Naruto realized that he was going to have to find a way to slow them down if he didn't want to get caught.

Reaching into his bag, he reached for one of his summons.

In this case, it was Taurus.

"You mess with the bull, you get the horns." murmured Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned Taurus to attack the Sound Four.

"What the-"

HONK!

Once again, Tayuya was interrupted when she swore.

Immediately, Taurus charged straight towards the Sound Four.

For a moment, it seemed that he was going to single-handedly prevent them from closing in. He knocked down the Sound Four like they were dominoes.

"Ugh..." murmured Kidomaru.

However, it appeared that he wasn't going to have as much luck as he thought.

Suddenly, Jirobo grabbed Taurus by the horns. Apparently, he was going to distract Taurus while the other three continued their chase after Naruto.

"You think you can stop us? I eat hamburgers for breakfast!" bellowed Jirobo.

"That explains a lot." answered Tayuya.

Taurus's face turned pale.

Once again, Naruto found himself being chased. He immediately decided to summon another spirit.

This time, it was a summon that he had not used before.

"Curious..." thought the genin.

This particular key happened to have the crest of the scorpion on it.

"I guess it's time for me to summon another spirit..." said Naruto.

Immediately, the genin decided to summon a spirit to aid him.

In this case, it was Scorpio, who began to whip up a sandstorm.

"Thanks for your help..." answered Naruto.

"I have a date with my girlfriend..." complained the scorpion man.

"Sorry..." replied the genin.

Unfortunately for Naruto, one of the Sound Four decided to stay behind to assist the others again.

In this case, it was Kidomaru.

Immediately, he began to shoot webbing at Scorpius to restrain him...which admittedly didn't hold him long.

"A spider-man versus a scorpion-man...how ironic." thought Naruto.

Once again, the genin began to flee while Tayuya and Sakon &amp; Ukon began to pursue him.

"Right then...two more spirits and I'll be set..." said Naruto.

However, the genin was starting to feel tired. Summoning celestial spirits was taking its toll.

Still, he was going to have to summon a third.

Shrugging, he decided to summon Aries.

"You can do this!" exclaimed Naruto.

"You sure about this?" asked the lamb spirit as she was summoned.

"Of course you can! You're my heroine!" bellowed the genin.

"OK..." answered Aries.

Immediately, she began to try to ram into Tayuya.

In retaliation, she immediately went to grab her flute...

...only to pull out a katana instead.

"What the-"

HONK!

Miraculously, Jirobo was able to censor Tayuya despite being a distance away.

Sighing, she decided that she needed to improvise.

"Back! Back or I'll make lamb chops out of you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Sakon raised an eyebrow. Since when did Tayuya have a katana? And what happened to her flute?

Feeling rather frightened, Aries slowly began to walk away as Tayuya continued to walk towards her.

With only one Sound Four member chasing him, it looked like Naruto was almost safe.

However, he was now starting to feel really exhausted.

"Just...one...more...spirit." said Naruto.

Immediately, he began to summon a final Celestial Spirit to deal with Sakon &amp; Ukon...

...or two.

In this case, he ended up summoning Gemini.

Apparently, due to his fatigue, he had not paid attention to what Celestial Spirit he had summoned. This particular key had a smiley and a frowny face on it.

"Can we help you?" asked Gemi and Mini.

"Yes...I need you to attack those two so I can make a getaway." explained Naruto.

Gemi and Mini nodded, and they began to transform into...Sakon and Ukon.

"Thank you." answered Naruto.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Sakon began to attack the duo along with his brother...who was providing him with extra arms and legs.

However, Naruto was having a very hard time jumping away.

"C'mon...just a little further..." said the genin.

Immediately, he left the guild hall, and ended up encountering his friends in a chance meeting.

In this case, it was Elfman, Hinata, Gray, and Mirajane. As it turned out, they were all eating lunch together.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Naruto suddenly collapsed on the floor.

Of course, Hinata immediately noticed.

"Naruto! Are you OK?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I think so...it's the Sound Four! I think they want to capture me!" exclaimed Naruto.

"What? I thought you and your friends wiped them out a long time ago..." answered Hinata.

"Well, they survived our encounter with them!" bellowed Naruto.

"Who are the Sound Four?" asked Elfman curiously.

"They're a group of ninja that work for an evil ninja by the name of Orochimaru...specifically, they're his personal bodyguards." explained Naruto.

"I see." nodded Mirajane.

"Orochimaru usually sends them out whenever he wants to kill somebody...or in this case capture them." explained Naruto.

"They sound strong..." answered Gray.

"Believe me, they are...two of my friends spent a month in the infirmary because of them..." said the genin.

"Wasn't one of them my cousin Neji?" asked Hinata.

"Yes, you're right, Hinata." nodded Naruto.

"Which one was it?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I believe it was Kidomaru...the one with six arms. I think he's some sort of mutant or something...I believe that mutant spiders will do things like that to you..." answered Naruto.

"Can we help?" asked Gray.

"Yes...I'd appreciate it. I need to take a nap." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the genin fell asleep.

At that very moment, the Sound Four burst into the guild hall. Apparently, Naruto's summons weren't able to hold them off for too long.

"Here they come!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Which ones should we take on?" asked Elfman curiously.

"I'm going to take on Kidomaru...to be honest, I want revenge on him for what he did to my cousin Neji..." answered Hinata as she set her hands on fire.

"If nobody else wants to hit a lady...I'll take on the one with the katana." explained Gray.

Mirajane raised an eyebrow. Personally, she was expecting to take on that girl herself. But apparently it wasn't meant to be.

"Can I take on the strong-looking one? I want a battle of strength..." inquired Elfman.

"I guess that leaves me with the teenage boy that has a head growing out from his neck...god, that's disturbing." answered Mirajane.

Immediately, Naruto's friends began to fight...while he slumbered in Dreamland.

Jirobo decided to start off by trapping Elfman inside a giant earth dome.

"Where did everyone go?" asked Elfman curiously.

Immediately, he tried to free himself...but as it turned out, things weren't so simple, as the earth dome could regenerate whenever he tried attacking it.

"Surely there's got to be a weak spot somewhere..." thought Elfman.

At that very moment, Jirobo began to laugh.

"Good luck getting out of zere! You'd be surprised how many have tried zat..." bellowed the muscular teen.

"Wait, did I just say something with a French accent?" asked the young man curiously.

Oddly enough, he got the strange feeling that his opponent was draining the magic out of him...suffice to say, the sooner he got out of the earth dome, the better.

Maybe he should try attacking on the other side from where he was standing?

Meanwhile, Kidomaru was using his string to tie up Hinata so that she couldn't fight back against him.

However, due to her Gentle Fist technique and her ability to manipulate fire, he wasn't having much success.

"Quit tying me up, you pervert!" exclaimed Hinata.

Kidomaru sighed. It looked like he was going to have to try a different tactic.

Immediately, the spider ninja began to distance himself away from Hinata, who began to chase him outside the guild.

"Where was the Byakugan's weak spot again?" inquired the spider man.

Suddenly, Kidomaru had the rather peculiar urge to cry...though he couldn't understand why.

Why exactly was he so upset?

He had to admit, after he fought Hinata's cousin so long ago...his memory was a bit...fuzzy.

Elsewhere, Tayuya was facing off against Gray...by trying to cut him to ribbons with a katana.

Fortunately for the former, she was about as efficient with it as she was with her flute...though she couldn't really understand why considering that she hadn't used on before.

However, Tayuya had a question...how was she going to summon her Doki without her flute?

As she pondered this, she suddenly began to feel rather...cold.

Immediately, she realized that Gray was trying to freeze her.

"Son of a-"

HONK!

Tayuya struggled not to panic. Surely, she would be able to thaw herself out, right?

At this point, the ice was already to her waist.

"Well, this was a bit too e-"

Suddenly, much to both of their surprise, Tayuya used some rainbow fire to thaw the ice.

"What the-

HONK!

"-was that?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I don't know!" answered Gray.

Shrugging, Tayuya decided to try shooting a fireball at the latter, who immediately ducked underneath it.

Oddly enough, the fireball happened to be red as a tomato.

Curious, Tayuya tried shooting another fireball again...that happened to be yellow.

This time, she hit, and Gray began to cough.

"It appears that the yellow fireball functions as some sort of tear gas..." questioned Tayuya.

Fortunately for the kunoichi, she was quickly adapting to her newfound abilities.

She was going to have quite a story to tell to Orochimaru once she and her squad managed to capture Naruto.

Mirajane of course was facing off against Sakon and Ukon...who were attacking using three arms and three legs.

"This is creeping me out..." thought the mage.

She had to admit, Sakon and Ukon were rather...fast.

Of course, Mirajane was far from helpless against the two, and she began to attack the duo using darkness tendrils.

However, much to Sakon's surprise, he began to retaliate by shooting bubbles at Mirajane.

Thankfully, since they were...bubbles, these weren't going to hurt her much. But she got the feeling that was just a sign of what was to come.

Oddly, she noticed that he seemed rather surprised at such an occurrence, and began to wonder what was going on. Did Sakon and Ukon somehow become someone's interdimensional partner?

According to Naruto, they weren't from the world of magic...

Suddenly, Mirajane found herself being encased inside a bubble, which Sakon personally found to be a pleasant surprise.

Immediately, he asked his brother to emerge from his body so that he could explain his new powers to him.

"Huh?" inquired Ukon as he stepped out of Sakon's body.

Mirajane raised an eyebrow. All of a sudden, she felt that she was seeing double.

Apparently, she was dealing with a group of twins.

Curious, Ukon noticed that Sakon had somehow managed to encase Mirajane inside a bubble.

"How exactly did you do that, brother?" inquired Ukon.

Sakon shrugged.

"Do you want to sit back and watch her oxygen give out?" asked the twin.

Sakon nodded.

Back at the lobby, Elfman was still trying to find a way to escape Jirobo's deathtrap.

Eventually, he managed to find a way.

"Maybe if I attack the opposite side from where he's standing..." thought the man.

Elfman immediately punched through the wall...and much to his pleasant surprise, it was taking forever to regenerate.

Shrugging, Elfman jumped through the hole and began to attack Jirobo, causing his earth dome prison to crumble.

Jirobo sighed. Once again, his earth dome prison had failed him.

It looked like he was going to have to resort to other tactics.

Immediately, he pulled out a boulder and flung it at Elfman.

Fortunately for Elfman, due to his takeover abilities, he was able to fling it right back at Jirobo.

Jirobo was anything if not persistent, however, and he kept on tossing the boulder at Elfman.

"This is getting nowhere fast..." noted Elfman.

"Yes, I know." nodded Jirobo.

Shrugging, the earth user crumbled the boulder and began to lunge towards Elfman with his bare hands.

Immediately, Elfman found himself being tossed around like a football.

Fortunately, he was able to regain his composure, and began to claw at Jirobo's face.

He then followed by turning his leg into that of a giraffe, sending Jirobo flying quite a distance.

"Ugh..." murmured Jirobo.

"Huh. You aren't so tough!" exclaimed Elfman.

On cue, Jirobo began to activate the first stage of his cursed seal.

"Hmm?" inquired the muscular mage.

He then followed up by tossing sand in Elfman's eyes.

"Agh!" exclaimed Elfman.

Oddly enough, Jirobo did not recall having sand in his arsenal...but considering that he was an earth user, maybe that wasn't so unusual.

Shrugging, he decided not to question something that he liked, and began to pummel Elfman with his fists.

As soon as Jirobo hit him in the face, Elfman suddenly began to hallucinate.

Suddenly, he began to see his sister Lisanna...who he thought had died years ago.

"Lisanna...is that you?" inquired Elfman curiously.

Curious, Elfman ran towards Lisanna...

...only for Jirobo to pick him up and toss him into the floor.

As it turned out, he was simply making him hallucinate.

"Whose not so tough now?" inquired Jirobo.

Elsewhere, Hinata was facing off against Kidomaru.

After realizing that simply tying up Hinata wasn't going to do him any good (since she was essentially a master escape artist at this point), he decided that he should simply try shooting her.

"Let's see how you dance, shall we?" inquired the spiderman.

Immediately, he began to toss kunai at Hinata.

However, Hinata saw the kunai coming, and she immediately began to avoid them.

Curious, Kidomaru dropped a net on Hinata to see if she would have a harder time breaking free.

Unfortunately for the Sound Four member, Hinata simply burned through it using her fire magic.

She then began to toss the kunai at Kidomaru, who began experiencing irony as he grunted in pain.

"You clever little kunoichi..." murmured the spiderman.

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you making so many video game references?" inquired the kunoichi.

"What do you think I play whenever Lord Orochimaru doesn't order me to kill people?" asked Kidomaru.

"I'm starting to see why you're such a violent psychopath..." answered Hinata.

"I may have played a first-person shooter once or twice..." nodded the spider ninja.

Immediately, Kidomaru began to summon spiders to help him defeat Hinata...

...but of course, she simply burned them all to ash using fire.

"Are you done yet? Because I'm going to fight back." answered Hinata.

Immediately, she ran towards Kidomaru and punched him into the face, causing some blood to leak from his mouth.

Suddenly, much to his surprise, Kidomaru transformed into vapor and began to move away from Hinata.

Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth (and considering it to be a new element to the "game"), Kidomaru realized that he could use this new ability of his to keep himself away from Hinata and her fists.

Smiling in satisfaction, Kidomaru activated the first stage of his cursed seal.

"She's as challenging of an opponent as her cousin...I like it..." thought the spider ninja.

Of course, he did not recall her cousin ever killing his spiders with fire...but at least that would make the "game" interesting.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Tayuya, Gray was proving himself to be a difficult opponent. She couldn't simply slash him to ribbons with her sword, as he had some weaponry of his own (which were naturally made of ice), and she simply couldn't set him on fire as he countered with his ice abilities.

It was time for her to activate the first stage of her cursed seal...which she did.

After activating the first stage of her cursed seal, Tayuya suddenly felt the urge to stick her sword into the ground...which she did.

Suddenly, her three Doki appeared.

"There you-

HONK!

"-ing are! Do you know how my-

HONK!

"-ing life has been without you! Where the-

HONK!

"-have you been?!" screamed Tayuya.

"We're sorry, mistress." answered one of the Doki.

Oddly enough, the kunoichi never recalled her Doki ever talking to her before, but she decided that it did not matter.

For now, she wanted her Doki to pummel every inch of Gray that they could reach.

Immediately, they pulled out their clubs and tried to crush his skull.

"These ogres are strong..." thought Gray. Oddly enough he had gone on a mission to slay some ogres not too long ago.

And to make matters worse, Tayuya did not have to use her flute to control them anymore...she could just command them and they would do whatever they wanted...which in this case was to drain the life from Gray.

Immediately, spectral worms emerged from the Doki's mouths and began to move towards the ice mage.

Frantically, he began to try to dodge the worms.

Tayuya then began to laugh evilly...much to her surprise. Since when was the last time she ever laughed? The only thing she ever seemed to use her mouth for was for using profanity.

_Elsewhere..._

"Sakon thinks that bubble should keep her busy for a while..." answered Sakon.

"Since when did you ever refer to yourself in third person, brother?" inquired Ukon.

"I don't know...brother...ever since we used that portal I've been feeling strange..." said the ninja.

"Ukon's been feeling that way too..." answered the older twin.

However, at that very moment, Mirajane broke free from the bubble.

"Sakon should have known that this would not be this easy..." noted Sakon.

"Drip drop. Drip drop." murmured Ukon.

"Huh?" inquired the younger twin.

After breaking free from her water prison, Mirajane then shot a ball of dark energy at the duo, who immediately leapt out of the way.

In retaliation, Sakon and Ukon began to activate the first stage of their cursed seals respectively.

They then followed up by sending a miniature wave towards Mirajane, sending her flying.

"Ugh..." murmured Mirajane.

"Should we try using our parasitic technique?" asked Ukon.

"In a moment...Sakon want to plays with her a bit more first..." answered Sakon.

"Fine, brother." replied Ukon. Hopefully he wouldn't take too long. He hated it whenever his brother took a long time to finish a fight.

"These two are fast..." noted Mirajane.

Immediately, Mirajane began to wonder if it was time for her to use her Satan Soul.

Then again, she usually saved that for emergencies.

Shrugging, she decided to use her Evil Push technique to attack the brothers.

Fortunately for Ukon, he immediately noticed the technique and jumped out of the way. Unfortunately for Sakon, he ended up being hit head-on.

"Agh!" screamed Sakon.

Immediately, Ukon stuffed Sakon inside his body so that he could heal.

Oddly enough, he did not feel fatigued as he usually did whenever he was forced to be the dominant body.

But since that had been a major weakness of the duo that got them pulverized by Kankuro and his puppets up until recently, he decided not to question it.

Immediately, he began to attack Mirajane along with his younger brother. Thanks to his cursed seal, he was attacking her faster than ever.

"I sure hope that my brother and everyone else is doing OK..." thought Mirajane as she continued to fight the duo.

_It looks like Naruto and his friends are battling the Sound Four once again...well, Naruto's not facing them himself...he had to use four Celestial Spirits just to stall them so that he could get backup..._

_I think you can probably guess whose the interdimensional partner for each member of the Sound Four...heh heh._

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going to continue fighting the Sound Four...how will it turn out? Well, you'll see._


	16. Chapter 16: Phantom Lord

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...our heroes are going to wrap up things with the Sound Four...but unfortunately, they're just a sign of what's to come..._

_...yes, you guessed it. Phantom Lord is coming to attack Fairy Tail! It looks like war is upon us..._

**Chapter 16: Phantom Lord**

Waking up from his nap, Naruto noticed that his friends were fighting against the Sound Four.

"It's good to see that they care about my safety..." noted the genin.

Curious, Naruto wondered if he should help them...

However, he realized that he was still exhausted, so he wasn't going to be able to do much. The only thing he could do really was visit Dreamland.

"I am so sleepy..." thought the boy.

Hopefully, his magic reserves would recover soon.

Then again, maybe he could still use his chakra?

"Hmm..." pondered Naruto.

Curious, he began to see if he could summon some clones to help his friends...

...which he could.

Once again, Naruto began to yawn.

"Go...help my friends. They're in...a pickle." answered the genin.

The clones nodded, and began to search for Naruto's buddies.

Personally, he wondered where everyone else was. What were they doing while he was under attack by the Sound Four?

"I sure hope that they find us soon..." answered Naruto. The more reinforcements he and his friends received, the better.

At that very moment, Erza approached him.

"Ah...Erza...there you are..." murmured Naruto.

"Why are you so tired? It's in the middle of the day." answered Erza curiously.

"I got attacked...by other ninja..." muttered Naruto.

"What? You did? Who were they?" inquired the magic knight.

"They were...the Sound Four...they're a group of evil...zzz..." said Naruto, who suddenly fell asleep.

"Wake up!" demanded Erza as she shook Naruto awake.

"They're evil ninja...that want to capture me...I encountered them...over two and a half years-"

Once again, Naruto fell asleep.

Sighing, Erza woke up the genin once again.

"ago...and now they want to deliver me to Orochimaru..." said the ninja.

"I guess I can't let them get your hands on your then." answered Erza as she pulled out a sword.

"Save my ship..." murmured Naruto as he fell asleep once again.

"He has a ship? Who knew?" inquired Erza as she went to search for the evil ninja.

_Meanwhile..._

Konohamaru was having a pleasant day...even if admittedly his master Naruto wasn't here to teach him any more of his tricks.

So far, he had learned how to use his sexy jitsu...now he could use it to give people nosebleeds.

"Heh heh heh..." thought Konohamaru.

Today was the day he was going to visit his friends so that he could show off his new technique...

...but on the way there, he had a chance encounter with a group of school bullies.

"Can I help you?" asked Konohamaru.

Immediately, their leader demanded that he give him some ryo.

"Who are you guys?" inquired the boy.

"We're The Sorority!" exclaimed the leader of the bullies.

"The Sorority? Doesn't that mean a club for women?" asked Konohamaru.

Curiously, despite their name, each member of the Sorority was male.

Immediately, the members of the Sorority began to scratch their heads. They did not understand it either.

Deciding that he would have to answer that question later, the leader of the bullies decided to introduce himself.

"My name is Momoo! Now hand over the ryo!" exclaimed Momoo.

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow. Why did his parents name him Momoo? Were they cows?

Deciding to give in to the bullies' demands, he reached into his pocket...

...only to find that his pockets were empty.

"Uh-oh..." thought Konohamaru.

Unfortunately for the genin, these particular bullies happened to have graduated from the ninja academy...so he did not have a reliable jutsu to defend himself.

Immediately, the bullies began to punch and kick Konohamaru.

"Come back tomorrow with some ryo or we'll beat you even harder!" screamed Momoo.

The bullies immediately left Konohamaru to lick his wounds.

The ninja-in-training sighed. It looked like the bullies wanted to extort ryo out of him.

He was going to have to go fetch his piggy bank.

"What exactly is their problem?" thought Konohamaru as he went back home.

Hopefully his bruises would heal quickly.

_Meanwhile..._

Jirobo and Elfman were both trying to pin each other to the ground. At this point, their battle had become an enormous wrestling match.

Suddenly, Jirobo's stomach began to grumble.

"Do you need something to eat?" inquired Elfman.

"I'm always hungry...that's why I drain the chakra from others..." answered the strong teenage boy.

"Are you now?" asked the S-Class mage.

"I want something to eat..." complained Jirobo.

Immediately, Jirobo noticed that there was a sandwich on a nearby table, and began to consume it.

"Bon appetite." murmured the teenage boy.

Once again, he realized that he had used French.

"Did I take a French class and not remember it?" inquired Jirobo.

However, as he quickly discovered, that sandwich belonged to Elfman.

"That's my sandwich!" bellowed Elfman.

Incidentally, he had left it on the table when the Sound Four attacked.

Jirobo simply laughed.

"So what? Finder's keepers!" exclaimed Jirobo.

This infuriated Elfman, who began to pummel Jirobo into the ground, giving him several bruises.

He then followed up by clawing him in the face.

Realizing his mistake...and getting desperate, Jirobo activated the second stage of his cursed seal. His skin immediately turned maroon, and oddly enough he happened to grow some hair.

Once again, the two began to wrestle each other...

...but at that very moment, Jirobo remembered that he now had an earth golem on his side.

"I'll just smash him into the ground and watch...that'll be satisfying." murmured Jirobo.

Pressing his hand on the ground, he immediately summoned the earth golem.

"There we go...smash him to bits!" bellowed Jirobo.

Immediately, the earth golem began to attack.

"That is one big golem..." thought Elfman. Oddly enough, despite his many missions, he had not actually fought a golem that big before.

Apparently there was a first time for everything.

Immediately, Elfman began to attack the earth golem with everything he had.

However, Jirobo retaliated by using his new hallucinatory powers to once again distract Elfman.

"Huh?" inquired the S-Class mage. Wasn't his sister Mirajane fighting someone else? She was standing right in front of him.

Unfortunately, this gave the stone golem the opportunity to grab Elfman, who began to squeeze the life out of him.

"Gah!" screamed the muscular man.

Jirobo began to laugh.

"Not so mighty now, are you? Au revoir!" exclaimed the teenage boy.

Once again, Jirobo found himself speaking French...what exactly was his nationality anyway? He wasn't quite sure.

Was this the end for Elfman? He had to admit, he had been working for Fairy Tail for years. It was only a matter of time before he would get his own tombstone just like Mavis Vermillion.

Should he tell Mirajane that he loves her? Then again, she was fighting against the Sound Four herself as he pondered.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Hinata, whenever she got too close to Kidomaru, he simply used his vapor ability to keep away from her.

She was getting sick of it.

And to make matters worse, Kidomaru was starting to shoot arrows at her. Apparently, kunai and spiders weren't enough for him anymore.

"I've got to come up with a different strategy..." thought Hinata.

Curious, Kurenai had taught her how to use a camouflage jutsu for spy missions not too long ago...maybe she could try using that to hide from Kidomaru?

"Maybe I could try a sneak attack..." said the kunoichi.

Immediately, she used her camouflage jutsu to make herself disappear.

Kidomaru raised an eyebrow. Where did she go?

Did she chicken out when she realized how strong he was?

"Well, that was a disappointment. Oh well, I'll just resume my hunt for Naruto and-"

Suddenly, Kidomaru screamed in pain. Hinata had stabbed him in the back with a kunai.

"Just for the record...I don't usually fight like this." answered the kunoichi.

Strangely enough, this reminded the teenage boy of a first-person shooter that he played. What exactly was the name of it?

Once again, Kidomaru used his vapor ability to escape from Hinata.

This time, he realized that he was in danger of losing horribly once again.

On the other hand, he was happy that Hinata was proving to be such a challenge. To be honest, he found easy battles to be boring.

Immediately, Kidomaru activated the second stage of his cursed seal, causing his skin to turn deep red, his hair to turn white, and for a third eye to sprout on his head.

To help him defeat Hinata, Kidomaru decided to summon a giant spider.

"Say hello to my little friend!" exclaimed the teenage boy.

Immediately, he summoned Kyodaigumo and began to ride on her back.

"Little? She seems rather big to me..." answered Hinata.

"Don't be so literal-minded..." said Kidomaru.

Immediately, Kidomaru opened Kyodaigumo's egg sac to rain spiders on Hinata.

"This is really disturbing..." thought the kunoichi.

And to make matters worse, each of the spiders were trying to blanket her in webbing.

"I hope that I'll be able to sleep tonight..." said Hinata.

Thankfully, none of the spiders could get too close to her without getting burned to ash, thanks to her fire aura.

"Phew!" exclaimed Hinata.

However, Kyodaigumo wasn't going to give up, and she realized that her fire aura wasn't going to last forever.

"Maybe I should attack the spider so that she can't lay any more offspring?" inquired the kunoichi curiously.

It seemed as good of a plan as any.

Immediately, Hinata began to burn through Kyodaigumo's web with her fire abilities, causing Kidomaru (along with the giant spider) to begin to fall.

Fortunately for Kidomaru, he did not damage any of his internal organs this time.

However, this left him vulnerable to another assault from Hinata, who was tossing kunai at him hoping one of them would hit him in the face.

In fact, two of them managed to hit him in his arms.

Suddenly, Kidomaru used some wind magic to blow Hinata away.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I don't know how I managed to do that...but that's better! Now I can try attacking from long-range again..." murmured the spider man.

Immediately, Kyodaigumo crawled away, allowing Kidomaru to toss kunai at Hinata made from his sticky webbing.

Unfortunately for Hinata, Kidomaru was using his new wind abilities to keep her at a distance.

"I've got...to keep running...towards him." murmured Hinata as she began to chase after Kidomaru.

Suddenly, one of the kunai hit her in the shoulder.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, her Byakugan was not invincible...and she suffered from the same weakness that her cousin did.

At that very moment, Kidomaru remembered where the weak spot of the Byakugan was.

Immediately, he began to prepare a bow and arrow so that he could hit Hinata in that said weak spot.

"Game over..." murmured Kidomaru as he readied his makeshift weapon.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Gray was still occupied trying to avoid being smashed by Tayuya's Doki.

Speaking of which, she had tried to use blue fire on Gray...but since he was resistant to the cold this didn't hurt him much.

So, she decided to keep trying to grind his bones into dust.

But as it turned out, Gray decided that he needed to fight back against the Doki.

Immediately, he summoned some ice weapons and used them to attack the trio.

"Hmm?" inquired Tayuya.

Realizing that she was in danger, she immediately used the Doki to defend herself from Gray.

Unfortunately for Tayuya, Gray used his ice magic to freeze the Doki solid.

Spitting on the ground in anger, Tayuya was then forced to dismiss the Diki.

"Well, then, I guess it's just you and I..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she activated the second stage of her cursed seal, shredding her hat in the process.

"Maybe I should take that off before I activate the second stage of my cursed seal..." questioned Tayuya.

Immediately, several horns appeared on Tayuya's head, her hair turned pink, and her skin turned brown.

Unfortunately for Tayuya, she no longer had a flute to use genjutsu on Gray.

"How am I going to..." thought the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she had the particular urge to begin to sing.

Shrugging, she began to do so. Hopefully Gray was sensitive to sound.

Immediately, he began to wonder what was going on...

...when suddenly he found himself unable to move.

"What-what's going on?" inquired the ice mage.

Unfortunately for Gray, he had been caught by Tayuya's genjutsu. Immediately, he began to hallucinate that he had been chained up and that his arms were melting.

"Not my arms! I need those to cast magic with..." murmured Gray.

"Huh...I guess I don't actually have to use that flute to use my genjutsu anymore..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she pulled out her sword so that she could cut off Gray's head.

As she approached Gray, she began to giggle.

"Why am I laughing? Again, I don't ever recall laughing whenever I was in battle..." murmured Tayuya.

Things did not look good for a certain ice mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Realizing what a difficult opponent Mirajane was (due to being a S-Class Mage and all), Sakon and Ukon realized that they were going to have to use the second stage of their cursed seals if they wanted to defeat her.

Immediately, they began to do so.

Oddly enough, their cursed seal forms looked almost exactly alike...both of them had horns on their foreheads and their skin turned red. However, Sakon had body armor on his left arm while Ukon had body armor on his right arm.

Realizing that her opponents were faster and more dangerous than ever, Mirajane began to charge up another darkness attack...

...only for Sakon and Ukon to summon a Rashomon to defend themselves from it.

Fortunately for Mirajane, she managed to dent the menacing gate due to the power of her magical attack.

Unfortunately for the S-Class Mage, the Rashomon could fight back by shooting a giant swarm of blades.

Frantically, she began to avoid them...which thankfully she did.

"That was one giant gate..." murmured Mirajane.

Suddenly, Sakon grabbed her so that she couldn't move.

"What are you-"

As it turned out, Sakon was restraining Mirajane for what was coming next.

Immediately, Ukon began to enter the S-Class Mage's body.

"This is wrong on so many levels..." murmured Mirajane.

"Did you think that we were limited to each other's bodies?" inquired Ukon curiously as he began to enter.

All of a sudden, Mirajane was starting to feel rather ill.

"Ugh..." murmured the S-Class mage. Apparently, Ukon was slowly killing her by destroying her body's cells.

And to make matters worse, Sakon wasn't going to let her attack her own body so that Ukon could continue his dirty work interrupted.

"What am I going to do?" thought Mirajane as she began to cough.

Immediately, Sakon began to smile.

It looked like he and his brother were going to win today.

_Meanwhile..._

"Give it up! It's over!" bellowed Jirobo.

At this point, Elfman was starting to feel rather weak. The stone golem was literally draining the energy out of him.

However, after seeing the illusionary copy he had made of her sister...he remembered what he was fighting for.

Suddenly, he began to transform.

"Huh?" inquired Jirobo.

At that very moment, he turned into a monster.

"What the-" murmured the earth ninja.

Suddenly, Elfman broke free of the stone golem's grip, and began pummeling it into the ground. Immediately, the golem crumbled, and he was free to retaliate.

He punched Jirobo and sent him flying.

"Ugh..." murmured the chubby ninja.

Elfman then got ready to punch him...which he did.

"Wait, no! Please don't...oh wait, you already did it." said Jirobo.

Immediately, he passed out, reverting back to his normal form in the process.

Elfman reverted back to his normal form as well...he was feeling rather exhausted, and the fight had taken a lot out of him.

Using his beast soul spell wasn't without its drawbacks, it seemed.

Fortunately, one of Naruto's clones dragged him towards the infirmary so that he could get some rest.

_Meanwhile..._

As Kidomaru readied his arrow, he suddenly began to cry.

"Darn it! My eyes..." murmured the spider ninja. Was he having some sort of allergic reaction?

Unfortunately for Kidomaru, due to his crying fit, his aim was off, and he did not Hinata on the back of her head.

However, he did manage to hit her in the leg, and it was bleeding a lot...all of a sudden, Hinata began to feel woozy.

"This is going to clot...right?" inquired the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Hinata noticed that Kidomaru had attached the bow and arrow directly to his body using a string.

"Well, he didn't think that through too well." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she grabbed onto the string and began to pull Kidomaru towards him.

"Oh...no..." murmured the spider mage as he was pulled towards Hinata.

Kyodaigumo attempted to defend her master...but unfortunately, Hinata tossed a fireball at her and she was reduced to ash.

"Maybe I should become an exterminator...then again, Shino wouldn't approve of that." thought the kunoichi.

She then finished Kidomaru off by punching him in the face.

"Why do I...keep getting pushed like this?" inquired Kidomaru as he passed out.

He immediately reverted back to his original form.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief.

However, there was still the matter of her injured leg. It was bleeding...a lot.

"Oh that's right...I feel faint..." murmured Hinata.

Immediately, she began to pass out.

Thankfully, a friendly Naruto clone was there to take her to the infirmary, so she wasn't going to bleed too much.

Hopefully Neji would be proud of her.

_Meanwhile..._

Happy that her genjutsu had worked (and that she didn't need a flute to use it anymore), Tayuya got ready to stab Gray in the heart...

...when suddenly she noticed that he had taken his clothes off and was now in his boxers.

"What the-

HONK!

"Where are your clothes?" screamed Tayuya.

"I may have taken them off..." answered Gray.

Somehow, he had managed to take his clothes off even when Tayuya's genjutsu had paralyzed him.

It was one of the mysteries of the magical world.

Immediately, Tayuya kicked Gray in the face.

"Get away from me, you pervert!" screamed the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, this had the unintended side effect of breaking Gray free of the jutsu.

He proceeded to freeze Tayuya solid using his ice magic.

"Son of a-" murmured the kunoichi as she was frozen.

He then proceeded to shatter the ice violently, knocking Tayuya unconscious.

"What a foulmouth..." murmured Gray.

Suddenly, one of Naruto's clones paid him a visit.

"Can I help you?" asked Gray.

Immediately, the clone asked him if he wanted to visit the infirmary.

"But I'm not really all that hurt..." answered the ice mage.

The clone told them that they had free ice cream at the Fairy Tail hospital.

"I guess I'll be heading there then..." said Gray.

The Naruto clone immediately escorted him to the infirmary.

_Meanwhile..._

At this point, Mirajane was about to vomit. Ukon was wreaking havoc inside her body as we speak. Not even her precious antibodies could save her now.

"I haven't been this sick since I saw our guildmaster in his boxers..." murmured the S-Class mage.

Immediately, Sakon began to laugh.

However, at that very moment, Mirajane began to feel something other than Ukon inside of her.

"Hmm?" inquired Mirajane.

As it turned out, her demon soul was finally starting to activate.

"Is it finally the day?" asked the S-Class Mage.

As it turned out, yes it was.

Immediately, Mirajane began to transform into a giant demon.

"What the-" murmured Sakon.

Which was then followed by Ukon being expelled from her body.

Feeling rather...frightened, he retreated inside his brother.

Sakon then went to hide behind the Rashomon gate so that he didn't die a horrible death.

Unfortunately for Sakon and Ukon, Mirajane was now able to punch through the Rashomon gate with ease.

She then followed by lifting the duo by their heads...

...and then smashing their heads together.

"Why do we..." said Sakon.

"...keep losing to such trash?" murmured Ukon.

Immediately, Sakon and Ukon both passed out, leaving Mirajane the victor.

Oddly enough, she passed out shortly afterwards as she reverted to her normal state. Much like her brother, using her Satan Soul really took the wind out of her.

Maybe when she got stronger she would be able to use the Satan Soul without getting so exhausted?

Then again, using a new ability took some time to get used to.

Fortunately, a friendly Naruto clone took Mirajane to the infirmary.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, did we all win?" inquired Mirajane curiously.

"I believe so, yeah..." nodded Gray.

"Good...what are we going to do about the Sound Four?" inquired Hinata.

"I think Erza locked them all away...that way we can have somebody sentence them to jail..." said Elfman.

"That's a relief..." murmured the kunoichi.

Sure enough, Erza arrived a few minutes later.

"Did you send them to where they belong?" inquired Mirajane.

"Yes...they're in our dungeon as we speak." answered the knight in shining armor.

"We have a dungeon?" asked Gray.

"Yes...we just got one last week...oddly enough." explained Erza.

"Interesting..." answered the ice mage.

"Be a good boy or we'll have to put you in there, OK?" inquired the knight in shining armor.

"OK..." answered Gray. Why was Erza always so strict?

At that very moment, Naruto came in...he was yawning.

"Are you guys OK? I had my clones take you here so that you could get some rest...it's a good thing we've got healing mages, huh?" inquired Naruto.

"Yeah...after that arrow hit my artery I felt rather...faint." answered Hinata.

Thankfully, her injury had not been life-threatening, and she did have to go to the emergency room.

Nonetheless, she had lost a significant amount of blood, so the doctor said that she should stay a while.

Besides, they had cookies.

"Delicious..." murmured Hinata as she ate a sugar cookie.

As for Gray, he had a headache due to Tayuya's genjutsu.

"Ugh..." murmured the ice mage.

Fortunately, he was able to make his own ice pack so that he could soothe his head.

Elfman and Mirajane were both breathing heavily after using their transformation techniques. They were going to need some bed rest.

Thankfully, the doctor was expecting a full recovery.

_Meanwhile..._

"You four are the biggest juvenile delinquents I have met in my entire life! First you wreck my guild hall...then you go and attack four of my mages! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" bellowed Makarov.

The Sound Four began to sigh.

"You're going away for a long time...I can promise you that!" exclaimed the guild master.

The Sound Four screamed "Nooooo!" in unison. But it was already too late for them.

However, at that very moment, Cana paid Makarov a visit. She was drinking rather heavily.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Makarov.

"It was Phantom Lord...they attacked Team Shadow Gear!" exclaimed Cana.

"What?!" bellowed the guildmaster.

Curious, Makarov decided to investigate.

Sure enough, Team Shadow Gear had a chance encounter with Phantom Lord...and by the looks of it, they had lost horribly against them.

The trio had been strapped to a tree, and were hanging limply.

"How terrible..." murmured the guildmaster.

"Ugh..." muttered Levy.

Curious, Makarov noticed that there was a letter attached to the tree.

"This is your final warning. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia or we shall destroy everything you hold dear." said the letter.

"Not good..." murmured the guildmaster.

Apparently, they were going to have to prepare for war.

Immediately, he had Cana take the trio to the infirmary...where oddly enough they happened to encounter the foursome that had battled the Sound Four.

"Why are we getting beat up so much?" inquired Mirajane.

"I don't know, sister..." answered Elfman.

Fortunately, Team Shadow Gear would recover soon...though admittedly they had taken quite a beating.

"Who did this to you?" inquired Hinata.

"It was their dragonslayer...I believe his name was Gajeel." answered Levy.

"He beat us all to a pulp..." said Jet.

"That's terrible..." answered the kunoichi.

"He made me vomit my lunch...he punched me in the stomach." spoke Droy.

"How sad." sympathized Hinata.

At that very moment, a nurse came by and told Hinata and Gray that they were free to go.

"Alright then...I'll be seeing you later." said the kunoichi.

"Have fun in the infirmary...they have cake now..." spoke Gray.

Droy began to rub his stomach.

_Meanwhile..._

"Did you take down Team Shadow Gear?" inquired Master Jose.

"Yes, I did...I hung them up as a preview of what's to come...heh heh." answered Gajeel.

"Did you wreck their guild hall?" asked the shadow mage.

"Somebody already beat me to that, actually...it was kind of awkward when I got there." said the iron dragonslayer.

"You think it was the four you sent to Fairy Tail?" inquired Sue.

"Maybe I should find a way to repay them..." questioned Master Jose.

"Should we attack Fairy Tail now?" asked Boze.

"I've been waiting forever to do so...so yes." answered the leader of Phantom Lord.

At that very moment, the Element 4 came through Master Jose's interdimensional portal.

"So...did you find anything?" inquired Jose.

"No, we did not. Just a strange laboratory..." answered Totomaru.

Aria began to cry.

"I see..." said Master Jose.

Immediately, Jose ordered the Element 4 to attack Fairy Tail...and to gather his mages as well.

It was going to be a big battle...

...and he was going to enjoy every bit of it.

"Why do you want to attack Fairy Tail, anyway? You never mentioned it to us..." answered Sue.

_Master Jose paid his friend Makarov a visit...however, he as quickly discovered, he was intoxicated._

_"Look at all the pink elephants...I love you, pink elephants!" bellowed Makarov._

_"I think you're drunk..." said Jose._

_"Hey there Master Jose! Your guild are losers!" exclaimed the guildmaster._

_"What?!" bellowed Master Jose._

_"My guild will always be better than yours! Live with it!" yelled the old man._

_At that very moment, Master Jose swore that he would one day destroy Fairy Tail._

"That's it? You want to destroy Fairy Tail simply because Makarov insulted you while you were intoxicated?" inquired Sue.

"Yes." nodded Master Jose.

"I'm scared..." murmured Boze.

Immediately, Master Jose began to form a plan of attack.

_Meanwhile..._

"I just felt a chill down my soul..." murmured Makarov.

"You think something bad is going to happen?" inquired Erza.

"I would imagine so, yeah..." answered the mage.

At that very moment, Naruto entered the room.

"Can I help you?" inquired the genin.

"We have a bad situation on our hands." explained Erza.

"Oh..." answered Naruto.

"Phantom Lord has declared war on us..." said Makarov.

"Really? How come?" asked the genin.

"I told Master Jose that my guild was better than his...while I was drunk. I need to stop drinking so much!" bellowed the guildmaster.

"Maybe you should tell that to Cana..." noted Naruto.

"Her liver is invincible! She'll be fine!" answered Makarov.

"We're not going to be fine if Phantom Lord wins..." explained Erza.

"Should I get ready to fight?" asked the genin.

"I would imagine so, yeah..." nodded Erza.

"Alright then...I'll go get a ninja outfit..." said Naruto.

"We have ninja outfits?" inquired the knight.

"Some of us liked to cosplay as ninja...of course, now we literally have ninjas...so we should keep ahold of those costumes." explained Makarov.

"Right, of course." nodded Erza.

At that very moment, Hinata came into the room as well.

"Can I help you?" asked Makarov.

"I used my Byakugan, and discovered that there was a large army heading towards us." explained Hinata.

"What?!" bellowed the guildmaster.

"We've got no time to lose then." answered Erza.

"Thank you for warning us..." said Makarov.

Fortunately for Makarov, he had an alarm installed in case of an emergency situation.

Immediately, he sounded the alarm, and the guild got ready to battle.

"Here they come!" exclaimed Hinata.

Sure enough, Phantom Lord was heading straight towards the Fairy Tail guild base.

Naruto let out a deep breath. This was going to be a long battle...

_Oh dear! It looks like war is upon us! Will Fairy Tail win? Will Phantom Lord get their hands on Lucy? Will the Sound Four get sent to a maximum security prison?_

_Find out in the next chapter of Ninja Tail!_


	17. Chapter 17: Interrogation

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...Phantom Lord is going to invade Fairy Tail! And yes, Fairy Tail is going to fight back. Were you expecting them to just sit there and watch Phantom Lord destroy everything they hold dear? Sorry, but they're more wily than that._

_However, something bad is going to happen to a certain former jinchuriki...can you guess what will happen? You might know already._

**Chapter 17: Interrogation**

Immediately, Fairy Tail got ready to fend off the opposing mages. Thankfully, they had a rather decent formation.

Fortunately for Fairy Tail, they were ready and fired first.

Cana threw some cards at the opposing Phantom Lord mages, causing them to experience some rather nasty cuts.

This was then followed by Happy latching onto a Phantom Lord mage's face...since he was allergic to Exceeds, this did not do him any favors.

He immediately passed out on the spot.

Luckily for him, his allergy was not life-threatening...though he was going to have to visit the hospital nonetheless.

Of course, a certain genin wasn't going to let Fairy Tail crumble after they offered him shelter.

Immediately, he joined the fight...along with about a hundred clones.

The Phantom Lord mages screamed as they were overpowered by the army.

"I guess the best way to deal with a bunch of nameless minions was to create copies of myself..." noted Naruto.

"I have a name! It's Kenny!" bellowed one of the mages.

"Well, at least one of you wants to be your own person rather than a member of an evil army that has no real personality whatsoever..." said Naruto.

Immediately, Kenny decided that he wanted to start a new life.

"Anyone else want to tell me your name?" inquired the genin.

"No, we're good." answered another Phantom Lord mage.

"OK then..." said Naruto as he began to summon some celestial spirits.

Unfortunately for Naruto (and by extension, the rest of Fairy Tail), the Phantom Lord mages started to summon some helpers of their own.

"Uh-oh...it looks like these mages have friends...let's see now, we've got an ogre, a troll, an imp, and a gargoyle..." murmured Naruto.

Immediately, they began to attack Naruto's celestial spirits.

Curious, Naruto decided to summon Aquarius to see if she wanted to help him...which she did not.

"Get lost! I've got a date with Scorpius!" exclaimed Aquarius.

"But you already dated him last week..." complained Naruto.

"I'm doing it again this week! Now scram!" bellowed Aquarius as she disappeared into a burst of blue energy.

"Aww!" complained Naruto.

Oddly enough, he heard that he needed a body of water in order to summon Aquarius...yet he did not need to do so in order to flood the goblin village.

Maybe because he had chakra as well as magic this wasn't necessary for him?

"I guess I'm on my own then." said the genin.

"What makes you say that?" inquired Hinata.

Immediately, Hinata entered the battlefield, much to Naruto's pleasant surprise.

"Hey there Hinata...I thought you were recuperating at the hospital after your battle iwth Kidomaru?" inquired Naruto.

Hinata revealed the bandage on her leg.

"So, you're going to be OK then?" asked the genin.

"Yes, I am. The doctor told me that I should be fine as long as I don't get too careless...and I don't run too fast." answered Hinata.

Sure enough, Gray arrived on the scene as well. Apparently, he wanted to join in the action as well.

Immediately, he began to create some ice weapons.

"Are Elfman and Mirajane still recovering?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes, they are." nodded the ice mage.

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to working for them...they helped me take on the Sound Four..." answered the genin.

"We'll just have to fight twice as hard for both of them." nodded Gray.

"Right, of course." answered Hinata.

_Meanwhile..._

"What's going on out there?" inquired Elfman.

"It seems that there's a war going on." answered Mirajane.

"Should we go get military outfits?" asked the S-class mage curiously.

"We're drained of magic, remember? We're going to need some time to recover." answered Mirajane.

"How could I have forgotten about that?" inquired Elfman.

"I sure hope that they can handle things without us." noted the S-class mage.

"Right, of course...it's a shame, I figured that together we could punish them." nodded Elfman.

"Yes..." said Mirajane.

"Here's hoping that Fairy Tail can survive this..." spoke the S-Class mage.

"You'd be surprised what we've managed to survive..." answered the darkness magic user.

"Like the time where we fell into a volcano?" asked Elfman.

"Yes...we survived without even a first-degree burn...we were the luckiest mages in the world." answered Mirajane.

"I know..." nodded the beast user. The Grim Reaper must be pretty mad at them for cheating him like that.

_Back at the battlefield..._

"Foolish girl! You cannot defeat me! Every time you hit me, I just regenerate!" bellowed the troll.

"Do you now?" asked Hinata.

"Unless you happen to have fire or acid, you're done for!" exclaimed the troll.

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize I'm a fire dragonslayer, right?" asked the kunoichi.

The troll sweatdropped.

"Can I surrender?" asked the troll.

"Sure." nodded Hinata.

"I am not worthy! I am not worthy!" bellowed the troll.

"Go easy on yourself." answered the kunoichi.

Meanwhile, Cana was challenging an ogre to a drinking contest.

"You cannot defeats me! My liver is giant!" bellowed the ogre.

However, Cana quickly noticed that the ogre was already rather tipsy...while she hardly felt anything at all.

"He's not as tough as he says he is." noted the mage.

The ogre and Cana kept on drinking...

...and eventually...

...the ogre collapsed.

"Wow...I actually defeated an ogre in a drinking contest...my guildmates will be so proud." answered Cana.

Meanwhile, Gray was dealing with the imp...who wouldn't hold still.

"C'mon! Hold still already!" bellowed the ice mage.

"Nah nah!" exclaimed the imp.

"Sheesh...even in their infancy demons are mischevious...thank goodness it's not an adult though." noted the ice mage.

Then again, imps tended to be rather annoying. Last week he had found that one of them had stolen his shirt and pants...not that he really cared.

Suddenly, Gray remembered that he could use ice magic to freeze the imp.

"Right...why did I forget about my powers?" questioned the ice mage.

Immediately, he froze the imp solid.

"I'm a popsicle!" screamed the imp in his icy prison.

"Well, that should keep you busy...at least until the ice thaws out." answered Gray.

Naruto was dealing with the gargoyle, who unfortunately was pretty fast.

Once again, Naruto found himself rummaging in his purse...er, summoner bag.

"Let's see what I've got..." said the genin.

Curious, Naruto noticed the key in his possession happened to have a lion's head on it.

"How many keys does Lucy have?" inquired the genin.

He immediately used it to summon Loke.

"Huh?" asked Naruto curiously. He could have sworn that he had seen him in the guild hall before.

"I thought you were a Fairy Tail mage...not a Celestial Spirit." questioned the genin curiously.

"I'm actually both." answered Loke.

"Alright...can you give me a hand? Aquarius is leaving me to die out here..." inquired Naruto.

"Yes." nodded Loke.

"Thank you." answered the genin.

Immediately, Loke used a light attack on the gargoyle, causing it to turn into...stone.

"I guess they don't like light very much." answered Naruto.

"Wasn't it daytime?" asked Loke.

Naruto shrugged.

"Let me know if you need any more help." answered the Celestial Spirit as he disappeared into yellow light.

"Thanks." answered the genin.

Immediately, Naruto resumed his fight against the Phantom Lord mages.

_Meanwhile..._

The police chief of Elm Town was investigating something rather troubling. As of late, there had been a number of mysterious disappearances.

According to what the locals had been telling him, people had been found gruesomely murdered. By the looks of it, it was the work of a wizard.

Curious, he wondered if he should go to Fairy Tail and give them a mission request...but he heard that they were at war against Phantom Lord at the moment, so they wouldn't be able to help him.

He began to wonder who was doing this. It had been ages since Elm Town had been visited by a serial killer.

And even then, he had been arrested rather quickly...he didn't hide his tracks too well.

He had tried sending some police officers to search for the suspect...but they hadn't returned.

What was going on? Clearly something bad was happening.

And to make matters worse, there weren't any patterns in the killings, so he was having a hard time defending the civilians. Men, women, children...it didn't matter to this mysterious murderer.

He was starting to wonder if they wanted to kill every single citizen in town.

He could only hope that he was wrong. Having somebody disturb the peace like this was the last thing he wanted as a police officer.

"What has gotten into this town these days? It used to be so peaceful..." murmured the police chief.

Then again, he had heard that all good things must come to an end.

"I sure hope that my boys can catch this criminal and bring them to justice...they've got a lot to answer for." answered the chief.

Then again, he got the feeling that his forces weren't going to be a match for the mage. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world of magic was actually born with magic.

In the meantime, he was going to drink some coffee. That usually took his mind off things...

...but not today.

_Back to Fairy Tail..._

Thanks to his chakra and his Celestial Spirits, Naruto was cutting through the Phantom Lord mages like butter.

"This is almost too easy..." thought the genin.

Suddenly, he noticed that he had wandered too far and had gotten himself separated from his teammates.

"I might want to head back..." answered Naruto.

At that very moment, Juvia and Monsieur Sol began to approach him, causing the genin to raise an eyebrow.

"Can I help you two?" inquired the genin.

"We're looking for a girl by the name of Lucy Heartfilia...have you seen her? Drip drop, drip drop." asked Juvia.

"I have to admit, she is quite ze fraulein..." murmured Monsieur Sol.

"She's not even your age!" bellowed the water mage.

"Sorry!" apologized the French mage.

"Anyways...where were we? Do you know where she is? We're on a mission to bring her back to her father..." said Juvia.

"Her father? Why would she want to leave him? I never even got to know mine..." answered Naruto.

"Isn't zat sad..." answered Monsieur Sol.

"Do you know where she is?" asked Juvia.

"As a matter of fact, I do." nodded Naruto.

"Is there anything ve can do to make you give up her location?" inquired the earth mage.

"Well, I suppose I might give up her location if I was being tortured horribly." answered Naruto.

Juvia and Monsieur Sol looked at each other in the face.

_A few minutes later..._

"I walked right into this, didn't I?" thought Naruto.

As it turned out, he had been imprisoned inside a bubble by Juvia.

"Let me out of here!" bellowed the genin.

"Zis vas a stroke of luck! Ve shall get ze fraulein in no time!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

"We still need to take him to our base." answered Juvia.

"Shouldn't ze lack of oxygen inside ze bubble affect him by now?" inquired the earth mage.

On cue, Naruto suddenly passed out.

"Huh. He actually passed out right after you said that." answered Juvia.

Immediately, Juvia released Naruto from his bubble prison and began to lift him on her back so that he could breathe.

"Let's get going, shall we? Drip drop, drip drop." said the water mage.

"Right, but of course." nodded Monsieur Sol.

Immediately, the two mages began to take Naruto to their guildmaster.

_At the Fairy Tail prison..._

"I want food..." complained Jirobo.

"I want to play a game..." whined Kidomaru.

"I want my hat back..." pouted Tayuya.

"I want to get out of here..." moped Sakon.

"I just want to sleep..." said Ukon.

Suffice to say, none of the Sound Four were cut out for juvenile hall. In fact, they dreaded the very thought of it.

On the other hand, they would be receiving medical treatment that would prevent them from being such psychopaths, so at least that was something.

Nonetheless, they wanted to break free.

However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

As it turned out, Phantom Lord had decided to use a catapult to attack Fairy Tail.

Fortunately for Fairy Tail, they ran out of ammunition rather quickly.

Unfortunately for Fairy Tail...this allowed the Sound Four to escape.

"We're free!" cheered Kidomaru.

"Finally! This took forever!" bellowed Tayuya.

"We were only here for a few hours, actually." answered Sakon.

"Whatever!" exclaimed Tayuya.

"Can we go get something to eat now? I'm starving!" inquired Jirobo.

"Fine..." answered the musical assassin.

Immediately, the four (or five) of them left to find the nearest McDonalds...if they didn't like his prices, they could just stab him to death with a kunai.

_About half an hour later..._

Hinata was feeling rather satisfied. Thankfully, the Phantom Lord's attack on Fairy Tail had failed, and they weren't in too much worse shape than before.

It had been a rather long battle, but they managed to prevail in the end. They were going to be throwing a party tonight.

Sure enough, the Phantom Lord recruits were retreating.

At that very moment, Team Shadow Gear paid Hinata a visit.

"Did we miss the battle?" asked Levy.

"Ah, there you are! I thought you were still recovering..." questioned Hinata.

"We managed to recover surprisingly quickly...we've got some decent healers." answered Jet.

"That's a relief..." answered the kunoichi.

"Are they all retreating?" inquired Droy.

"Let me see..." answered Hinata.

Immediately, she used her Byakugan to check her surroundings.

"Let's see now...the Phantom Lord mages are retreating...the Fairy Tail medics are attending the wounded...there's not a cloud in the sky...the birds are singing...the squirrels are eating acorns...Naruto's being kidnapped...the Sound Four are escaping from prison...Gray's running around in his underpants...Naruto's being kidnapped?! The Sound Four are escaping from prison?! Gray's running around in his underpants?! He really needs to put some clothes on." said Hinata.

Immediately, she decided that she needed to tell the guildmaster of all these things.

Thankfully, he was nearby along with Erza.

"Ha! That'll teach them to invade our guild!" bellowed Makarov.

"Guildmaster! I need to talk to you!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Yes? What's the matter?" inquired the guildmaster.

"Naruto's been abducted!" screamed the kunoichi.

"What?!" exclaimed Erza.

"The Sound Four are escaping from prison!" bellowed Hinata.

"Darn it! I was hoping that I could lock them away...but I was wrong." answered Makarov.

"Gray's running around in his underpants!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Anything else?" asked Erza.

"I think that's all to report. Other than that, everything is fine." answered Hinata.

At that very moment, Gray arrived. Apparently he was doing some sort of victory dance.

"We did it! We are the champions!" bellowed the ice mage.

"Can you use your Requip magic to dress him? I can't use my Byakugan if I go blind." asked Hinata.

Erza nodded, and began to use her magic to give Gray some clothes.

However, they weren't what she was expecting.

As it turned out, Gray was now dressed in a shirt saying "Natsu is my boyfriend!" along with a picture of him and Natsu kissing.

Also, there was a picture of an Exceed on his pants, along with a message saying how much he loved them.

"Are you trying to humilate me?!" exclaimed Gray.

"Sorry, I must have gotten distracted." answered the knight in shining armor.

Hinata began to giggle.

Suddenly, she remembered the situation that Naruto was in.

"Is there any way we can rescue him? I don't think Phantom Lord has good intentions." answered Hinata.

"They never do." nodded Makarov.

"I suppose we could gather a rescue team..." said Erza.

"That sounds like a plan..." nodded Hinata.

_Meanwhile..._

Master Jose sighed. Not only had his plan to attack Fairy Tail failed, but he had still no luck in capturing Lucy Heartfilia.

Her father wasn't going to be happy with him.

"What's a man to do?" thought the guildmaster.

Suddenly, Juvia and Monsieur Sol entered his chambers.

"Ve brought you something nice!" exclaimed the French mage.

"Yes? What is it? Is it the girl?" inquired Master Jose.

"Yes and no...we've managed to find someone that knows her whereabouts." answered Juvia.

Immediately, she dropped the unconscious Naruto on the floor.

"Excellent. Take him to the dungeon, will you? We've got work to do." answered the guildmaster.

"Yes, Maitre Jose!" nodded Monsieur Sol.

Immediately, the duo took Naruto to the dungeon so that they could begin the process of interrogating him.

They chained him to the wall by the hands so that he could "hang out" inside the dungeon.

"Is he her brother or something? I thought Lucy was an only child..." thought the dark mage.

_A few minutes later..._

As it turned out, Master Jose had gathered the Element 4 for the process of torturing a certain blonde-haired boy.

"Any suggestions of how we do this?" inquired Master Jose.

"I say we tickle torture him." suggested Aria.

"That's a bit pacifistic for my taste." answered the leader of Phantom Lord.

Aria began to cry.

"Aren't you a big baby." said Master Jose.

"Juvia says we waterboard him." suggested Juvia.

"Again, that's a bit pacifistic for me." stated Master Jose.

"I say ve bury all but his head in an ant hill, and zen cover his head vith honey!" bellowed Monsieur Sol.

"That could kill him." warned the leader of Phantom Lord.

"I say we set him on fire." suggested Totomaru.

"Again, we need him alive." continued Master Jose.

At that very moment, Gajeel came into the room.

"You wanted me for this meeting?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"We've got someone that can spill the beans to a certain blonde's whereabouts...oddly enough, our interrogatee in question happens to be blonde himself. It's weird." answered Master Jose.

"We're discussing how ve can torture him! I'm so excited!" bellowed Monsieur Sol.

"Isn't it obvious how we should do that?" questioned Gajeel.

"Hmm?" inquired Master Jose.

"It's easy...just beat the stuffing out of him and he'll squeal. Believe me, I've done it before." answered the steel mage.

"Why didn't I think of that?" questioned the leader of Phantom Lord.

Immediately, the Element 4 nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright then...off to the dungeon I go." said Gajeel.

_A few minutes later..._

Naruto woke up rather slowly, to say the very least.

"What's happening? The last thing I remember is being imprisoned inside a bubble..." murmured Naruto.

Curious, he looked up, and discovered his arms had been raised above his head by a set of chains.

"Oh, that's right. I got abducted. Well, at least it wasn't the Akatsuki...otherwise I'll be dead within a few days." answered the genin.

At that very moment, Gajeel and Monsieur Sol entered the room.

"Ah, I see that you're awake. Right then...you know where Lucy is, do you not?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"I'm not telling you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I was hoping you would say that." answered Gajeel.

Immediately, he punched Naruto in the face.

"Ouch!" screamed the genin.

Monsieur Sol began to giggle.

"Is he going to interrogate me too?" inquired Naruto.

"No, actually...he just likes watching people suffer. Then again, so do I." answered Gajeel.

"Thank goodness." nodded the genin.

Gajeel then followed by kicking him in the leg.

"Ow!" bellowed the genin.

"Are you going to talk now? I could do this all day...not like I mind." asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Never!" bellowed Naruto.

"Hmm, your will is like iron...you wouldn't happen to be an iron dragonslayer like me, would you?" asked Gajeel.

"No, I happen to be a summoner mage...and a ninja." answered the genin.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. Didn't Master Jose say that Lucy Heartfilia was a summoner mage? He was starting to wonder if he was Lucy's long-lost brother.

"Alright then, you asked for it." said Gajeel.

Immediately, he began to punch Naruto multiple times in rapid succession.

"Ow! Ouch! Oof! Ow! Eek!" screamed Naruto.

At this point, Monsieur Sol began to roll on the floor laughing.

"Funny...usually whenever I do this to one of my guildmates they're usually resorted to a crying mess...but you still seem to be going strong." answered Gajeel.

"One of my friends treats me like this all the time, actually...she packs a mean punch." explained Naruto.

Oddly enough, Gajeel actually gave Naruto a sympathetic look when he said that.

"I think I'm going to leave you alone...for now. I think our first interrogation was a success." said the iron dragonslayer.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Monsieur Sol stopped laughing.

"Vhat? Can't you at least kick ze boy in ze groin?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

"That's perverted. I'm not taking it that far." answered Gajeel.

"Aww!" complained the earth mage.

Immediately, Gajeel and Monsieur Sol left the dungeon, leaving Naruto alone.

"I'm bored..." murmured Naruto.

Ironically, he was actually starting to wish that Gajeel would come back just so that he could have something to do.

"I hope that my friends come to rescue me..." said the genin.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy let out a sigh.

"What's the matter?" asked Natsu curiously.

"I think someone's hunting me down, and that I'm going to be in trouble soon." said the summoner mage.

"That's not good..." answered the fire mage.

Oddly enough, Lucy's instinct usually happened to be correct.

Shrugging, she decided to go eat some ramen. Maybe that would make her feel better.

"I sure hope things are going to turn out OK..." answered Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Choji was eating some ramen right next to her.

"Hey there, Choji! How's Shikamaru doing?" inquired Lucy.

"He's doing fine." answered Choji.

At that very moment, Choji began to choke.

Immediately, Lucy gave Choji the Heimlich manuever.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" bellowed the summoner mage.

"Sorry...you can have my lunch." said Choji.

"Thank you." answered Lucy as she happily devoured the ramen.

Suddenly, her stomach began to rumble.

"Sheesh, I must be pretty hungry." said the genin.

Suddenly, she began to hear a voice in her head.

**"So, you're my jinchuriki now, are you?" **said the mysterious voice.

"Who are you? And why are you speaking in bold? Personally I think you should be speaking like the rest of us...then again, I'm not going to judge you for it." asked Lucy curiously.

**"You should know I am. Everyone in Konoha knows me..." **continued the mysterious voice.

"Sorry, I'm not from Konoha." said the kunoichi.

**"Then allow me to introduce myself...I am Kurama...but most people simply call me the nine-tailed fox. Nobody seems to remember my name these days." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"Pleased to meet you." answered Lucy.

**"You're pleased to meet me?! I nearly destroyed this village!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"I really need to read a history book here..." said the kunoichi.

**"Just to let you know...you should be able to use my chakra to help you win battles...I suggest you do so, because I'm going down with the ship if you get yourself killed. Understood?" **explained the nine-tailed fox.

"Alright then...how much chakra do you have?" inquired Lucy.

**"Enough to destroy an entire village...as you should have figured out by now." **said Kurama.

"Really? That's rather impressive!" exclaimed the genin.

**"Yes, I know. Still, I'm just a cub compared to the Ten-Tailed Beast." **spoke the nine-tailed beast.

"I better stay on the ten-tailed beast's good side then." nodded Lucy.

**"Normally I'd been threatening to kill you by now...but since you have an attractive figure...I'm just going to tell you that I'm going to claw you in the face." **answered Kurama.

"Gee, that's awfully sweet of you." replied the summoner mage sarcastically.

**"Here's hoping that I can finish what I started someday...once I get out of your body." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"Good luck with that. This jinchuriki seal on my midriff should keep you tied up nice and tight." answered Lucy.

**"You can't hold me forever!" **bellowed Kurama.

"Sure I can. If my seal weakens, I can just get someone to strengthen it. And once I succumb to death, you're coming with me!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"You...make a surprisingly good point. I don't remember my last jinchuriki being this smart...he was a ditz, actually." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Believe me, I've got a tremendous IQ...I'm starting to wonder why people don't call me a geek." said Lucy.

**"Geek." **murmured the nine-tailed fox.

"Ah, there we go." answered the summoner mage.

**"Don't forget. I know where you live." **warned Kurama.

"Actually, no you don't. I'm not even from this world." answered Lucy.

**"Are you some kind of space alien?!" **screamed Kurama.

"Yes, I'm an alien here and no, I am not from outer space. Believe me, I'd freeze to death out in the cosmos." explained Lucy.

**"What a delightful thought." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"What did I ever do to you anyway? It's not my fault that you got sealed inside me...well, OK, maybe it is but still!" bellowed Lucy.

**"I...honestly don't know the answer to that." **said Kurama.

"Can't we just be friends?" asked the genin.

**"I've never had a friend." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"How sad." murmured Lucy.

**"Nor would I want one." **said Kurama.

"I still feel sorry for you." answered the summoner mage.

**"I'm going to sleep...don't wake me up or I'll kill you." **said Kurama.

"Won't you die too?" inquired Lucy.

**"Why do I keep forgetting that?" **asked the nine-tailed fox.

"Why is that so hard to remember?" questioned the kunoichi.

Immediately, Kurama went to sleep.

"Have fun dreaming about barbaric slaughter...I guess." answered Lucy.

"Lucy, who are you talking to?" inquired Natsu.

"Oh! Hey there, Natsu! I was just talking to the nine-tailed fox that's living inside me..." said the kunoichi.

"You have a fox living inside you?" asked the fire mage.

"Yes, I do...he said that he wants to destroy the Leaf Village...and that he almost did once before. What a maniac." said Lucy.

Immediately, Natsu began to hide behind a tree.

"Oh dear...I scared you, didn't I?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Yes, you did!" nodded the fire mage.

"Don't worry! I'm sure my jinchuriki seal will keep him busy...I know ninja that I can use to strengthen it if it begins to weaken." said Lucy.

Reluctantly, Natsu left his hiding spot.

"You sure it will hold him?" inquired the fire mage.

"Don't worry, be happy." answered Lucy.

"How do I turn into an Exceed?" asked Natsu.

"I mean the adjective!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"Oh...um, sure." nodded the fire mage.

Immediately, Natsu decided to head back home so that he could stay as far away from the nine-tailed fox as possible.

"I sure hope that people don't mistreat me because I have a beast inside me...I might turn evil and become a psycho or something. That wouldn't do anyone favors." answered Lucy.

"Funny you should mention that." said Gaara.

"Um, hey there...are you a jinchuriki too?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Yes, I am." nodded the sand ninja.

"I guess we're in the same boat then..." answered Lucy.

"Not exactly...I happen to have a different tailed beast entirely." explained Gaara.

"Interesting..." noted the genin.

"Suffice to say, I went off the deep end...but thankfully somebody put me straight." said the one-tailed jinchuriki.

"Really? Who was it?" inquired Lucy.

"It was Naruto Uzumaki." explained Gaara.

"That was awfully nice of him..." answered the summoner kunoichi.

"Yes...I believe that you're his interdimensional partner, correct?" inquired the sand ninja.

"Yes, I am...I happen to have his nine-tailed fox now...he's not exactly pleasant company." said Lucy.

"Yeah...my tailed beast can be like that too." nodded Gaara.

"Does he ever threaten to kill you?" inquired the genin.

"He's pretty protective of me, actually." said the sand ninja.

"Thank goodness..." answered Lucy.

"Tell Naruto I said hi." said Gaara as he left.

"I'm starting to wonder if my life has been changed forever...then again, maybe it already has." noted Lucy.

_Oh no! Naruto has been kidnapped! What a terrible situation he's in! And Phantom Lord is still hunting down Lucy...are they going to be able to find her?_

_And yes, she will be able to use the nine-tailed chakra to defend herself...which is going to come in handy soon._

_In the next chapter, things are going to go downhill for Fairy Tail...I'm sad to say._

_But on the plus side, Naruto will get rescued! Hooray!_


	18. Chapter 18: The Iron Dragonslayer

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Hinata's coming to the rescue! That's right, since Naruto is Lucy's interdimensional partner and Hinata is Natsu's interdimensional partner...well, I think you can probably see where I'm going for this._

_But of course...if she wants to save Naruto's skin, then she has to defeat Gajeel first. Can she do it?_

**Chapter 18: The Iron Dragonslayer**

"So, what's the plan to rescue Naruto?" inquired Hinata.

"Well, in order to do that...we need to invade their guild base...and then make a clean getaway." explained Levy.

Fortunately for Levy, she had managed to partially recover from her injuries...though she wasn't looking forward to encountering Gajeel again.

"I see..." answered the kunoichi.

"Unfortunately, many of our mages have been wounded by the Phantom Lord attack...I'm still recovering, so I won't be able to go with you. I can give you some advice if you want though." said the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"What about the Sound Four? They're on the loose again!" exclaimed Hinata.

"We're working on that. One thing at a time, please." said Levy.

"Right, of course." nodded the kunoichi.

"Our guildmaster went to see Master Jose a while ago...says he wants to talk things over with him." explained the interdimensional portal inventor.

"I see...is it just us, then?" inquired Hinata.

"Not necessarily...Happy volunteered to rescue Naruto because he thought he was his buddy..." explained Levy.

"That's awfully sweet of him..." answered the kunoichi.

"And of course, Gray volunteered too...Naruto happened to be his friend...so it makes sense." said Levy.

"Right, of course." nodded Hinata.

At that very moment, Gray entered the room.

"Should we get going?" asked the ice mage curiously.

"I believe so, yes." nodded the fire kunoichi.

"Let's go save Naruto, Phoenix!" exclaimed Gray.

"I'm with you there." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, the trio went to rescue Naruto.

"I sure hope that they can make it..." said the letter mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Tsunade was feeling rather depressed. She had heard about the unfortunate demise of the Yasuragi Clan, and realized who was responsible.

She was also feeling a bit paranoid. She knew that Kenichi never had any real pattern in his murders. As long as they were weak ninja, they were fair game.

She also knew that not even children were safe from his wrath...that innocent boy that had been found outside Konoha was proof of that.

What was she going to do? Granted, since she was one of the three legendary Sannin she might be able to stand up to him...but considering that her people needed her she wasn't sure if she could simply leave.

She also considered the possibility of bringing Jiraiya, but at the same time she was worried what would become of him if he tried challenging Kenichi. Sure, there was the possibility that he would be able to win against him...but what if he lost?

From what she knew about Kenichi (which admittedly was a lot), he usually didn't simply kill his victims and leave it at that. He often murdered his victims very gruesomely. He in particular liked his victims to be devoured by his dragon summon or set on fire by said summon's fire breath. She wasn't really looking forward for Jiraiya to suffer a similar fate.

Nonetheless, she began to wonder what his opinion on the subject was. He was well-aware that there was a mass murderer that had been spotted near Konoha recently, and that any small clan could be next.

She was also polarized about what she should tell the citizens of Konoha. For all they knew, the dragonrider was just a rumor that was invented by someone to scare people. Personally, she wished that was true. It would make an entertaining story admittedly.

If she told the truth to Konoha, they might panic and start a riot. They clearly weren't looking forward to having their clans annihilated...though thankfully Kenichi never showed interest in visiting Konoha.

But if she didn't tell Konoha about him, there was the possibility that Kenichi might decide the Leaf Village was below him and launch an invasion. If that happened, they would be completely caught off-guard, and there would be little that they could do.

Suffice to say, she had some rather difficult decisions to make. Then again, she had to make some difficult decisions before in the past. Being the Hokage wasn't all fun and games contrary to what Naruto and Konohamaru might believe...though admittedly she usually enjoyed her position.

"I'm going to have to think this over." thought Tsunade.

At that very moment, Jiraiya decided to pay her a visit.

"Hello, Jiraiya. How is your day? To be honest, I'm not doing so well at the moment." answered Tsunade.

"Really? Why not?" inquired Jiraiya.

"There's been an attack on a clan that wanted to make an alliance with us...they were all wiped out. No survivors." said the Fifth Hokage.

"That's terrible." sympathized the Toad Sannin.

"Yes, I know." nodded Tsunade.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" inquired Jiraiya.

"Well, I was hoping that you could handle the dragonrider...but I was worried that you wouldn't make it." answered the Fifth Hokage.

"That's awfully sweet of you." nodded the Sannin.

"Anyways...is there a particular reason you're here? Or are you just visiting?" inquired Tsunade.

"I was looking for my apprentice...I wanted to teach him a new technique...but he seems to have vanished from Konoha." said Jiraiya.

"I take it you haven't heard the latest then?" inquired the Fifth Hokage.

"Is he dead?" questioned the Sannin, a tear suddenly leaking from his eye.

"No no no. He's very much alive. However, he's no longer with us." answered Tsunade.

"If he's still alive, then why are you sayin-"

"I don't mean it like that. I mean he's all the way in an alternate world." said the Sannin.

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Jiraiya.

"Yes, I know." nodded Tsunade.

"Is Konoha doing OK without him? I know that he's been doing his best to defend our village..." said the Sannin.

"As a matter of fact, we are. Due to the magic of the interdimensional portal that took him away from us...we now have a teenage ninja on our side that happens to have much of his abliities." answered the Fifth Hokage.

"That's a relief...wait, who is it?" inquired Jiraiya.

"It's a girl by the name of Lucy Heartfilia." explained Tsunade.

Immediately, she handed Jiraiya a picture detailing what he needed to know about Lucy.

"She happens to look a lot like him..." noted Jiraiya.

"Yes, we know." nodded Tsunade.

"I guess I'll just have to teach her that then." said the Sannin.

"Good. She's showing remarkable prowess as a ninja...then again, she has happened to have inherited Naruto's nine-tailed fox." inquired Tsunade.

"Doesn't transferring a tailed beast to someone else kill them?" asked Jiraiya.

"Well, Jiraiya, due to the vitality to Naruto's clan he would in theory be able to survive transferring it to someone else...but due to the interdimensional portal, he was able to do so without causing himself personal harm." explained Tsunade.

"That's a relief..." answered the Toad sannin.

"Just for the record, it was somewhat of an accident, from what we know about the incident." said the Slug Sannin.

"I see..." nodded Jiraiya.

"I hope you have fun training her." answered Tsunade.

"I suppose I will." nodded the Sannin.

Immediately, Jiraiya left to look for Lucy.

"Speaking of which, I wonder if Naruto has a mentor of his own at this alternate world. If I could make it back afterwards, I might want to look into this magical world myself." noted Tsunade.

Hopefully, Kenichi would be on cooldown after his latest attack. Usually, when he successfully wiped out a clan, he would take some time to decide on his next victims.

Then again, he had been getting more aggressive over the past few weeks.

Once again, Tsunade began to ponder what she should do to defend Konoha from him. She got the feeling that Kenichi wasn't going to ignore them forever.

"Hmm..." thought the Sannin.

_Meanwhile..._

The police chief of Elm Town was at a loss to what to do. There had been more and more missing person reports filed...some of which were people that had filed said missing reports.

Already, the people of Elm Town were rioting, and he and his police force were losing control over the situation.

He had to catch this mass murderer soon...or the entire town would be lost.

However, at that very moment, he was paid a visit by the culprit herself.

"Can I help you?" inquired the police chief.

"I admit everything." answered Chiyoye.

"What?!" bellowed the chief, his police cap nearly falling off his head.

"I did it. I killed roughly half of the population in this town." explained the necromancer.

"You're responsible for all this?!" exclaimed the police chief.

"Of course I am! I just admitted it a few minutes ago." answered Chiyoye.

"Why did you do this?!" screamed the chief.

"Mainly for personal pleasure, I suppose." answered the dark mage.

The police chief's face immediately paled.

"You-you're under arrest!" screamed the chief.

Immediately, he stuck handcuffs on Chiyoye's wrists, and took her to a prison cell, where many other prisoners were nearby.

"I'm t-taking you to an asylum!" bellowed the police officer.

"By all means, feel free to do so." answered the necromanceress.

The police chief raised an eyebrow. She didn't seem to making a big deal out of being arrested.

Was she hiding something?

Shrugging, he decided to head back to his office, traumatized that someone would sink this low.

As he left, Chiyoye began to flashback back to the early days of her life.

_"Can we have a talk with you?" asked Chiyoye's kindergarten teacher._

_"Yes, you may." nodded Chiyoye's father._

_"What seems to be the problem?" asked Chiyoye's mother._

_Chiyoye's mother somewhat resembled her...though she happened to have inherited her black hair from her father. She was a blonde herself._

_"It's your daughter...she's been showing a disturbing obsession with death lately...as well as dark magic." explained the kindergarten teacher._

_"That's odd." answered Chiyoye's mother._

_"We also have reason to believe that she's talented with magic...though that's not as big of a concern as what I said earlier." noted Chiyoye's teacher._

_"I see...we'll try to see if we can talk to her about this. Maybe we can put some sense into her." answered Chiyoye's father._

_"Good...to be honest, I was starting to get worried. All of the other children were rather frightened by her...and I believe one of them is hiding from her. I believe that she has somehow wronged him..though he won't tell us exactly what she did." said the teacher._

_"OK. We'll look into this." said Chiyoye's mother._

_"Thank you." nodded Chiyoye's father._

_A few days later, she had decided to visit the local cemetery along with her father and mother...a close friend of the former had died recently, and they wanted to visit his grave._

_However, due to the fact that they had been a bit neglectful, she had wandered off from them._

_Immediately, she noticed that a gravedigger was setting up another grave._

_Suddenly, she accidentally raised the body he was trying to bury to life._

_As it had turned out, she had created a zombie._

_Immediately, the zombie began to tear and devour at the grave digger's flesh, causing him to scream in pain and in horror._

_Rather than scream in horror as well, Chiyoye instead laughed. She found this to be absolutely hilarious._

_Due to the fact that she was still young, she could not animate the zombie for long, and it quickly returned to its grave._

_Nonetheless, she was satisfied with the results. Maybe she could try making the zombie last longer this time?_

_Alternatively, she could try creating multiple zombies._

_However, at that very moment, her parents picked her up. Apparently they had been looking for her._

_They were rather relieved, to say the very least._

_"There you are...why did you wander off?" inquired Chiyoye's father._

_Immediately, Chiyoye's mother began to scream._

_Chiyoye's father noticed what had happened as well, and began to scream as well._

_Shortly afterwards, they covered their child's eyes, and went to the police station to file a murder report._

_Unbeknownst to them, the culprit was right underneath their noses._

"Those were good memories..." thought Chiyoye.

"What are you in for?" asked a fellow prisoner.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that he had not actually been taken to jail yet, he was dressed in black and white stripes.

"Oh, lots of things...like what I'm about to do now." answered the necromanceress.

"What?" inquired the prisoner.

Immediately, Chiyoye placed her hand on the prisoner's forehead.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata, Gray, and Happy snuck their way towards the Phantom Lord guild, careful to avoid getting spotted.

Thankfully, they had chosen to come during the night so that they wouldn't be spotted easily.

Unfortunately, the Phantom Lord guild happened to have searchlights so that they could catch intruders.

At that very moment, Happy stepped on a searchlight, causing two mages to appear.

"Halt!" bellowed one of the mages.

Thankfully, Gray and Hinata took out the Phantom Lord mages without too much hassle, but Happy still received a lecture nonetheless.

"Happy, you need to be more careful! We can't take the entire guild ourselves!" whispered Hinata.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Happy.

"Keep your voice down too." murmured Gray.

"Sorry." whispered the Exceed.

Thankfully, their journey to the Phantom Lord guild did not go horribly wrong (aside from the aforementioned incident), and they were able to get there safely.

Unfortunately, there were several Phantom Lord mages standing in front of the door, meaning that they couldn't simply waltz in.

One of them was going to have to stay outside to hold them off while the other two went inside.

Immediately, Gray volunteered for this task.

"You go on ahead! I'll put them on ice!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Right, of course." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, Gray threw icicles at the Phantom Lord mages to distract them while Hinata used her camouflage jutsu to hide herself while she and Happy went inside.

Of course, Happy was noticed by a few of the Phantom Lord mages...

...but by pretending to be an innocent Exceed, they couldn't resist letting him inside.

"Come on in, kitty! You're welcome here!" exclaimed the Phantom Lord mage.

Happy let out a sigh of relief.

Using her Byakugan, Hinata was able to determine Naruto's exact location.

Sure enough, he was shackled to the wall by his arms, and was looking rather lonely.

"Aww...I'm feeling sorry for him." said the kunoichi.

Immediately, Hinata and Happy went to the dungeon so that they could deprive him of his loneliness...and to free him from the dungeon while he was at it. He didn't belong in there as he was not a criminal.

At least, Hinata hoped not.

_Meanwhile..._

"I'm so lonely here...at this point I'm going to start talking to myself. Oh wait, that's right, I already am. Huh. I must be going insane." noted Naruto.

At that very moment, Gajeel entered the room.

"Oh thank the holy mother of ninja that you're here! I was going mad from isolation!" exclaimed the genin.

"I was only gone for about an hour or two." answered Gajeel.

"Well, it still wasn't fun!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Well, neither will this." said the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, the genin noticed that Gajeel was holding a whip, and knew what was coming next.

Gajeel yanked on Naruto's shirt, and immediately ripped it off, leaving torn fabric on the dungeon floor.

"Not again!" bellowed the genin.

"This has happened to you before?" inquired Gajeel.

"Well, only once." answered Naruto.

"I see." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata saw Naruto shirtless.

"Must...not...stare...at...Naruto's...perfect...torso..." thought the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Gajeel began to whip Naruto.

"Ow! That stings!" exclaimed the genin.

"Relax, I'm only going to whip you...about a dozen times." answered Gajeel.

"Oh thank you...you are so merciful..." said Naruto.

"You're welcome?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Gajeel began to whip Naruto once again.

"Ouch! That one stung too!" exclaimed the genin.

Gajeel whipped Naruto for the third time.

"Ow! I'm getting burned here!" bellowed Naruto.

Gajeel whipped Naruto a fourth time.

"Huh...I actually enjoyed that one for a second there." answered the genin.

Gajeel sweatdropped.

As soon as Hinata saw Naruto being tortured by Gajeel, she became angry. Very angry indeed.

Suddenly, a ball of fire began to materialize in her hand.

She promptly tossed it on Gajeel, who suddenly dodged.

"Huh? What was that?" inquired Naruto.

"I don't know!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata revealed herself.

"Hinata! You're here to save me...along with your pet Exceed!" cheered Naruto.

"Glad I could help." answered Happy.

Gajeel began to laugh.

"They sent a little girl to fight me? Oh, please! Didn't Team Shadow Gear teach Fairy Tail anything?!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"I'm not little! I'm sixteen years old here! And it's not going to be long before I'm seventeen!" bellowed Hinata.

"Whatever. I'm afraid if you want to rescue your little boyfriend here, you're going to have to fight me. I for one am looking forward to it." said Gajeel.

"I'm not letting you hurt him! I made a vow not to let him fall into harm's way!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yeah! Way to tell him, Hinata!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, Happy set Naruto free so that he could do whatever he wished.

"Right then...let's get this party started, shall we?" inquired Gajeel.

The iron dragonslayer started the match by trying to punch Hinata in the face.

"Picking on a pretty lady? You should have more chivalry than that." noted Naruto.

"I'm part of a dark guild! Don't expect that from me!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"Fine..." answered the genin.

Hinata of course responded with a punch of her own, though unfortunately Gajeel caught it and began to twist her arm.

"Ow..." murmured the kunoichi. It wasn't very pleasant.

Thankfully, she knew what to do about it.

Suddenly, she set her arm on fire.

"Aargh!" screamed Gajeel, frantically putting his hand away.

"That'll teach you to show respect for women." noted Hinata.

"Hmm...it appears that I'm not the only dragonslayer here. You're a fire dragonslayer, are you not?" inquired Gajeel.

"Yes, I am." answered the kunoichi.

"Did you get trained by another dragonslayer? I have to admit, you seem to be competent enough...though you're still not half the dragonslayer I am." noted the iron dragonslayer.

"No...I only became a fire dragonslayer recently..." explained Hinata.

"I guess you're a fast learner then." said the iron dragonslayer.

"Yes, I am." nodded the kunoichi.

"No matter." answered the iron dragonslayer as he covered himself in steel scales.

Realizing that punching and kicking an opponent that was covered in metal wasn't going to do her much good, Hinata decided that she needed to try to set Gajeel on fire.

Fortunately for the kunoichi, it appeared that fire was effective at piercing his armor.

She then set herself on fire to give herself some armor of her own.

Of course, Gajeel began to fight back by throwing knives at Hinata, hoping that they would pin her to the wall.

But thanks to her Byakugan, she was able to dodge them somewhat easily.

"What's up with your eyes?!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"I'm not just a fire dragonslayer...though admittedly I've had these for far longer than my fire magic." said Hinata.

"What do those eyes even do?!" screamed the iron dragonslayer.

"Oh, I can use them to defend myself from attacks, and see things from far away...that was how I was able to find you in fact." answered Hinata.

"Aren't you lucky...you have a decent sense of eyesight to go with your decent sense of smell." said Gajeel.

"Huh?" inquired the kunoichi.

Curious, Hinata began to sniff her surroundings. Much to her surprise, she found that she could smell everything in the room surprisingly well.

Not surprisingly, Gajeel happened to stink...literally.

"Huh. Now I know how Kiba feels." said Hinata.

"Who's Kiba?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"Just a friend of mine...he happens to own a dog...kind of like the Exceed I adopted in his owner's absence..." answered the kunoichi.

"I happened to have played football with a puppy yesterday...it was so much fun." answered Gajeel.

"You're terrible." said Hinata.

"Why do you think I'm part of Phantom Lord?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"That makes so much sense." explained the kunoichi.

Gajeel then followed up by using his iron dragonslayer sword to try to slash Hinata...but her fire aura did its job, and he suffered some burns.

"Why does steel have to be so sensitive to heat?" thought the iron dragonslayer as he retracted his arm.

Suddenly, Happy latched himself onto Gajeel's face and began to claw his face...or the steel covering it rather.

"I'm not letting you hurt my friends! They are awesome...and quite frankly, you're a big stinker." said Happy.

Unfortunately for Happy, he did not last too long against Gajeel. The Phantom Lord mage immediately picked up Happy and began to play a game of basketball with the Exceed as the basketball.

"Ouch! Stop it! Please! You're hurting me!" screamed Happy as Gajeel dribbled him.

"That's kind of the idea." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, he used his iron dragonslayer magic to create a steel basketball hoop, which he proceed to throw Happy through.

He landed perfectly through the hoop, and hit the ground with a somewhat sickening crunch.

"Mother, is that you?" inquired Happy as he passed out.

"Ha! I'm the next Michael Jordan!" bellowed Gajeel.

"Good grief! First you beat up my best friend, now you beat up my Exceed?!" exclaimed Hinata.

"I just love being bad." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Feeling rather angry, Hinata's fire aura became more intense, and she started throwing some rather large fireballs.

Frantically, Gajeel began to avoid them. Hinata was proving to be a lot stronger than he thought.

Gajeel tried to hit her with his iron dragonslayer club, but once again he suffered some burns.

"Why does she have to be so defensive?" inquired the evil dragonslayer.

"He isn't quite as tough as he looks..." thought Hinata.

Suddenly, Gajeel began to eat some steel on the floor.

"Huh?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Sorry, little girl...but I'm afraid your luck is about to run out. In case you haven't noticed, I'm in my element...which I cannot say the same for you." answered Gajeel.

Curious, Hinata decided to eat one of her fireballs to see if she could replenish her strength...

...only to begin to cough up smoke.

"Ugh..." murmured the kunoichi. This wasn't working at all.

"Didn't you read the memo when you became a dragonslayer? You can't just go and eat some of your own flames! Did you think it would be that easy?" inquired Gajeel.

"I guess not...I might be in trouble here." answered Hinata.

"You sure are." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

Gajeel immediately used his Iron Dragon Roar, sending Hinata flying back quite a distance and knocking her on the floor.

She began to rub her head, which was now aching somewhat. Apparently, her fire aura wasn't going to protect her against everything.

"I suggest that you surrender...if you want, I can make you his cellmate so that you can talk to each other sometime..." said Gajeel.

"But we're not even the same gender!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, Naruto decided that he wanted to help his best friend in the world (worlds?) take down Gajeel.

However, he had a problem...Phantom Lord had taken all of his keys. He couldn't summon a single spirit.

Fortunately, according to the letter he found in his bag detailing the rules of being a summoner mage...he should have them back soon.

It looked like he was simply going to have to sit back and watch Hinata get clobbered.

"What's a boy to do?" inquired the genin.

Fortunately, Phantom Lord was not aware that he had chakra.

"Oh, that's right...I'm not limited to my summoner keys. How could I have forgotten that?" inquired Naruto.

Immediately, he began to charge up a Rasengan, which hit Gajeel right in the stomach.

"Agh!" screamed the iron dragonslayer as he collapsed on the ground.

"Score one for me! Believe it!" cheered Naruto.

However, this had the unfortunate side effect of Gajeel being mad at him.

"I'm going to break you for that, you worthless piece of-"

"Gotta run!" screamed Naruto.

Immediately, the genin began to flee, with both Gajeel and Hinata (literally in her case) in hot pursuit.

He kept running for a while, until he eventually came across a blast furnace...that happened to be in a room full of wood that the former could not eat.

Suddenly, he got an idea. He sat next to the blast furnace and waited for Gajeel and Hinata to show up.

Sure enough, they didn't take too long to appear at all.

"There you are! I guess you decided not to prolong the inevitable..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

"Actually, I've got a surprise for you." said Naruto.

"Huh?" inquired Gajeel.

At that very moment, Hinata entered the room along with her opponent.

"Naruto, why did you take Gajeel h-"

Suddenly, she noticed the blast furnace in the room, and she realized what Naruto was planning.

"Stand back, Naruto!" warned Hinata.

Naruto nodded, and stood as far away from the blast furnace as possible.

"What are y-"

Suddenly, Hinata began to eat as much fire from the blast furnace that she could...which was quite a bit indeed.

Immediately, her fire aura grew massive.

Getting desperate, Gajeel decided to eat some of the metal on the floor...

...only to realize that there was no metal.

"Mommy..." murmured the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata used her Fire Dragon's Roar to send Gajeel flying, who began to scream. He promptly crashed through the wall and was sent right outdoors.

"Ugh..." said Gajeel.

Both of them began to pant in exhaustion. As it turned out, Hinata had used up quite a lot of magic in that attack.

It looks like she wasn't going to be able to use fire magic against Gajeel anymore.

However, at this point, Gajeel decided that he wanted to beat Hinata up with his bare hands. He helped himself to his feet and got into a boxing stance.

"You know what? Let's not use magic anymore...let's decide this mano-to-mano!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Suddenly, Naruto let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" inquired Gajeel.

"You do realize that Hinata is the last person you want to face in a fist-to-fist match, am I right?" inquired the genin.

"Huh?" asked the iron dragonslayer curiously.

Suddenly, Hinata began to beat Gajeel savagely with a Gentle Fist barrage.

"Aargh!" screamed the iron dragonslayer. What kind of mage was Hinata? He felt like he was being punched in the soul!

Suffice to say, he could not withstand such a ferocious assault, and he immediately collapsed on the ground.

"Impossible...I was defeated...by a little girl. How can this be?" asked Gajeel.

"I'm a big girl!" screamed Hinata.

A few seconds later, the iron dragonslayer passed out.

"Phew...that match really took the wind out of me...but at least you're safe...even if I couldn't save your shirt..." answered the kunoichi.

"It's OK...I'll just get another one from the locker room." said Naruto.

Immediately, Happy approached Naruto and Hinata using some crutches to support his broken leg.

"I found these in the dungeon! Aren't they nifty?" inquired the Exceed.

"Yes, they are." answered Hinata.

"Should we do something about Gajeel? He looks like he needs some medical attention..." noted Naruto.

"I guess we could take him as a prisoner of war, I suppose." said the kunoichi.

Immediately, she picked up Gajeel and began to carry him on her back.

"Let's go home, shall we?" inquired Hinata.

"Yes, of course." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, the trio went back home so that they could get some rest.

Sure enough, Gray had managed to defeat the Phantom Lord mages guarding the entrance, and he soon followed them.

Levy was rather relieved, to say the very least.

"Thank goodness you saved him...I was starting to get worried. But where is his shirt?" inquired the letter mage.

"It got ripped off." explained Hinata.

At that very moment, the kunoichi collapsed on the floor.

"I'm going to sleep..." murmured the teenage girl as she closed her eyes.

Levy immediately raised an eyebrow.

"What's gotten into her?" inquired the letter mage.

"She got into a pretty big fight with another dragonslayer...who we happen to have taken as a prisoner." said Naruto.

Sure enough, Gajeel was still unconscious.

"Really? He's kind of cute." said Levy.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I'll take him to our prison cell..." said the letter mage.

"Make sure you use the plastic one...otherwise he'll just eat his way out." explained the genin.

"Huh? Of course!" nodded Levy.

"It's been a long day..." noted Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey there, Lucy. Are you doing OK?" inquired Shikamaru.

"I can't help but shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen to my guildmaster soon..." answered the summoner mage.

"Really? How come?" asked the shadow ninja.

"I just can't help but shake the feeling that something big is happening on the other side...and that someone wants to return me to my father." explained Lucy.

"Your father? Something tells me that he isn't the best parent in the world considering your tone of voice when you said that..." noted the shadow ninja.

"Ever since my mother died, he became neglectful...so I decided to run away from home..." said the summoner mage.

"Really? That's rather sad..." answered Shikamaru.

"I know...I hope that he can come to his senses some day..." nodded Lucy.

"Me too..." said the shadow mage.

At that very moment, Jiraiya approached the two, much to their surprise.

"Jiraiya? Is that you?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes, it is I." answered Jiraiya.

"Can I help you?" asked Lucy.

"Lady Tsunade wants me to train you so that you can be the best ninja that you can be...that's what I did with the boy before you, after all..." said Jiraiya.

"Hmm? Oh sure." nodded Lucy.

"Good luck with the training!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Immediately, Jiraiya and Lucy left so that she could learn how to summon a toad...a giant one that is.

"I wonder what he's going to teach me..." thought Lucy.

_Hooray! Naruto's been saved! But Phantom Lord isn't out of commission yet...in the next chapter, something bad is going to happen to Makarov...and again, things are going to start going downhill for Fairy Tail._

_I believe I said that was going to happen in the previous chapter...but this chapter turned out bigger than I imagined. Believe it! Heh heh._

_Adios, amigos...and amigas. I know I've got fangirls and fanboys reading this fanfic...so it's good to see I've got a wide audience, I suppose._

_See you soon!_


	19. Chapter 19: A Makeshift Portal

Ninja Tail 19

_In this chapter...well, Makarov's going to get stuck in an alternate dimension, leaving Fairy Tail without a leader! But not to worry...he'll be brought back, but he's not going to the world of magic alone._

_Oh, and Gray will become someone's interdimensional partner...it already happened to Natsu and Lucy...so..._

**Chapter 19: A Makeshift Portal**

Makarov knocked on the door to Master Jose's personal chambers.

"Come on out, Master Jose! You've got a lot to answer for!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"Should we let him in?" asked Totomaru curiously.

"Yes. I've been looking forward to this." answered Master Jose.

Immediately, the Element 4 let Makarov into the guildmaster's chambers.

He then demanded Master Jose face him one by one.

"You want a one-on-one match? Alright then..." nodded the guildmaster.

Suddenly, the Element 4 began to huddle together, each of them taking up a specific position.

Monsieur Sol took up the south position, Aria the east, Totomaru the south, and Juvia the west.

"What are you doing?" asked Jose.

"This seemed like a good idea...though I'm not quite sure why." answered Aria.

Suddenly, an enormous purple barrier appeared, trapping Makarov inside.

"What the-" murmured the guildmaster.

"Huh...I don't ever recall you knowing that spell...but I'm not going to question it. Besides, you even managed to make it my favorite color." answered Master Jose.

"Ve're not sure how ve managed to do zis..." noted Monsieur Sol.

"How very odd..." answered Totomaru.

"I think we might need to stay in position for the barrier to operate properly..." said Aria.

"I guess we better hold still then." nodded Juvia.

"Right then...this should prevent you from calling for help...let's get going, shall we?" inquired Master Jose.

Immediately, he began to use his dark magic against Makarov.

Naturally, he retaliated by using his light magic against Master Jose.

"It's a battle of light and darkness...go figure." noted the guildmaster.

"I will not let you hurt us any longer!" bellowed Makarov.

Immediately, the guildmaster fired a light beam at the evil guildmaster.

Frantically, Master Jose moved out of the way, causing it to hit the barrier instead.

Oddly enough, this hardly affected it.

"This is one mighty barrier..." noted Master Jose.

In retaliation, he created some ghostly warriors to help him defeat Makarov.

However, Makarov retaliated by summoning some angels.

Immediately, the angels and ghostly warriors attacked each other, causing them to disappear.

Master Jose then followed up by firing a dark beam at Makarov, hoping that it would him in the face.

Fortunately for the latter, it did not. Once again, it hit the barrier, which was still going strong.

"Well, this definitely is going to keep the other Fairy Tail mages busy in case they want to save their guildmaster..." thought Master Jose.

Immediately, he began to cast his Dark Pulse spell.

Naturally, Makarov responded...with a Light Pulse spell.

"It's strange...despite our fields in magic being completely different...our spells are actually quite similar..." said the guildmaster.

"What a coincidence." answered the Phantom Lord mage.

After the spells countered each other, Master Jose began to attack Makarov with his Dead Wave spell.

In retaliation, Makarov transformed into a Titan.

Fortunately, he did not hit his head on the barrier.

"Is the Fairy Tail guildmaster Yoda?" inquired Totomaru curiously.

"I suppose he could be...though I don't think he lives in a swamp." questioned Aria.

"Who would vant to live zere?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

"I would...I'm a water mage..." answered Juvia.

Deciding to give their opponent everything they had, they began to charge up magic for some enormous magical spells.

There was an large explosion, and both mages were sent flying.

Fortunately for Master Jose, he landed just a few feet away from the barrier.

Unfortunately for Makarov, he ended up crashing directly into the barrier, causing him to scream as it was hot to the touch.

Realizing that the barrier was something that neither of them wanted to make contact with, Master Jose suddenly got an idea.

Promptly, he grabbed onto Makarov using some darkness tendrils.

"What are y-"

He then followed by brutally slamming him into the barrier, significantly injuring him.

Laughing with delight, Master Jose slammed Makarov into the barrier again and again and again.

Eventually, he was very badly burned, and was in desperate need for medical attention.

At this point, he was beginning to transform back into his regular form.

"You...will not...defeat...Fairy Tail." murmured Makarov as he passed out.

_Meanwhile..._

Orochimaru let out a sigh.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Kabuto.

"It just occurred to me that I could have killed the Third Hokage simply by shoving him into the barrier that the Sound Four used to imprison him..." questioned the Sannin.

"Really?" asked the medical ninja.

"Yes...if I slammed him into it hard enough he likely would have died...I wish I would have thought of that before he went and crippled me..." noted Orochimaru.

"I see." nodded Kabuto.

"No matter. He's trapped in the stomach of the Grim Reaper now...much to my delight." said the Sannin.

"That's fortunate." answered Orochimaru's right-hand.

"Speaking of the Sound Four, where are they? I assumed that they would be back by now..." questioned the snake sannin.

"They are taking a long time..." noted Kabuto.

"You think they had some...complications?" inquired Orochimaru.

"I suppose they could have..." nodded the medical ninja.

Suddenly, a messenger gave Orochimaru a letter.

"Hmm?" inquired the snake sannin.

Orochimaru immediately opened the package that the messenger had given him...and immediately frowned.

"What's the matter?" inquired Kabuto.

"I'm being sued by Lord Voldemort for copyright infringement." said Orochimaru.

"You are?" asked the medical ninja.

"Off to court I go...maybe on the way back I can experiment on some of the jury..." answered the Sannin.

Orochimaru immediately left his laboratory so that he could straighten things out.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well well well. It looks like the mighty have fallen. So much for your guild being superior to ours." said Master Jose.

"He wasn't so tough, was he?" inquired Totomaru.

"Zis was almost too easy..." noted Monsieur Sol.

Immediately, the Element 4 called off the barrier so that Master Jose could walk free.

"Did we really do it?" inquired Aria, a tear leaving his eye.

"I have to admit, he looks rather...messed up." noted Juvia.

Oddly, each of the Element 4 seemed a bit disturbed as to what happened to Makarov.

"Well then...now that I've taken care of their guildmaster, I should be able to work my way down from there...then again, they will probably insist on fighting to the last man...or woman." questioned Master Jose.

Immediately, he turned to the unconscious and horribly burned Makarov.

"You know, Makarov, as much fun as it would be to kill you right here and now...I think it'll be more fun to strand you into an alternate dimension where you will slowly die..." answered Master Jose.

Immediately, he began to open up an interdimensional portal, which quickly sucked in Makarov.

"So long!" exclaimed Master Jose.

The interdimensional portal immediately disappeared.

"Did you take him to the world of ninja?" inquired Totomaru.

"Yes...even if he manages to recover...he will have no way to return to his friends and family...inevitably his heart is going to break...I delight in it." said Master Jose.

"Alright zen.." answered Monsieur Sol, somewhat disturbed by his master's sadism.

Once again, Aria began to cry.

Juvia immediately handed him some tissues.

Immediately, the Element 4 began to wonder where exactly Makarov had gone.

"Right then, I guess it's time for us to throw a p-"

At that very moment, Boze and Sue entered the room looking somewhat panicked.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Master Jose.

"There's been an attack! Gajeel has been captured by Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Boze.

"What?!" bellowed the dark mage.

"Not only that...they've managed to rescue our hostage!" bellowed Sue.

"Darn it! Now how are we going to track down Lucy Heartfilia?" inquired Master Jose.

"We managed to cast a tracking spell to hunt her down, actually. We believe that she's in a village...a leaf village to be precise." explained Boze.

"Well, that should help us track her down." said the shadow mage.

"We're not sure where exactly she is in the Leaf Village though..." answered Sue.

"Then I guess it's time to get searching." said Master Jose.

Immediately, he instructed the Element 4 to begin their search for Lucy Heartfilia.

Hopefully, they would be able to find him soon.

Nonetheless, he was starting to get rather worried about Gajeel. How much information about Phantom Lord was he going to spill?

Then again, considering that he had managed to defeat their leader, maybe he could still defeat Fairy Tail without him.

_Meanwhile..._

Tsunade was beginning to wonder if these interdimensional portals even existed. She hadn't actually gotten the opportunity to see one for herself.

Was she dreaming? Was there really an interdimensional portal gradually replacing her friends and family?

"Hmm..." thought Tsunade.

However, at that very moment, she received concrete proof that the interdimensional portals actually existed.

At that very moment, a purple interdimensional portal began to appear.

"Hmm?" inquired the Sannin.

Shortly afterwards, Makarov came tumbling through the void.

Much to her surprise, she found that he was badly injured.

"What's going on?" inquired Tsunade.

Immediately, Tsunade began to use her healing jutsu to heal Makarov from his horrible injuries, causing him to slowly wake up.

"Where am I?" inquired Makarov as he began to help himself to his feet.

"You're in Konoha. I'm the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade." said Tsunade as she shook Makarov's hand.

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am. I'm Makarov, the leader of Fairy Tail." answered Makarov.

"Wait, you're the leader of Fairy Tail? I believe Lucy and Natsu are going to be happy to see you again." noted the Fifth Hokage.

"You're right! I need to visit them immediately!" exclaimed Makarov.

However, at that very moment, Tsunade heard something crack.

"Gah! Not my lumbago again!" screamed the leader of Fairy Tail.

"If you want I can teach you a jutsu that will make you younger." answered Tsunade.

"Wait, you can?" inquired Makarov.

Immediately, she handed Makarov a scroll detailing the jutsu...of course, he was going to have to substitute chakra with magic, but other than that, it didn't seem too difficult for him to use.

He decided to take it for a test run...and passed the test with flying colors. Immediately, his hair began to turn blonde instead of white, and his wrinkles began to disappear. Also, he became a bit taller.

"So, how do you feel?" asked Tsunade curiously.

"I feel powerful! I feel invincible! I feel pretty! I feel like singing!" bellowed Makarov.

"So, you feel good then?" inquired the Sannin.

"The best I've had in ages! I'm going for a jog!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"OK...make sure that you visit Lucy and Natsu while you're at it, will you? They miss you." answered Tsunade.

"Yes, of course!" bellowed Makarov.

Immediately, he went to visit his loyal guildmates.

"I can't believe an interdimensional portal would appear right in my office..." said Tsunade.

_Meanwhile..._

The Sound Four immediately visited Elm Town in their search for food...

...but much to their surprise, they found it to be completely deserted.

"Where did everyone go?" inquired Sakon.

"This place is a ghost town." said Kidomaru.

"Why did they all leave?" asked Tayuya.

"Well, at least we should be able to find food...and not have to pay for it." noted Jirobo.

"Yes, of course. Of course." nodded the musical assassin.

Immediately, the four of them went to visit the local McDonalds.

Sure enough, it was empty as well.

Shrugging, they decided to help themselves for some fast food.

"This is delicious..." murmured Jirobo.

"I'm sure it is." nodded Tayuya.

"I'm getting a kids' meal!" exclaimed Kidomaru.

"But you're too old for that." answered Sakon.

"Aww!" complained the spider man.

Immediately, Ukon detached himself from Sakon's body so that he could eat some fast food as well.

"Where is everyone? This is actually starting to creep me out...and you know how creepy we are." answered Ukon.

"I wonder if something is going on here..." questioned Tayuya.

Suddenly, she found a body lying on the floor...by the looks of it, someone had torn his heart out.

"Um, guys...I think you should take a look at this." said the genjutsu user.

"What?" inquired Kidomaru.

Immediately, she pointed out the dead body on the floor.

"Is there a serial killer on the loose?" inquired Kidomaru.

"By the looks of it, they're doing their job well." answered Jirobo.

"We might not want to stay here for too long." noted Sakon.

"Alright then...we'll finish eating and then we'll leave town. Sound good?" inquired Tayuya.

The other members of the Sound Four nodded.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy was eagerly enjoying her training with Jiraiya. However, she noticed that Jiraiya kept staring at her chest, and it was making her feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Can you please stop that?" inquired Lucy.

"What? Sorry. I do that sometimes." answered the pervy sage.

"Can you at least do that to someone that's older?" asked the summoner mage.

"Whenever I do that, I get punched in the face..." answered Jiraiya.

"I see..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, she began to summon toads.

"Aww! Look at how cute they are!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Funny, most girls I know are usually creeped out by toads...but you seem to be rather different." noted Jiraiya.

"Really? Huh. I guess I must be special..." answered Lucy.

"You're from another world, aren't you?" inquired the Sannin.

"Yes, I am. So, how is my training going?" nodded the kunoichi.

"Surprisingly well. You seem to be a rather fast learner." answered Jiraiya.

"I suppose I am." nodded Lucy. She had learned how to use Naruto's Rasengan rather quickly.

"Well, I think we're done for today, I suppose. Try to keep practicing." said the Sannin as he went to look for some attractive females.

"OK, I will." answered the kunoichi.

Curious, she decided to summon some more toads.

Oddly enough, she happened to have summoned a frog as well, much to the other toad's surprise.

"I guess they don't like seeing what's basically a toad that's covered with mucus..." noted Lucy.

The other toads looked rather disgusted.

"Don't worry, I'll take him to a pond so that you don't have to look at him." said Lucy.

The toads let out a sigh of relief.

She immediately took the frog to a nearby lake, where he could live on a lily pad and hopefully find another frog so that they could make tadpoles.

"Have fun." said Lucy.

Suddenly, Shikamaru approached Lucy.

"Hey there, Shikamaru. Can I help you? You look excited about something." answered the summoner mage.

"We managed to make an improvised interdimensional portal!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

"Really? You did? Perfect! Now I can finally go home! Then again I am going to miss you guys..." explained Lucy.

"You can always write, right?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I suppose." nodded the summoner mage.

Immediately, Shikamaru and Lucy left to head to the interdimensional portal, where Natsu was waiting.

"Hey there, Lucy! This is great, isn't it? We're finally going to get to go back home!" exclaimed Natsu.

Of course, he seemed rather nervous about being a crowd full of people...but other than that, he appeared to be fine.

"Yes, we are, Natsu!" cheered Lucy.

Sure enough, Shikamaru was explaining the situation to an audience.

"Thanks to an experimental jutsu, we've managed to make an interdimensional portal of our own...however, since it's still experimental, we're going to need a volunteer. We're not sure where exactly in the world of magic you're going to end up." said Shikamaru.

At that very moment, Sakura Haruno raised her hand.

"You want to use the interdimensional portal, Sakura?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I want to talk to Naruto. He's worried me sick!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Oh, right. Of course." answered Shikamaru.

Immediately, Sakura Haruno entered the portal...

...and ended up in Phantom Lord's guild.

Master Jose noticed her presence.

"Hmm? How did you get here? No matter. How would you like to join one of the best guilds in Fiore? We're about to defeat Fairy Tail as we speak...and you know how strong they are." asked Master Jose.

Quickly releasing that Master Jose was a sociopath, she politely declined his offer.

"Hmph. Very well. Someone escort her to the exit, will you? I don't have time for this..." said the guildmaster.

"Where is Naruto? Have you seen him?" inquired Sakura.

"Naruto? Who is that?" asked Jose curiously.

"He has blonde hair...and typically wears orange clothing." explained the super-strong ninja.

"Funny...I believe that we took him hostage not too long ago...he wouldn't give us information about Lucy's whereabouts...so we tortured him." said Master Jose.

"You what?!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I have to admit, I kind of wish I went to the dungeon so that I can hear him scream...from what Monsieur Sol told me it was absolutely hil-

Suddenly, Sakura kicked Master Jose right between the legs, causing him to scream in pain and collapse on the ground.

She then went to search for Naruto. He had to be around the world of magic somewhere.

Maybe she should try visiting the Fairy Tail guild Master Jose had mentioned? Then again, she wasn't sure where their headquarters was.

Thankfully, there was an enormous sign pointing to where the Fairy Tail guild base was.

"That makes things easier." thought Sakura as she headed towards her destination.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, the interdimensional portal had just changed location due to its unpredictability compared to the portal that Levy had made.

Oddly enough, the Konoha interdimensional portal happened to be red instead of Fairy Tail's interdimensional portal's blue.

_Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail guild base..._

"This isn't good...it's been hours since Makarov went to challenge Master Jose..." said Levy.

Without their guildmaster, they were going to have a very hard time defeating Phantom Lord.

On the plus side, her teammates seemed to be recovering from the injuries Gajeel had inflicted upon them. Hopefully they would be able to fight soon.

Then again, without Makarov, there were only so much that Team Shadow Gear could do.

"You think something happened to him?" inquired Gray.

At that very moment, an interdimensional portal appeared.

Curious, Levy used a tracking spell to determine the whereabouts of Makarov...

...and discovered that he was now in the world of ninja.

"I think he somehow ended up in the world where Lucy and Natsu are..." answered the letter mage.

"Then we need to go search for him." said the ice mage.

Immediately, Gray went to use the interdimensional portal so that he could search for Makarov.

"Why do I get the feeling that the interdimensional portal is going to shut on him?" inquired Levy.

That had already happened twice before.

Then again, this interdimensional portal did not belong to her...so maybe it would be a bit more stable.

Then again, unlike the Fairy Tail portal, this one appeared to be a bit more...chaotic.

"Where is it going to head next?" inquired Levy.

_At Konoha..._

At that very moment, Gray stepped out of the interdimensional portal.

"So, this was where Natsu and Lucy went..." said the ice mage.

At that very moment, Lucy and Natsu noticed him.

"Gray!" cheered Natsu.

Immediately, Natsu and Lucy began to hug him.

"Good to see you guys again..." answered Gray.

"Is this another friend of yours? Good that you could be reunited..." answered Shikamaru.

"Have you seen Makarov? I'm looking for him so that he can go back home...we need to help him protect us from Phantom Lord." said the ice mage.

"Phantom Lord?!" exclaimed Lucy. It looks like her instincts were right. Her guild really was in trouble.

At that very moment, Makarov paid the trio a visit.

"There you ar-guildmaster! What happened to you!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Greetings, Salamander. Thanks to a friend of mine, I've been feeling so very wonderful..." answered Makarov.

"Was it Tsunade? I heard that she knew a jutsu so that she could stay young...I wonder if she could teach me that once I get older..." noted Lucy.

"Yes, it was!" nodded the leader of Fairy Tail.

"Get going!" exclaimed Gray.

Immediately, Makarov used the interdimensional portal to get back to Fairy Tail.

Unfortunately, it closed shortly afterwards.

"Sorry, guys...I guess it couldn't last long." apologized Shikamaru.

"It's OK...getting our guildmaster back was enough. We're actually starting to feel at home here, to be honest." said Lucy.

"Really? I can try to create another portal..." answered the shadow ninja.

"You can do that...just don't strain yourself too hard." said the summoner mage.

"I won't...I need to go to sleep, anyway..." said Shikamaru.

Immediately, he began to yawn.

"So...what do you want to do now?" inquired Gray.

"Maybe go on a mission here sometime. For now, I guess we can go talk to Tsunade and explain the recent events." said Lucy.

"That seems as good of an idea as any." answered the ice mage.

Immediately, he began to take off his shirt, causing some of the members in the Konoha audience to go wild.

"Please don't do that in public..." said Lucy.

"Fine." answered Gray as he put his shirt back down.

Natsu noticed that the audience were staring at him due to his bare chest, and began to wonder if he should wear something less revealing.

"I can't have people staring at me like this..." thought the fire mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Sakura immediately knocked on the Fairy Tail guild door, hoping that they could help her search for Naruto.

"Hey! Are you there? Hello?" inquired the kunoichi.

Hinata immediately answered the door, and gasped in astonishment.

"Sakura? Is that you?" asked the fire ninja.

"Yes, it is I. I'm here to look for Naruto...of course, considering you're here, I don't think he's far behind." answered Sakura.

"Right, of course." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, the medical kunoichi went to search for Naruto, who as she discovered was lying on a chair. Promptly, he nearly fell out of it upon seeing Sakura.

"Sakura?! Is that really you?!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura slapped Naruto in the face.

"There you are! Do you have any idea how worried about you I was?!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"I'm sorry, Sakura! This interdimensional portal business is driving me nuts!" screamed Naruto.

"Don't leap into any more portals!" screamed Sakura.

"I won't, Sakura...I won't." answered the genin.

Suddenly, she noticed that Naruto had a magazine on the table.

Curious, Sakura took a closer look, and noticed that he had turned to a page with rather attractive-looking females on it.

"What are you reading?" asked the kunoichi.

"I'm just looking at those really attractive girls I found in it...I have to admit, I want to go on a date with one of them some time." said Naruto.

Sakura immediately crumpled the magazine in her hand. She was clearly very angry at Naruto.

"Is something the matter, Sakura?" inquired the genin.

Suddenly, she froze the genin solid in a block of ice.

"I'm not quite sure how I did that...but that should teach you a lesson in respect." thought Sakura as she decided to go look for the guildmaster, leaving Naruto frozen in the process.

_Meanwhile..._

On the way to Tsunade's office, Lucy, Natsu, and Gray came across an old "friend" of theirs.

It was none other than Takeshi. It seemed that they couldn't hold him forever.

"Not you again..." murmured Lucy.

"Who is this guy?" asked Natsu.

"Just a psycho that loves trying to kill people." said the summoner mage.

Natsu's face turned pale.

"Actually, I'm in a merciful mood today." answered Takeshi.

Natsu's pulse settled.

Immediately, he pointed towards Gray.

"Huh?" inquired the ice mage.

"I'm going to mug you!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Suddenly, he pushed Gray towards the ground and made off with his wallet.

"Oh dear..." murmured Lucy as Gray helped himself to his feet.

"My wallet...he took my wallet..." spoke Gray.

"It's OK...we'll get it back..." answered Lucy.

Suddenly, Gray began to breathe heavily.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Natsu.

This was then followed by him screaming in rage.

Natsu began to whimper.

He immediately ran towards Takeshi and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him above his head.

"Listen to me, you little weasel! If you ever steal my wallet again, I'm going to hit you on the head with a shovel, cut out one of your kidneys, and leave you in a bathtub full of ice! Do you understand me?!" bellowed Gray.

"Yes, we're clear! Let me go! Please! I'll do anything!" screamed Takeshi.

Gray immediately let go of him, and he handed back the stolen wallet.

Takeshi then ran as far away from Gray as possible.

"That's better." answered the ice mage.

Curious, he noticed that Lucy gasped in shock.

"Huh? What's the matter?" inquired Gray.

"I think you've become someone's interdimensional partner!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What? I have?" asked the ice mage curiously.

"I've never seen you act like this before!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"You were right...that was rather unusual of me..." nodded Gray.

"Let's go tell Tsunade about this...she might be able to tell you who your interdimensional partner is." said Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Natsu was hiding behind a tree. Apparently, Gray had terrified him.

"C'mon Natsu! We need to go see the Fifth Hokage!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Huh? Of course!" bellowed the fire mage.

Immediately, the trio went to see Tsunade.

_Meanwhile..._

Noticing that Naruto was trapped inside a block of ice, Hinata immediately used her fire abilities to thaw him out.

"Naruto? Are you OK? What happened to you? Did Phantom Lord try to kidnap you again?!" exclaimed Hinata.

"It was Sakura! She got mad at me for reading a magazine about girls...and then she froze me solid!" bellowed Naruto.

Curious, Hinata picked up Naruto's copy of the Sorcerer Magazine and started flipping the pages.

"Huh...these girls really are attractive." thought the kunoichi. No wonder Naruto was absorbed into it.

Oddly enough, Erza happened to be on the front cover...was that the reason Naruto had picked out that magazine in the first place?

From what she had seen about them so far, Naruto was rather close to her.

"Since when could she freeze me solid anyway? I thought she was simply going to punch me..." said the genin.

"I think we have another interdimensional partner on our hands..." spoke Hinata.

"Who is it this time?" asked Naruto.

"I have a pretty good idea." nodded Hinata.

"Should we go talk to her?" inquired the genin.

"I suppose." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, the duo went to go talk to Sakura and explain the situation.

"I wonder who it could be? That ice magic seems awfully familiar..." thought Hinata.

_At the Fifth Hokage's Office..._

Once again, Lucy knocked on the door to the Fifth Hokage's Office.

"Come on in." said Tsunade.

Immediately, Lucy entered the office along with Gray and Natsu.

"This is my buddy, Gray! We've known each other for years!" exclaimed the fire mage.

As she did so, she noticed that Gray was using what appeared to be a healing jutsu to heal the bruise that Takeshi had inflicted upon him when he pushed him to the ground.

"I see that you've brought another one of your friends with you to our world...is there anything you wish to talk about him?" inquired the Sannin.

"I think he's someone's interdimensional partner." said the summoner mage.

"Is he now?" asked Tsunade.

"He's shown a hair-trigger temper, he now has superhuman strength, and just recently he used a healing jutsu to heal himself!" exclaimed Lucy.

Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh? Do you know who it is?" asked Gray.

"I think you're my apprentice's interdimensional partner, Gray." said Tsunade.

"I am?" inquired the ice mage.

"Yes...she happens to have all those traits you mentioned, and then some..." explained the Sannin.

"Now that I think of it...I did see a pink-haired girl use the interdimensional portal so that she could search for Naruto..." said Lucy.

"I take it's she's in the same situation as you then...this is hitting me rather close to home." answered Tsunade.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Natsu.

"On the plus side, we managed to return Makarov back to our guild..." said Lucy.

"That's a relief..." nodded the Fifth Hokage.

"I guess we're going to have to wait for Shikamaru to make another interdimensional portal...or for Fairy Tail to make one for us first." spoke Gray.

"I'd rather choose the latter...that interdimensional portal Shikamaru seemed rather erratic." noted Natsu.

"Yes, I know." nodded Lucy.

Shrugging, Lucy, Natsu, and Gray left the office to decide their next course of action.

As they did so, Tsunade began to wonder something.

"If Gray's inherited Sakura's healing abilities and strength...then what has Sakura inherited from him?" inquired the Sannin.

And what aspect of his personality was she going to obtain?

It looked like the interdimensional portals had struck again.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, at least I managed to find Naruto...but how am I going to get back home?" questioned Sakura.

As it turned out, she was in the foyer.

At that very moment, Naruto approached her.

"Can I help you, Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Why, yes you c-"

Suddenly, Naruto's face turned pale.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the kunoichi.

Immediately, the genin began to scream.

He then ran out of the foyer and headed back home to Lucy's apartment.

"What's the matter with him?" thought Sakura.

Curious, she decided to look in the mirror...

...and immediately screamed as well.

She was in her underwear!

"My clothes! What happened to my clothes?!" screeched Sakura in horror.

At that very moment, Hinata decided to pay her a visit as well.

"There you are, Sakura! I've been looking for-oh boy." murmured Hinata.

Frantically, Sakura began to try to cover herself. This was completely and utterly embarrassing.

"I think I know who your interdimensional partner is now." said the kunoichi.

"My interdimensional partner?" inquired the medical ninja.

"Yes. It's Gray Fullbuster, I believe." explained Hinata.

Immediately, she handed Sakura a portfolio detailing what she needed to know about Gray.

"What does this have to do about m-wait, did you say that he's an ice mage? I just froze Naruto a while ago..." answered the kunoichi.

"Yes, you did...you've inherited his ice magic...as well as his stripping habit." said Hinata.

"I can't believe I've become a stripper..." murmured Sakura.

"I'm afraid that interdimensional portal can do things like that...it's already happened twice before." answered Hinata.

"It has?" inquired the kunoichi.

Now that she thought of it, something had seemed a bit off about Naruto when she had reunited with him, as well as Hinata herself.

"Yes, it has. Naruto's gained the ability to summon Celestial Spirits to help him in battles...and I've gained the ability to manipulate fire." explained Hinata.

"You can manipulate fire now?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, I can. I better be careful not to burn the place down...then again, I can put out a fire just as easily as I can start it. I can eat flames too..." noted the kunoichi.

"Interesting...can you go get me some clothes now?" inquired the medical ninja.

At that very moment, Erza stopped by.

"Erza! Perfect timing!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the magic knight.

"We need you to give this poor girl some clothes...she's a friend of mine from the world of ninja." explained the kunoichi.

"Sure." nodded Erza.

Immediately, she gave Sakura a shirt and some pants.

"Thank you." said the kunoichi.

However, said shirt and said pants were humilating.

Immediately, Hinata began to laugh. On her shirt was a picture of Sakura making out with her.

"Aren't we a cute couple!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"What? What are you talking about?" inquired Sakura.

Curious, she looked at her shirt in the mirror, and discovered why Hinata was laughing.

"Darn it, Erza!" screamed Sakura, shaking her fist.

"I really don't know why this keeps happening." answered Erza.

Sakura noticed on her pants that there was a picture of her making out with Ino as well.

"We don't love each other that way!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Immediately, Hinata noticed the picture as well.

"Have you been cheating on me?!" exclaimed Hinata, her hands on her ribs.

"Good grief..." murmured Sakura.

"By the way, I found these on the floor. Someone left these in the hallway...I believe these belong to you." said Erza.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Now she could get dressed again.

"By the way, where's Naruto? I thought I heard him scream." asked Erza.

"He ran away when he saw Sakura in her underpants." explained Hinata.

"I guess I'll go tell him that we've solved that crisis." said the knight.

"See you later!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, Erza left to visit Lucy's apartment...which at the moment was Naruto's.

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter...because I know I did! Heh heh. In the next chapter, things are going to get intense, though._

_Why you may ask? Well, the Element 4 are going to make their move...and so is the rest of Phantom Lord for that matter._

_Adios!_


	20. Chapter 20: The Element 4

Ninja Tail 20

_In this chapter...the Element 4 are going to show up...and of course, Lucy's friends are going to battle them. They're not going to let them take her without a fight._

_And of course, Juvia will become smitten with Gray. Heh heh._

_Meanwhile, Phantom Lord will prepare to attack the Fairy Tail guild...with the Jupiter Cannon! Yikes!_

**Chapter 20: The Element 4**

Erza immediately went to visit Naruto's house. Much to her surprise, she found that he was writing his will.

"Hey there, Naruto!" exclaimed the knight.

Naruto immediately shrieked.

"Please don't hurt me! I haven't finished writing my will y-oh it's you. Thank goodness..." said the genin, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Why are you writing your will?" inquired Erza.

"In just a few moments from now, Sakura's going to kill me..." answered Naruto.

"Really? How come?" inquired the magic knight.

"You remember what I told you? Back when we were at the jungle?" asked the genin.

"You mean that mission where we ended up in a quicksand pit together? I got sunk up to my chest and you got sunk up to your shoulders...and yet we began to enjoy it after a while...if I recall correctly." questioned Erza.

"Yes...that was the one. And yes, that actually happened." nodded Naruto.

Curious, Erza noticed that his cheeks turned red when she asked that.

"Oh, that's right. You mentioned during that mission that if you ever looked at Sakura in her underwear, she'd sentence you to a terrible death, am I right?" inquired the knight.

"Yes...I've gone and done it now. I saw Sakura in her underwear...goodbye, Erza! I love you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure she doesn't hurt you." answered Erza.

"Wait, you will?" inquired the genin.

"Of course I will! You're my little buddy." exclaimed the knight.

"Thanks...I guess you're my big buddy. Heh heh." nodded Naruto.

"I'll go lock the door to your house so she can't get in..." said Erza.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the genin.

As she did so, she decided to take a quick look at Naruto's unfinished will.

"He actually included me in there...how sweet..." thought the knight.

Immediately, she locked the door to the house so that Sakura couldn't get inside.

"Right...that should keep her busy." thought Erza.

Suddenly, a fire axe began to cut through it.

"What the-" murmured the knight.

"Here's Sakura!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Oh no...not only is she going to kill Naruto...but she's going to reference The Shining first!" exclaimed Erza.

"All work and no play makes Sakura a very dull girl!" bellowed the kunoichi as she cut down the door to Lucy's apartment.

Immediately, Erza decided it was time for Plan B.

She stood in front of the door to Lucy's room so that she could protect him from Sakura.

Sure enough, she began to run towards the door.

"Not so fast, Sakura! If you want to kill Naruto, you're going to have to go through me first!" exclaimed Erza.

What she said next surprised her.

"Kill Naruto? What are you talking about?" inquired Sakura.

"Huh? You're not here to kill Naruto?" asked Erza.

"Of course not!" exclaimed the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Then why did you cut down the door to his house?" questioned the knight.

"His landlady insulted my mother." said Sakura.

"OK..." answered Erza.

Immediately, Sakura opened the door to Naruto's room, causing him to scream like a girl.

"Oh my gosh! Sakura, don't kill me! I'll do anything!" bellowed the genin.

"I'm not here to kill you, Naruto." said Sakura.

"Wait, what?" inquired Naruto.

"I'm actually here to apologize..." spoke the kunoichi.

"Really? You are?" asked the genin.

"I feel like I've been a bit too hard on you lately..." answered Sakura.

"Well, you did punch me in the stomach after I said that Mei Terumi was the hottest girl alive..." said Naruto.

"Yes, I know..." nodded the kunoichi.

"I appreciate the apology...so consider yourself forgiven!" exclaimed the genin.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, he noticed that Sakura was wearing a sarashi that went from her shoulders to her stomach rather than the shirt she was wearing earlier.

"Er, what happened to your shirt? Did you take it off again?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes and no...I didn't feel like wearing a shirt anymore, so I decided to wear this..." answered Sakura.

"Oh. That's funny, Gray mentioned to me earlier that he didn't like wearing shirts..." said Naruto.

"Hinata said I was his interdimensional partner now, or whatever that was..." spoke Sakura.

"That explains why you were able to freeze me solid..." answered the genin.

"Yes, I know. I promise you that I'll never threaten your life again...sound good?" inquired the kunoichi.

"That's a relief. And...yes." nodded Naruto.

Sakura immediately began to smile.

"By the way, I happen to have a guild mark on my backside now...according to Hinata, Gray had the guild mark in the exact same position, only on his left pectoral..." said the kunoichi.

"That's a relief...I wouldn't want it to be on your-"

"That's enough talk for today." answered Sakura.

Naruto left Lucy's room along with his partner.

As they did so, Naruto noticed that the door to Lucy's apartment had been knocked down.

"What happened to the door?" asked the genin.

"Oh, that...I cut it down with an axe." explained Sakura.

"How come?" inquired Naruto.

"The landlady was mean to me..." said the kunoichi.

"I see..." nodded the genin.

Deciding that Naruto and Sakura had made peace, Erza decided it was time to head back to the guild.

Sure enough, the duo began to follow her.

_Meanwhile..._

Gajeel woke up after his beating from Hinata. Much to his surprise, he found himself in a plastic prison.

"Huh...I guess they were smart enough not to put me in a metal prison..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

At that very moment, Makarov approached him. He had a death glare in his eyes.

Oddly, he seemed younger than Master Jose described him. Then again, he told his guildmates never to mention his name.

"Um, hi?" asked Gajeel nervously.

"What you did to my guild was unforgivable..." said Makarov.

Gajeel gulped. He was in big trouble.

"...but since I'm having the best day of my life, I'm willing to give you a second chance." answered the guildmaster.

"Wait, what?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"Just promise never to attack my guild again and we'll let you out of here..." said Makarov.

"OK, I promise. I will never do something like that again. I swear on my deathbed." answered Gajeel.

"You swear to Mavis Vermillion?" inquired the guildmaster.

"Yes, I swear!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Makarov immediately released him from his cell.

Much to his surprise, Gajeel then asked if he could join his guild.

"Huh? You want to join our guild?" inquired the guildmaster.

"Well, you see..." answered Gajeel.

_On his way back to the Phantom Lord guild, Gajeel noticed that there was a rather young-looking Exceed standing outside._

_This particular Exceed happened to be white._

_"Aren't you a cute little guy?" inquired Gajeel._

_"I sure am!" nodded the Exceed._

_"How would you like to be my cat?" asked the iron dragonslayer._

_"I'd love to!" cheered the white Exceed._

_However, at that very moment, Master Jose stepped by._

_Immediately, he picked up the Exceed by the tail._

_"Perfect! Not only did you devastate Fairy Tail, you also caught me some lunch!" exclaimed the guildmaster._

_He went back to the guild so that he could make a meal out of the poor Exceed._

_"Nooooo!" bellowed Gajeel._

"So, you want revenge on Master Jose too, then?" asked Makarov.

"Yes, I do." nodded Gajeel.

"Alright then...mind you, the other guildmates might be more hesistant to accept you than I am...you kind of made them angry at you..." warned the guildmaster.

"I can live with that." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Makarov escorted Gajeel out of the dungeon.

_A few minutes later..._

"Makarov! You're alive! Thank goodness...but since when were you so young?" inquired Levy.

"I found a friend that managed to make me younger..." answered Makarov.

"I see." nodded the letter mage.

Suddenly, she noticed that Gajeel was standing next to him.

"Wait, isn't that-"

"Yes, I know. He's agreed not to hurt us again and he wants revenge on Master Jose like the rest of us...so we let him join us as a recruit." explained Makarov.

"That's awfully nice..." nodded Levy, recognizing the guild mark on his left shoulder.

However, at that very moment, she noticed that everyone else in the guild had fled from him.

"Where did they go?" inquired Gajeel.

"It appears that they're terrified of him..." answered Makarov.

"Yeah...I'm bit wary of him myself...though admittedly he's kind of cute." spoke Levy.

"He looks rather scary if you ask me..." noted Makarov.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." said the letter mage.

At that very moment, Naruto and Sakura returned from Lucy's apartment. Erza had decided to use the ladies' room on the way there.

"Makarov! Good to see you're back...I was starting to get worr-"

Suddenly, he noticed Gajeel standing next to Makarov.

"Aah! Don't hurt me!" screamed Naruto.

Immediately, he began to hide behind a table.

"Did he beat you up?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, he did." nodded the genin.

"I feel a sense of deja vu..." answered the kunoichi.

"Don't worry, Naruto. He's on our side now. He's not going to hurt you any more...at least, not unless you provoke him." said Makarov.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Gajeel noticed that there was a copy of the Sorceror Magazine on the table.

"Wow, look at all those attractive girls..." said the iron dragonslayer.

Sakura was not amused. Immediately, she punched Gajeel in the face.

"What was that for?!" exclaimed the dragonslayer.

"You'll have to forgive Sakura...she always does that whenever someone's being a pervert..." said Naruto.

"Huh? Alright then...I'll give her a taste of her own medicine. See how much she likes it." answered Gajeel.

"What?" asked the genin.

Immediately, he punched Sakura in the face in return.

Naturally, this made her angry at him.

"Alright, you asked for this!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

The two began to fight.

"We might want to leave now..." said the genin.

Levy and Makarov nodded, deciding to head elsewhere for the time being.

Gajeel and Sakura both tried to land blow after blow on each other, but they seemed to be rather equally matched.

The former decided to turn the tables by covering himself with some iron scales.

"Ha! Let's see you try to punch me now!" exclaimed Gajeel.

However, much to his surprise, Sakura was able to crack the armor on his face with a single punch.

"How did you get so strong?!" bellowed Gajeel as she began to shatter his armor.

"Years of practice...and a hair-trigger temper." answered Sakura.

Suffice to say, the armor did not last long, and he was once more vulnerable to attack.

And to make matters worse, he did not have metal to eat, so no free powerups for him.

Immediately, Gajeel began to turn his arm into a sword that he could cut up Sakura. Surely she couldn't win a swordfight with her bare hands, right?

However, much to his surprise, Sakura once again had the means to counter this. In this case, she had some ice weapons of her own.

"I'm actually starting to like my new ice powers..." thought the kunoichi.

They kept at this for a while, countering sword with sword, club with club, mace with mace, and so on until they both became exhausted.

"Right then...let's finish this, shall we?" inquired Gajeel as he took a deep breath.

Realizing that he was launching a desperate attack, Sakura countered with a desperate attack on her own.

Once again, Gajeel found himself being sent flying.

However, this time, his opponent got sent flying as well.

This time, his battle with a girl had ended with a stalemate, as they both passed out on the floor.

Erza came by a few minutes later.

"Alright, I've finished my business and-what have we here?" inquired the knight.

Shrugging, she decided to take both Sakura and Gajeel to the infirmary, where they woke up from their scuffle.

"I'm sorry I beat you up...I can get angry like that sometimes..." answered the kunoichi.

"Are you kidding? That was the best fight I've had in ages! Let's fight again, shall we?" exclaimed Gajeel.

Sakura sweatdropped.

_Meanwhile..._

Master Jose moaned in pain after Sakura had kicked him in the groin. Why did she have to be so strong?

Fortunately, Boze and Sue decided to check on him.

"Master! Are you alright?" inquired Boze.

"You look hurt pretty bad..." answered Sue.

At that very moment, Master Jose began to breathe rather heavily.

"Is something the matter?" asked Sue.

"I'm going to wipe Fairy Tail off the face of the earth!" screamed Master Jose.

"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Boze.

"They're all going to die!" bellowed the leader of Phantom Lord.

"Sheesh." answered Sue.

"Activate the Jupiter Cannon!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"Yes, of course!" nodded Boze, looking rather panic-stricken.

Immediately, the Jupiter Cannon emerged from the Phantom Lord guild base.

Suddenly, Sue remembered something important.

"Wait a minute...if we do this, Gajeel's going to get vaporized too! Fairy Tail took him prisoner!" exclaimed the mage.

"What?!" bellowed Master Jose. That actually hadn't occurred to him.

Immediately, he found himself in a rather difficult situation. Should he fire at the Fairy Tail guild base and wipe them off the face of the earth along with Gajeel? Or should he spare Fairy Tail and hope that they return Gajeel to him?

After much deliberation, he eventually made a decision.

"Fire the Jupiter Cannon!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"But what about-"

"His sacrifice will not be in vain!" bellowed the guildmaster.

Sue sighed.

"Yes, Master Jose..." answered the mage.

Immediately, the Jupiter Cannon began to gather magic energy.

"So long, Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Master Jose.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy Heartfilia was having a nice day. She was playing shogi with Shikamaru once again, and she had beaten him two out of three times.

"Well, you won your bet, Lucy. Here is your ryo." said Shikamaru.

"Hooray!" cheered the summoner mage.

However, at that very moment, the Element 4 began to approach her.

"We've finally found her..." thought Totomaru.

"Can I help you?" asked Lucy.

Suddenly, Juvia stuffed Lucy inside a barrel, much to her surprise.

"Let me out of here!" screamed the summoner mage.

"Vhere did you get zat barrel, Juvia?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

"I found it when we went to investigate our surroundings earlier...it seemed useful." spoke Juvia.

Shikamaru gasped in shock. That was the exact same barrel the Sound Four had used to contain Sasuke when they went to deliver him to Orochimaru!

"Off to deliver her to her father we go. He'll be happy to see here again...it moves me to tears..." answered Aria.

At that very moment, Lucy began to cry. Apparently, she wasn't looking forward to seeing her father again, as Shikamaru noted.

Immediately, they began to leap their way back towards Phantom Lord's interdimensional portal. How they were doing so, they weren't quite sure...but it was rather useful.

"I must come up with a plan to save Lucy immediately!" he exclaimed.

Immediately, he went to look for his friends. He clearly didn't have much time.

Thankfully, Natsu and Gray was nearby, along with his best friend Choji, who was eating some buffalo wings.

"I need your help! Lucy's being kidnapped!" screamed Shikamaru.

Choji nearly choked on the buffalo wing he was eating.

"What?!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Who did this to her?" inquired Gray.

"Well, one of them had a monocle...one of them had black and white hair...one of them had blue hair and was wearing a hat, and one of them was wearing a blindfold..." answered Shikamaru.

"She must have been captured by the Element 4!" exclaimed Natsu.

"The Element 4?" inquired the Nara clan member.

"They're a group of mages that work for Master Jose...Makarov told me about them once...one of them happens to be a fire mage like my friend Natsu, oddly enough." answered Gray.

"So that's who abducted Lucy." answered Shikamaru.

"Let's get going!" exclaimed Choji.

Immediately, the four began to pursuit Lucy.

_A few minutes later..._

**"Well well well. It looks like you're going to see your abusive father again...I have to say I'm looking forward to it." **answered Kurama.

"I'm certainly not." noted Lucy.

**"I have to admit, I'm rather curious to what your world is like..." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"You better not try to destroy Fiore." answered the summoner mage.

**"It's in my nature." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"Hmph." answered Lucy.

Immediately, she began to wonder how she was going to get herself out of this mess. Shikamaru had seen her being kidnapped, sure...but would he be able to reach her in time?

Curious, she remembered what Jiraiya had taught her, and decided to summon a toad.

In this case, he ended up summoning Gabakichi.

"Hmm...it appears that my summons are more effective when I'm in mortal peril..." noted Lucy.

"Can I help you?" asked Gabakichi.

"Yes, you can. I'm in a bad situation here...four people are abducting me and I need to get out of this barrel!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You do realize that you can just lift the lid off the barrel, right?" inquired the toad.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"Well, I still need a diversion so that I can escape." answered the summoner mage.

"Alright then..." nodded the toad.

Immediately, he burst through the barrel and began to attack the Element 4.

"Get him off me!" bellowed Totomaru.

"Vhat is zat thing?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

"Juvia thinks that it's some sort of toad...but Juvia's never seen one this big!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Calm down. We'll deal with this shortly..." answered Aria.

"I'm afraid ve might have something bigger to deal vith..." answered Monsieur Sol.

"What?" inquired Totomaru.

As it turned out, Lucy was escaping...ironically enough by leaping like a toad.

"This isn't good...if she escapes from us Master Jose is going to kill us all...literally." answered Aria.

"We have to stop her!" exclaimed Totomaru.

Immediately, the Element 4 began to chase after Lucy.

And to make matters worse, they were slowly catching up to her. As it turned out, Gabakichi had been sent back home by his father, ironically enough.

"Was my escape attempt futile?" inquired Lucy.

Suddenly, the Element 4 stopped completely, much to their surprise.

"What in Fiore?" inquired Totomaru.

"We've been paralyzed!" exclaimed Juvia.

Aria began to cry.

"Who did zis to us?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

Curious, Lucy looked down, and discovered that Shikamaru had latched onto their shadows.

"Shikamaru! Thank the Celestial Spirit King you're here!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"That's a disappointment. I was hoping that they would bring you back to Fiore..." **answered Kurama.

Shikamaru, Natsu, Gray, and Choji appeared a few seconds later.

"Are you OK, Lucy?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes I am. Thank you for trying to save me..." answered Lucy.

"Let's flee for the hills and get Tsunade, shall we? My shadow jutsu isn't going to last forever." said Shikamaru.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the kunoichi.

However, at that very moment, Juvia suddenly thought of something.

"If we're bound by our shadows...what if I tried shapeshifting?" inquired the water mage.

Immediately, she began to do so...

...and broke free of the shadow technique.

"That actually worked. How about that." answered Juvia.

She began to creep up towards Shikamaru.

"Wait, wasn't there four of them?" inquired Lucy.

"Huh?" asked Shikamaru.

"The one with the blue hat and the umbrella! Why is she missing!?" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"That's odd. Where did she g-"

Lucy and Shikamaru's questions were answered when suddenly Juvia dropped a waterfall on top of Shikamaru.

"Gah!" exclaimed the shadow ninja.

Naturally, this was enough to dispel the jutsu.

Taking advantage of the situation, Monsieur Sol then trapped the five inside a giant earth dome.

"I'm not quite sure how I did zat...but it vas a blessing...so..." answered the French mage.

"You think we can recapture Lucy with this?" asked Aria.

"They vill eventually pass out, I suppose." nodded Monsieur Sol.

"Alright then. We'll wait for you at the interdimensional portal." answered Totomaru.

"Deja vu..." murmured Shikamaru.

Immediately, the other Element 4 went back to the interdimensional portal.

"How are we going to get out of here?" inquired Gray.

Natsu tried punching through the earth dome with his fists...

...only for the damage to the dome to quickly become undone.

"This dome can repair itself!" exclaimed the fire mage.

And to make matters worse...they were starting to hallucinate.

At that very moment, an illusion of Shikamaru appeared in front of Choji.

"Huh?" inquired Choji.

"You're fat and useless, Choji! I wish I never met you!" bellowed Shikamaru.

Choji began to cry.

"What's the matter, Choji?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"You just said that I was fat and useless!" exclaimed the Akimichi clan member.

"What? No I didn't! I would never say that to you!" bellowed Shikamaru.

Curious, Choji looked at the other three, and discovered that they seemed rather confused. By the looks of it, Shikamaru was telling the truth.

Suddenly, an illusion of Natsu appeared in front of Lucy.

"Huh?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Why do you make me rescue you all the time, Lucy?! You're not even worth the effort! I wish you never joined Fairy Tail!" exclaimed the illusionary version of Natsu.

Lucy began to bawl.

"Lucy, what's the matter?" inquired Shikamaru.

"I think we're starting to hallucinate..." answered the summoner mage.

Monsieur Sol laughed in delight. Apparently, the illusionary magic that he had casted on the earth dome was starting to take effect.

"This isn't good..." spoke Natsu.

At that very moment, an illusionary version of Lucy appeared in front of Shikamaru.

"Huh?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"You are such a slacker! You disgust me!" bellowed Lucy.

Immediately, she slapped Shikamaru in the face, causing him to whimper.

"You were right, Lucy. We really are hallucinating..." answered the shadow ninja.

"We're going to pass out if we keep seeing mirages like this!" bellowed Lucy.

Sure enough, they were starting to feel rather light-headed.

At that very moment, an illusionary version of Ur appeared in front of Gray.

"Here comes another one." said the ice mage.

"You let me die, Gray! How could you?! You were like a son to me!" exclaimed Ur.

Gray began to sniffle.

"There's got to be a way out of here somewhere..." answered Lucy.

"But the dome is reparing itself! We can't just tunnel through it!" exclaimed Natsu.

Sure enough, he was beginning to hallucinate as well.

In this case, it was an illusionary version of Happy.

"You took my tuna! You fiend!" bellowed the Exceed.

"Nooooo!" bellowed Natsu.

Curious, Shikamaru remembered that the earth dome technique had a weak spot that he could use.

"There's got to be a way out of here..." thought the boy.

Immediately, he decided to check where Monsieur Sol was.

"Hey! Is there someone there?" inquired Shikamaru.

"You should know zat by now." answered the earth mage.

"Can you let us out of here?" asked the shadow ninja.

"I suppose I could do zat...if you let me have ze fraulein." spoke Monsieur Sol.

Lucy began to whimper. Was he going to backstab her?

"No deal." answered Shikamaru.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. It was good to see Shikamaru cared about her. She was really starting to love him.

"Zen I hope you enjoy my cage of torment." said Monsieur Sol.

At that very moment, Shikamaru knew where to attack.

"Try hitting the side over there." suggested the shadow ninja, pointing to the opposite side of where Monsieur Sol was maintaining the dome.

Choji nodded, and used his body expansion jutsu to transform himself into a wrecking ball.

This worked surprisingly well. Immediately, they were able to break out of their prison, much to Monsieur Sol's surprise.

"Vhat?! You escaped?! Zat's impossible!" bellowed the earth mage.

"Your earth dome wasn't so invincible, after all. Besides, you're not the one who invented that technique." answered Shikamaru.

"Alright zen...it's time for another deal." said Monsieur Sol.

Immediately, he created an enormous boulder and lifted it above his head, much to the fivesome's shock.

"You return ze fraulein to us, and I don't use zis boulder to make you into French pancakes!" exclaimed the earth mage.

"What do we do?" inquired Natsu.

Fortunately, it was Choji's turn to shine once again. He immediately smashed the boulder to pieces.

"You think you can handle this guy? I don't believe that you have your chakra pills this time...then again, those do slowly poison your body..." answered Shikamaru.

"I'll be fine! You go on ahead and save Lucy! You should be able to get reinforcements if things get too tough..." said Choji.

"Yes, of course!" nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, the other members of the retrieval squad (Lucy included) began to head back towards Konoha.

"Vell, vill you look at zat...I seem to be up against a fat boy. Someone has been eating their McDonalds." answered Monsieur Sol.

"Don't call me fat!" bellowed Choji.

"Hmm...you're in denial, non?" inquired the earth mage.

Immediately, Choji began to attack the mage by inflating himself like a balloon, and then charging straight towards Monsieur Sol.

Thankfully, due to the super strength he inherited from Jirobo, he was able to hold him back.

"OK...somezing tells me that I need some help to capture ze fraulein here...he's holding me off pretty darn vell." answered the earth mage.

_A few minutes later..._

"Monsieur Sol has been taking a while...should we go check on him?" inquired Juvia.

"Ladies first." answered Totomaru.

Juvia immediately went to look for Monsieur Sol.

Sure enough, he found the earth mage fighting Choji.

"Do you need help?" asked Juvia.

"I'm fine! Go get ze fraulein!" bellowed Monsieur Sol.

"I guess it's up to Juvia now." answered the water mage.

Immediately, she went to pursue Lucy.

"How far is it back to Konoha? They managed to take me quite a distance..." noted Lucy.

"We should be back in about twenty minutes..." explained Shikamaru.

Suddenly, she noticed something rather startling.

"Huh? Is something the matter?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"There's an enormous tidal wave heading right towards us!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What?!" bellowed Natsu.

Immediately, the foursome were hit by the tidal wave, knocking them off their feet.

"I think Monsieur Sol might not be our only threat here..." answered Gray.

"Drip drop, drip drop." said Juvia.

"It looks we're going to have send someone else here...any volunteers?" asked Shikamaru.

Immediately, Juvia lunged towards Lucy.

However, Gray intercepted her...

...and they were both sent tumbling down a cliff.

"Are they going to be OK?" inquired Natsu.

"I think so...it wasn't a very steep slope. Funny, for a moment there I thought I was going to be the one facing her...I keep having to face female opponents." answered Shikamaru.

"I guess this isn't going to be the case this time..." said Lucy.

Shrugging, Shikamaru, Natsu, and Lucy began to continue their journey back towards Konoha.

_A few minutes later..._

"Hmm...Monsieur Sol still isn't back yet..." noted Totomaru.

"You think Juvia is going to run into complications as well?" inquired Aria.

"I suppose she could, why?" asked the fire mage.

"Then I suggest you go help her and Monsieur Sol." answered the air mage.

Totomaru nodded, and began to search for them.

Sure enough, he found Juvia (along with Gray) at the bottom of a cliff.

"Wake up!" bellowed the fire mage.

Juvia and Gray both woke up from their nap. Immediately, they began to fight.

"I guess it's up to me now..." answered Totomaru.

Curious, he began to look for something in his bag that he could use to fight Lucy's friends.

However, instead of his trademark katana...he instead found a mysterious flute.

Curious, he began to play it, and immediately, three demons appeared.

Oddly enough, one of them was red, one of them was yellow, and one of them was blue...similar to his rainbow magic.

"Can you help me capture Lucy?" inquired Totomaru.

"Of course we can!" exclaimed the red demon.

"Sir, yes, sir!" bellowed the yellow demon.

"Let's go." said the blue demon.

Immediately, the trio went to search for Lucy.

"I guess I might as well go with them." said Totomaru.

Unsurprisingly, the trio of demons began to attack the trio, each of them attacking using rainbow magic of their same color.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot!" exclaimed Lucy.

For a moment, Shikamaru began to wonder if she was referring to herself. He was actually inclined to agree.

Of course, he could also say the same for Natsu, since he was a fire mage.

At that very moment, Totomaru lunged towards them with his sword.

However, Shikamaru decided to hold him off with his shadow jutsu.

"Keep going!" exclaimed the shadow ninja.

"Goodbye Shikamaru...I hope that you can defeat him..." said Lucy, looking a bit sad.

"Don't worry about me! Worry about yourself! I assembled a rescue team, didn't I?" inquired Shikamaru.

Lucy nodded, and she left along with Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

"You know, considering that I sent all my teammates after Lucy...I'm starting to wonder if I should enter the fray myself." thought Aria.

Immediately, he began to cry. He was already starting to miss his teammates.

However, after a few moments of this, he came to a decision.

"You know what! I'm going after Lucy myself! I'm the leader of this team, aren't I? If there's anyone that can do this...it's me!" exclaimed the air mage with ambition.

He transformed into his vapor form, and began to chase after Lucy.

On the way there, he noticed that his teammates were fighting against her friends.

"I guess this was a good decision..." thought Aria.

Immediately, he noticed that Lucy was going to cross the border to Konoha soon, and realized what had to be done.

Suddenly, he began to attack the duo with a tornado.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Natsu.

"I guess there's still one left..." answered Lucy.

"Give us back the girl...or I'm going to cry. Please?" asked Aria.

"Sorry, but we're going to have to politely turn down your demands. Konoha is her home...or at least it is for the time being..." said Natsu.

"Yes! Let me go!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Very well. I didn't want to resort to this...but I have no choice." answered Aria.

Immediately, he began to shoot spider webbing at the duo, tying up Natsu and Lucy.

"I had to admit, this was a bit of a surprise when I first used it...but I have to admit, it's rather useful." answered Aria.

Fortunately, Natsu was able to free himself along with Lucy thanks to his fire magic, though he had to be careful not to burn the latter in the process.

"Lucy, you go on ahead! I'll hold him off! You should be able to head back home now...there's nobody else to attack us!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Right, of course!" nodded the summoner mage.

Immediately, she left to go get some help. Hopefully, her teammates would be able to hold off the Element 4 until then.

_Meanwhile..._

"I'm feeling a strange sense of deja vu..." answered Sakon as he left the McDonalds.

"Me too..." nodded Kidomaru.

"What's going on back at the world of ninja?" questioned Tayuya.

Jirobo shrugged.

"Anyways...if we're going to capture that little brat, we're going to need to summon Kimimaro. We can't take on those miserable friends of his alone." explained Tayuya.

"You're right...last time we tried that, we got locked away...we might not be as lucky this time..." nodded Kidomaru.

"When I catch him, I'm going to punch him in his face." answered Jirobo.

"Sounds delightful." nodded Sakon.

Immediately, they began to stand in their respective positions.

Shortly afterwards, a mandala began to appear, along with some candles.

Gradually, the candles began to light up.

"How long is this going to take?" asked Ukon, emerging from his brother's body.

"Only a few minutes...though it might be a bit longer." explained Sakon.

"Finally! Now we can get out of here! This place is creeping me out!" exclaimed Tayuya.

"I actually agree on you on that...for once." nodded Jirobo.

"Want to play a game until then?" inquired Kidomaru.

The other members of the Sound Four shrugged.

Immediately, Kidomaru pulled out a dartboard and began to toss kunai at it. Naturally, he was the best shot, though Tayuya wasn't a far second.

"I love this game...though personally I'd rather toss a kunai at someone's skull..." answered Kidomaru.

"I'd rather just stab them with it." explained Tayuya.

_At the police station..._

The police chief let out a sigh of relief. He was rather worried that he wouldn't be able to catch the killer...but by the looks of it he didn't have anything to worry about anymore.

"Looks like a job well done...sheesh, so many people are dead...I don't think this town is going to be quite the same again..." answered the police chief.

Hopefully someone would be able to undo the damage Chiyoye did, though admittedly that was going to take a while.

Suddenly, he began to hear moaning noises coming from the prison.

"Huh?" inquired the police chief.

Curious, he began to investigate the prison. As he did so, he began to feel rather nervous.

He had to admit, it was a long way down towards the prison cells.

Curious, he looked at the prisoners...

...and gasped in surprise.

Every single one of them had become a zombie!

"What happened here?! What happened to the prisoners?! And where are the guards?!" exclaimed the police chief.

"I happened." answered Chiyoye.

"What?! You did this?!" bellowed the chief.

"Did you really think that it was going to be that easy to lock me away? I assure you...you're going to need a much higher security cell than that." answered the necromanceress.

"Good lord...I need to get some backup! Anyone! Please...help me!" shouted the police chief.

"Backup? I'm afraid your backup is now my backup, actually. I actually didn't stop with your prisoners..." said Chiyoye.

"What?!" bellowed the man.

Immediately, several skeletonized police officers joined Chiyoye's side. They began to release the zombies from their cells using their keys.

The police chief could not believe what was happening. His worst nightmares had come true...and then some.

"Right then...now that you're all free...tear him limb from limb!" exclaimed the necromanceress.

Immediately, the zombies and skeletons surrounded the police chief and began to tear and devour him.

His screams could be heard well outside the police station.

"Well, I think I'm just about done now...there might be a few survivors here and there...but I can always come back later to check." said Chiyoye.

Suffice to say, she was feeling a lot stronger than before. Draining the life from so many people had gone a long way.

Rather than simply teleport out of the city, she decided to go on a walk so that she could admire the consequences of her actions.

She was looking forward to it.

_Well, it looks like Gajeel's part of Fairy Tail now...and of course, the Element 4 are trying to capture Lucy._

_Also, Chiyoye just murdered the police chief...do you feel sorry for him? I know I do...believe it or not, he wasn't a dirty cop. If anything he was just trying to do his job..._

_In the next chapter...well, things are going to get intense once again. I hope you're ready for it!_

_Have a nice day!_


	21. Chapter 21: The Jupiter Cannon

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, well, I'm afraid we're going to have some deaths...why you may ask? Well, you can probably figure out who's responsible. It's not Kenichi...though I'm afraid he's going to show up again soon._

_Oh, and Fairy Tail will be up against the Jupiter Cannon._

**Chapter 21: The Jupiter Cannon**

Monsieur Sol hurled sand into Choji's eyes, hoping that would temporarily blind him.

"Let's see you fight vith some sand in your eyes!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

Fortunately, he was able to rub the sand out of his eyes.

Choji then used his Multi-Size Technique to make himself larger.

"Huh...it looks like you've become fatter zan ever..." noted the earth mage.

This naturally made Choji angry, who began trying to crush him with his hands.

"Zat may have backfired on moi..." noted Monsieur Sol as he began to avoid his strikes.

Fortunately for Monsieur Sol, he was able to lift Choji and throw him quite a distance.

"Zis superhuman strength sure is useful. Maybe I should try using ze interdimensional portal again later, non?" noted the earth mage.

He then threw some rocks at Choji, hoping that one of them would hit him in the face.

Immediately, he collapsed on the floor in a heap.

"Ze bigger zhey are, ze harder zhey fall, non?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

Unfortunately for the earth mage, Choji helped himself to his feet and began to try to stomp him.

"I guess you're not down for ze count yet..." answered the mage as he evaded his strikes.

Monsieur Sol realized that he had a problem. Choji was now too large for him to fight effectively.

Personally he could not remember the last time he had to face a giant. Was he going to become the next David?

Suddenly, he had the particular urge to press his hand on the ground.

Doing so, he summoned a giant earth golem.

"Would you look at zat? It looks like I've made a copain today!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

Oddly enough, the earth golem was about as large as Choji was at the moment, and was wearing a top hat and a monocle.

"Right zen...keep him busy while I search for ze fraulein!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

Immediately, the earth golem began trying to wrestle Choji to the ground.

Monsieur Sol immediately went to search for Lucy Heartfilia while he was distracted.

"I wonder why Jirobo didn't think of that..." thought the wrestler as he began to fight back against the golem.

He was going to have to chase after Monsieur Sol if he managed to defeat that golem.

_Meanwhile..._

Gray immediately started his battle by trying to punch Juvia...

...but as it turned out, he was going to have a hard time facing her hand-to-hand.

Much to her surprise, two arms (that were made of water) appeared above and below her original arm when she attempted to punch Gray.

Likewise, the same happened when she tried to kick him.

As they began to fight, Juvia noticed how attractive Gray looked.

"Isn't he hot..." thought the water mage.

She then remembered that she had a mission to complete.

"Oh, right. I can't let myself get distracted." answered Juvia.

Immediately, she punched Gray three times at once and sent him back a few feet.

"I'm not quite sure how I'm doing this...but I think I'm going to be pretty effective at fist fighting from now on..." thought the water mage.

Unfortunately for Juvia, Gray decided that he wasn't going to try to fistfight her anymore.

Immediately, he created some ice weapons to help him fight back.

"Wow...he happens to be an ice mage...just like I'm a water mage...what a coincidence." thought Juvia.

"I won't let you capture Lucy!" exclaimed Gray, lunging towards Juvia.

"Huh? Right, of course. Drip drop, drip drop." answered the water mage.

"Why do you keep saying drip drop?" asked the ice mage curiously.

"It's a verbal tic." explained Juvia.

"I see..." nodded Gray.

Immediately, she tried to imprison her opponent in a bubble.

However, Gray was able to burst his way out using his ice sword.

He then began to try to freeze her solid.

However, Juvia countered by hitting Gray with a blast of water, causing him to lose concentration and causing the ice to begin to melt.

"I have to admit, we've proven ourselves to be equal opponents so far..." noted the ice mage.

Suddenly, Gray began to take his shirt off, causing Juvia to squeal.

"What?" asked the ice mage.

"Nothing! Nothing! Let's keep fighting! We've both got a mission to complete, do we not?" inquired Juvia.

"Yes, of course." nodded Gray.

Immediately, Juvia resumed trying to punch and kick Gray...though she didn't seem too enthuastic about it.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" inquired the ice mage.

"Um..." answered Juvia.

Immediately, Gray summoned some hail to rain on top of Juvia (each of which were about the size of a tennis ball)...but she countered using her umbrella.

"Juvia knew that this umbrella would come in handy one day." answered the water mage.

"I suppose it did." nodded Gray.

_Meanwhile..._

"How did I battle against Tayuya again? He seems to have a similar fighting style..." noted Shikamaru.

"You cannot defeat me! I am much smarter than you are! I plan on becoming a teacher one day" exclaimed Totomaru.

Immediately, the three demons began to shoot fireballs of their respective color at Shikamaru, hoping that one of them would hit.

"I'm rather smart for my age, actually..." answered the shadow ninja.

"Well, I'm still the older man here! You cannot win!" exclaimed Totomaru.

Suddenly, Shikamaru tossed a kunai at his face while he was distracted, which he narrowly dodged.

"You know, every time you say something like that...I get an opportunity to attack you." answered the shadow ninja.

Totomaru scowled.

"Don't interrupt me while I'm talking to you! I'm trying to teach you a lesson in respect!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"You don't have any respect for me..." answered Shikamaru as he prepared a paper bomb.

Immediately, he hit the three demons with the paper bomb, causing them to become momentarily stunned.

He then tried to grab Totomaru's shadow, who began trying to avoid being caught.

He managed to do so, though it wasn't an easy task.

"Ha! Close, but no cigar!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Yeah yeah yeah...this battle is such a drag..." answered Shikamaru.

"Then why don't you give up then?" inquired Totomaru.

"I've got a girl to save...and besides, she's rather attractive." said the shadow ninja.

"Is she your girlfriend?" asked the fire mage.

Shikamaru's cheeks turned red.

"No...at least, not yet." answered the shadow ninja.

"Keep attacking him! You're bound to hit him eventually!" exclaimed Totomaru.

"Can we reduce him to ashes?!" asked the red demon.

"That's a bit extreme...though I will allow you to burn him." answered the fire mage.

"Good to see you have standards..." noted Shikamaru.

"Can we make him cough and gag?" inquired the yellow demon.

"Why, yes you can..." nodded Totomaru.

Immediately, the yellow demon hit Shikamaru with a yellow fireball, causing him to do so.

"Ugh..." murmured the shadow ninja.

"Can we freeze him?" questioned the blue demon.

"If it will stop him in his tracks, then yes." nodded Totomaru.

Fortunately, Shikamaru was able to continue avoiding their attacks.

"Hold still, why don't you?" inquired the fire mage.

Once again, the shadow ninja tossed another paper bomb, but this time the demons were ready to avoid it.

"I guess they're rather smart...then again, they did learn from an evil genius..." noted Shikamaru.

This time, Totomaru decided to shoot a fireball of his own.

"Consider yourself flunked!" exclaimed the fire mage.

Immediately, he hurled a fireball at Shikamaru, knocking him off his feet and causing him to fall on the forest floor.

"Huh...this is the exact same forest we went into when we went to save Sasuke from the Sound Four...what a coincidence." answered the shadow ninja.

Could it be possibly that the Element 4 had become the interdimensional partners of the Sound Four? That would explain a lot.

Suddenly, the three demons jumped from the forest rooftops towards Shikamaru.

"I guess it's time to finish you three off..." answered the shadow ninja.

"Now we've gotcha!" exclaimed the red demon.

"I suggest that you surrender." answered the blue demon.

"You don't want some of my gas!" exclaimed the yellow demon.

Suddenly, Shikamaru remembered how he typically dealt with enemy summoners.

"Of course..." thought the shadow ninja as he prepared his shadow jutsu.

_Meanwhile..._

Aria immediately started his battle by shooting spider webbing at Natsu, who as before burned it easily.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to try a different tactic here..." answered the air mage.

Immediately, he turned into vapor and headed deeper into the forest.

"Maybe I could try attacking him from a distance? He does seem to be trying to pummel me with his fists..." noted the man.

He began to create his own kunai using some of his tears.

"I guess being so tearful is actually coming in handy this time." noted Aria.

"Where did he go?" inquired Natsu.

For a moment, he wondered if he had retreated.

"I guess I'll go look for Lucy then. She's waiting for me to be her hero!" answered the fire mage.

Suddenly, Aria tossed one of the kunai he had created at Natsu.

"Never mind." said Natsu.

He then followed by summoning spiders to attack the fire mage, which began to creep him out.

"Oh boy..." murmured the fire mage.

And to make matters worse, unlike Kidomaru's spiders, they had the ability to drain his magic.

Unfortunately, they kept on coming.

"I could do this all day..." spoke Aria.

"Ugh...my magic power...how am I going to fight without it?" questioned the fire mage.

Fortunately, he was able to burn them somewhat easily.

As Aria discovered, he in fact did not have all day. Natsu immediately tossed a fireball at him, which he narrowly avoided.

"How did he find me? I'd like to think I hid myself pretty well." answered the air mage.

Curious, he noticed that Natsu's eyes had mysteriously turned white, and the veins were quickly visible.

In retaliation, he dropped a spider web on top of Natsu.

He immediately tried to free himself with his fire magic...but unfortunately, it appeared that it was draining his magic to prevent that.

However, as he quickly discovered, Natsu had another way to break himself free from the spider webbing.

Immediately, he used his Gentle Fist to cut himself loose.

"I guess I have this to go along with my Byakugan...I wonder if I can use this to defeat Erza..." answered the fire mage.

Of course, he was going to have to defeat Aria first.

Once again, he began to summon another spider...that was somewhat bigger than the ones that he had fought earlier.

"Funny, I was expecting one that was giant..." noted the air mage.

"You'll have to ask my wife for that. She's a lot bigger than I am...then again, she's in a contract with another spider user..." said the male spider.

"Your name is?" inquired Aria.

"Jorogumo...you should be able to use me to drain the magic out of your opponent...just let me latch onto his face." answered Jorogumo.

"Sure." nodded the air mage.

Unsurprisingly, Jorogumo began to do so. He was rather fast.

"Get off me, you facehugger!" screamed Natsu.

Unfortunately, he was able to do exactly what he had told Aria earlier.

"I'm feeling...really tired..." murmured the fire mage.

A tear immediately left Aria's eye.

"This is so wonderful..." thought the air mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy frantically began to look for someone that could help her defeat the Element 4. From what she had seen, her friends could only hold them off for so very long.

But just who should she call for help? Granted, she could probably ask Lady Tsunade...

...but her office was rather far away.

"I might not have enough time to do so..." thought Lucy.

**"Looking for friends, are we? Good luck with that. I'm surprised anyone would want to be friends with you to be honest..." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"Why not?" asked Lucy.

**"Um, I'm not quite sure..." **answered Kurama.

"You need a new insult book." answered the summoner mage.

Kurama sighed. This was so much easier back when he was still in Naruto's body.

At that very moment, she saw the Sand Siblings.

"Bingo!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, they were busy sparring with each other. Apparently, they didn't stop their training for anything.

Except for a distress call.

"Listen, I need your help! My friends are in danger!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"Huh?" asked Gaara.

"They're under attack by the Element 4!" bellowed Lucy.

"Are they anything like the Sound Four?" asked Kankuro.

"Well, there are four of them...so yes." nodded the kunoichi.

"Then we should be able to handle them." answered Temari.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Gaara's tailed beast began to laugh.

**"Yes! Go out and spill some blood! I'm looking forward to it! Hahahahaha!" **laughed Shukaku.

"Is there someone laughing?" inquired Lucy.

"You can hear him too?" asked Gaara.

Kurama rolled his eyes. Shukaku was so obnoxious. Why did they have to be related?

"Maybe it has to do with my ability to summon animals...then again, tailed beasts appear to be my speciality." answered Lucy.

**"Got that right." **spoke Kurama.

**"Let's go spill some blood! Just don't let Kurama join in on the action...because quite frankly, he deserves to be sealed! Hohohoho!" **laughed Shukaku.

"Your tailed beast is a psychopath...and a troll." noted Lucy.

"I'm well aware of that." nodded Gaara.

"Good to see you've made a friend..." answered Temari.

"Let's get going. We don't have time to lose." nodded Kankuro.

Immediately, the foursome went to go help their friends.

_Meanwhile..._

"Makarov!" exclaimed Levy.

"What's the matter?" inquired the guildmaster.

"Phantom Lord's using a Jupiter Cannon against us!" bellowed the letter mage.

"What?!" screamed Makarov.

"We're going to get vaporized!" exclaimed Levy.

"We have to stop the cannon! Are you feeling better now that you've recovered from the beating Gajeel inflicted on you?" inquired the man.

"Yes, I have." nodded the letter mage.

"Good! I want you and Team Shadow Gear to destroy that cannon!" exclaimed Makarov.

Immediately, Levy went along with her teammates to stop the cannon.

Sure enough, it was beginning to fire.

Thankfully, Erza was able to intercept the blast using her Adamantite Armor.

However, she was left rather exhausted afterward.

"Erza! Are you OK?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes, I think so...that Jupiter Cannon is strong." noted Erza.

"It sure is..." nodded the genin.

Fortunately, Team Shadow Gear was working on destroying the cannon.

Immediately, Levy began to use some of her letter spells to damage the Jupiter Cannon.

This was followed by Droy and Jet using their magic to damage it as well.

However, the Jupiter Cannon was getting ready to fire for another attack.

"Hurry!" exclaimed Levy.

Jet nodded, and began to attack the Jupiter Cannon even faster.

Once again, the Jupiter Cannon fired a blast at the Fairy Tail base.

This time, Makarov intercepted the blast with his new Titan form.

However, Naruto got the feeling that he wouldn't be able to endure those blasts for long.

Nonetheless, he seemed a lot stronger than before now that Tsunade had made him younger.

"Hooray for Grandma Tsunade!" cheered Naruto.

At that very moment, they heard an explosion.

Team Shadow Gear had successfully destroyed the Jupiter Cannon.

"We did it!" exclaimed Levy.

"That'll teach them to beat us up..." answered Droy.

Gajeel rubbed his hand behind his head.

"Should we tell Master Jose that we're coming for him next?" inquired Jet.

"Perhaps." nodded Levy.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, that earth golem wasn't as tough as he looked...but what why is he wearing a top hat and a monocle?" questioned Choji.

Immediately, the earth golem began to dissolve into mud.

"Now all that's left now is the French mage himself..." answered Choji.

Shrugging, he decided to resume his search for Monsieur Sol.

"Madame Lucy? Vhere are you?" inquired the earth mage.

Curious, he began to wonder if he should try searching for his comrades as well.

However, he could not seem to find any of them.

"Vhere did zhey all wonder off to?" inquired Monsieur Sol.

At that very moment, Choji began to attack him again.

"Sacre bleu! You defeated my earth golem!" bellowed the earth mage.

"Yes, I did." nodded Choji.

"No matter. It is time for my trump card! You've asked for zis, gros garcon!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

"You said I was a fat boy in French, didn't you?" inquired Choji.

The earth mage nodded.

Immediately, Choji lunged towards Monsieur Sol.

However, he quickly found himself unable to move.

Curious, he looked down, and discovered that he was slowly turning to stone, causing him to scream.

"Hahaha! In just a few minutes from now, you shall become a living statue! Bonjour, gros garcon!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

"What am I going to do?" asked Choji.

To add insult to injury, he was now experiencing hallucinations where people that he knew called him fat.

"This is the worst mission ever..." answered the fat boy.

"Right zhen...let's just sit back and watch ze show..." spoke Monsieur Sol.

_Meanwhile..._

At this point, Gray and Juvia were both feeling rather exhausted. For a while now they had been trading blow from blow, without too much success.

Eventually, Gray decided to give it his all in one last attack.

Immediately, he placed ice over his forearms...

...and made some enormous ice blades.

"Oh boy..." murmured Juvia.

He then followed by using his ice blades to slash Juvia seven times...

...only for her to counter with a Rashomon gate, much to both mages' surprise.

Oddly enough, unlike Sakon and Ukon's Rashomon gate, the gate was blue and had a picture of what appeared to be an Atlantean king on it.

"Look at the size of that thing..." murmured Gray.

As soon as Gray slashed for the seventh time, the Rashomon gate collapsed. Both combatants were left heavily exhausted.

"You know...maybe we could try to compromise...maybe we could sign a peace treaty between our guilds..." answered Juvia.

"I don't think Master Jose is going to do that..." spoke Gray.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" inquired the water mage.

"I suppose..." answered the ice mage.

"What is your name?" asked Juvia.

"It's Gray...your name is Juvia, is it not?" inquired Gray.

Juvia nodded.

"Pleased to meet you." said the ice mage.

However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed a voice.

"Huh?" asked Gray.

Suddenly, a throwing spear pierced the ice mage through the abdomen.

"Gah!" bellowed the ice mage.

"Gray!" screamed Juvia.

As it turned out, it was none other than Takeshi. He apparently wanted revenge on Gray for the way he had treated him earlier.

Suddenly, much to her surprise, she began stuffing Gray inside her body.

"What are y-"

Gray's injuries then began to gradually heal.

"How are you doing this?" asked the ice mage.

"I don't know...I've never done this before." answered Juvia.

"Well, at least it appears to be a decent healing technique...I'm not too comfortable about being in another person's body though..." spoke Gray.

"At least we can get healed, right?" inquired the water mage.

Suddenly, Takeshi punched Juvia in the face.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Juvia and Gray in unison.

Unfortunately, it appeared that any damage that Juvia suffered while Gray was still in her body would affect him as well.

And since Gray was still healing, he was going to have to remain in Juvia's body so that he could recover.

"I'm going to kill you too!" bellowed Takeshi, pulling out an axe.

And to make matters worse, Juvia was still exhausted from her battle with Gray, and vice versa. They didn't have any real way of defending themselves.

Finally, Takeshi could now create shadow clones of himself.

"We're going to kill you!" bellowed the shadow clones in unison.

Immediately, Juvia began to flee, transforming herself into water along with Gray.

Thankfully, there was a river nearby that they could use to hide themselves.

Of course, Takeshi was going to be rather persistent in pursuing them.

Immediately, he pulled out a chainsaw.

"Here I come!" exclaimed the psychopath.

_Meanwhile..._

"You're outnumbered! Surrender!" bellowed Totomaru.

"Actually, I think you're outnumbered now." answered Shikamaru.

"Huh?" inquired the fire mage.

Suddenly, the three demons began to toss fireballs at him instead.

"Why are you betraying me?!" exclaimed the Phantom Lord mage.

As it turned out, Shikamaru had used his shadow technique to turn the three demons against their master.

"We're sorry, master! We can't control ourselves!" bellowed the red demon.

"What did he do to us?" asked the yellow demon.

"This might be the end of line for you." noted the blue demon.

"Is there any way I can dismiss you three? I'd really appreciate it right about now..." answered Totomaru as he narrowly avoided the fireballs.

"Try performing a hand seal." suggested the blue demon.

Totomaru nodded, and the three demons disappeared.

"Well then...I guess it's just you and I! It's time for you to face the music!" exclaimed Totomaru.

Immediately, he began to play music on his flute.

Shikamaru covered his ears, knowing what he was trying to do.

"You can't cover your ears forever..." noted Totomaru as he continued playing.

Suddenly, Shikamaru latched onto his shadow.

"Huh?" inquired the fire mage.

He then proceeded to try to strangle him with his shadow jutsu.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, Totomaru managed to break free, and this time, he successfully trapped the shadow ninja in his genjutsu.

Oddly enough, the chains surrounding his body happened to be red, blue, and yellow in color to go along with Totomaru's rainbow theme.

Totomaru then walked up to Shikamaru.

"See? What did I tell you? You cannot defeat me! I'm a much older man than you are!" exclaimed Totomaru.

Suddenly, Shikamaru grabbed him by the shadow once more.

"What?" inquired the fire mage.

"I broke my finger with my shadow jutsu...again." answered the shadow ninja.

Once again, Shikamaru began to try to strangle Totomaru.

"Just a few more feet before I can reach your neck..." said the teenage boy.

Totomaru gulped.

_Meanwhile..._

Fortunately for Natsu, he was able to defeat the male spider without getting too much magic out of him.

Nonetheless, he was starting to feel tired. This battle was starting to take his toll on him.

Then again, he had been fighting Aria for a while now.

"This magic absorption ability of his is going to be the death of me..." murmured Natsu.

Suddenly, Aria began to create a bow and arrow to attack him with.

"Let's see if I can hit him in the head..." spoke the air mage.

Unfortunately, he missed...because of a tree.

Aria facepalmed.

Fortunately, he had a way to counter that. He immediately blew away the trees in the area (with the exception of the one he was standing on), causing one to nearly fall on Natsu as he did so.

"Look what you did to the environment!" screamed Natsu. Despite being a fire user, he hated it when someone chopped down a forest just for a thrill.

Immediately, Aria began to cry.

"It's OK...I'm sure that we can undo the damage eventually...though admittedly it will take a long time." answered the fire mage.

Unfortunately, as it turned out...he was using his tears to make an even bigger arrow.

"Uh-oh..." murmured Natsu.

Immediately, he found himself pierced in the shoulder.

"Gah!" screamed the fire mage.

Aria began to cry once again.

He then followed up by hitting Natsu with an airspace, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"My magic...ugh..." answered the fire mage.

Unfortunately, without his magic, he did not have the ability to use fire.

And to make matters worse, his Byakugan had used up much of his chakra.

Aria at this point was about to cry his head off. His airspace had worked! It looked like had won today.

"Well, now to get the girl." said the air mage.

Immediately, he left to go search for Lucy, leaving Natsu behind.

"Surely she can't be too far from here..." noted Aria.

As he did so, he failed to notice that Natsu was slowly flaring up again.

_Meanwhile..._

Chiyoye happily admired the results of her actions. It appeared that there were no survivors.

"I guess it's time for me to leave and-"

Suddenly, she noticed that there were four people that she had not caught yet.

By the looks of it, they were rather powerful...and yet very young.

Chiyoye smiled. These were the exact kind of victims that she wanted!

Immediately, she began to approach them.

"Just a few more minutes until we can get Kimimaro to assist us..." noted Sakon.

"Finally! This is taking forever!" exclaimed Tayuya.

"I'm bored..." answered Kidomaru.

"I'm hungry..." murmured Jirobo.

Suddenly, they noticed Chiyoye was standing a few feet away from them. They immediately began to raise their eyebrows.

"Huh? What do you want?" inquired Sakon.

"Can't you see we're busy?!" exclaimed Tayuya.

Kidomaru scratched his head. What was she doing here?

Immediately, a black fireball appeared in her hand.

She then tossed it at the Sound Four, causing them to jump out of the way.

"Picking a fight with us? Big mistake." answered Jirobo.

Immediately, the four began to activate the second stage of their cursed seals.

As they did so, Chiyoye began to smile.

"Perfect...they're even stronger than I thought." said the necromanceress.

Immediately, she began to cast another spell.

"How about some lightning!" exclaimed Chiyoye, charging electricity in her hands.

She then launched the electricity at the four once again.

"Hmm...it seems that she's stronger than she looks..." noted Sakon.

"Oh well! More fun for us!" exclaimed Kidomaru.

"Yes...more fun..." answered Tayuya.

_Meanwhile..._

"You'll look lovely as a statue! I'm going to put you in ze center of my garden!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

"Oh no..." murmured Choji.

At this point, he was almost completely transformed.

"Bonjour!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

However, at that very moment, Gaara suddenly attacked him.

"What in ze world?!" exclaimed Monsieur Sol.

Fortunately, this caused Choji to turn back to normal.

"Thanks for help..." answered the Akimichi clan member.

Immediately, Gaara then followed with a sand tidal wave.

"Aah!" screamed the sand mage.

He promptly began to retreat. Apparently, he did not want to deal with a sand user that powerful.

"Where is he going?" inquired Gaara.

"Back to his master, I suppose." answered Choji.

"You think we'll be ready if he comes back?" asked the sand ninja.

"I imagine so." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

**"Wasn't he a coward?" **inquired Shukaku.

"Yes, he was." answered Gaara.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Choji.

"Oh, just my tailed beast...he's been living inside me forever..." spoke the sand ninja.

"Oh, right. Of course." nodded the chubby teenager.

"Oddly enough I just met a girl that can understand what my tailed beast is saying...then again, she happens to have a tailed beast as well, so maybe that's not too surprising." answered Gaara.

"Did you now?" inquired Choji.

"Yes...speaking of which, I don't think she's too far from me...she wanted to help Shikamaru, I believe." answered Gaara.

"That's awfully sweet of her..." noted the chubby boy.

"Well, I guess we can get going now...they're not going to try capturing Lucy again if Tsunade has anything to say about it." answered Gaara.

"Yes, of course!" nodded Choji.

"There's a fast food restaurant right over there." said the sand ninja, pointing to the right.

Choji happily went to go eat some fast food to support his jutsu.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Juvia, she wasn't able to get too far before collapsing from exhaustion. She had used up most of her magic power during her battle with Gray.

"Did we...lose him?" inquired Juvia.

"I...think so." answered Gray.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi, jumping from a nearby bush.

"Never mind." spoke Gray.

Fortunately, at that very moment, someone showed up to bail the duo out of their current situation.

It was none other than Kankuro, who was wielding his puppets.

Immediately, he trapped Takeshi inside the Black Ant.

Juvia and Gray let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness...he was about to kill us..." said the water mage.

"I could see that." nodded Kankuro.

"Let me out and I'll kill you!" screamed Takeshi.

"Don't you mean or?" asked Gray.

"Let me out or I'll kill you!" bellowed the psychopath.

"That's better." answered Kankuro.

"What should we do with him?" asked Juvia.

"I say we take him to jail where he belongs..." suggested Gray.

"Alright then." nodded the puppetmaster.

Immediately, Kankuro began to take Takeshi (along with Juvia and Gray) back to Konoha.

"Wait, wasn't there supposed to be only one of you? I don't remember Lucy telling us about there being a duo..." said Kankuro.

"She saved my life...so I owe her a life debt." answered the ice mage.

"Yes, it's true..." nodded Juvia as she released Gray from her body.

"Wait, are you still part of Phantom Lord?" inquired Gray.

Juvia raised an eyebrow. It looked like she had a decision to make.

After much deliberation...

...she decided that she wanted to join the Konoha forces. They did save her life, didn't they? Just like she managed to save Gray.

She should really try returning the favor.

"I think it's time for me to take a career change...I hope that the rest of the Element 4 don't mind..." answered Juvia.

"Phantom Lord's probably going to get disbanded anyway...I don't think that the wizard council is going to be too happy with them for what they did to our guild." spoke Gray.

"True..." nodded the water mage.

Immediately, the trio headed towards Konoha.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, he once again did not have the chakra to complete the shadow strangle jutsu.

Gradually, it began to wear off.

"Not again..." murmured the shadow ninja.

Was someone going to save him again? He had to admit, he might not be so lucky this time.

Fortunately, as it turned out, there was somebody ready to help him.

However, it wasn't who he was expecting.

"Lucy, is that you?" inquired Shikamaru.

Totomaru gasped. It was none other than the girl that he wanted to capture.

"Well, since you were the one that assembled a rescue team to save my skin...I decided to assemble a rescue team of my own..." answered Lucy.

"Did you now?" asked the shadow ninja.

"I figured you needed some help dealing with these four...so I brought some friends!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"I see." nodded the teen genius.

"Since you were the leader of the rescue team...I figured I'd give you a hand..." said Lucy.

Suddenly, Shikamaru noticed that Lucy was wearing her pink tube top and shorts again.

"What happened to your ninja outfit?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Oh, that? It's at the cleaners at the moment..." explained Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Shikamaru was staring at her torso when she said that.

Immediately, she began to summon some beavers to help attack Totomaru.

However, much to her surprise, rather than attack the fire mage, they instead dropped a tree on top of him.

The tree immediately crushed Totomaru as he screamed in horror.

"That works too, I suppose." answered Lucy.

"So, you want to go back home now?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Lead the way." nodded the summoner mage.

Immediately, Shikamaru lead Lucy out of the forest.

As they did so, they failed to notice Totomaru limping his way towards the interdimensional portal.

_Meanwhile..._

Aria happily searched the forest, hoping that he would find Lucy...

...only to find Temari instead.

"Can I help you?" inquired the air mage.

Temari immediately pulled out her fan.

"Huh?" asked Aria.

Immediately, she began to blow Aria away.

In retaliation, he hit Temari with an airspace...

...but due to the fact that she was a ninja rather than a mage, this didn't hurt her too much.

"Funny...I was expecting that attack to do a bit more..." answered Temari.

Aria let out a sigh. It usually worked on mages.

Once again, she began to blow Aria away.

This time, he decided to retreat back to the interdimensional portal. He wasn't liking his chances against Temari, considering that she was resistant to his airspaces.

She then went to help Natsu, who was still recovering from his battle earlier.

"Are you OK?" asked Temari.

"Yes, I am." nodded Natsu as he helped himself to his feet.

"A friend of yours wanted me to check on you." explained the wind user.

"Was it Lucy?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes, it was. Why do you ask?" inquired Temari.

"Hooray for Lucy!" cheered the fire mage.

"Yes...hooray for Lucy, I suppose." nodded the sand sibling.

Immediately, she escorted Natsu back to Konoha.

"Are we all done here?" thought the fire mage.

Hopefully they would be able to wrap things up...it had been a rather long day.

But at least they managed to rescue Lucy...and she had managed to rescue them in return.

Nonetheless, he got the feeling that he was going to have to face stronger opponents in the near future.

Then again, he did like a challenge...though admittedly it would still take some time before he regained all of his self-confidence.

Until then, he was simply content to relax.

_Meanwhile..._

Jirobo tossed a boulder at Chiyoye, who narrowly avoided it.

This was then followed by Kidomaru shooting spider webbing, which she avoided as well.

Tayuya began to sing, but she covered her ears.

Shrugging, Jirobo and Sakon &amp; Ukon decided to lunge towards her, hoping that they could beat her into submission with their bare hands.

This would prove to be their last mistake.

Suddenly, Chiyoye grabbed onto them by their arms.

"Hmm?" inquired Jirobo.

"What are you-" asked Sakon.

Immediately, Chiyoye began to drain the life out of them, causing them to scream in pain and revert back to their original forms in the process.

She then let go of their arms, causing their bodies to collapse on the floor.

"Jirobo!" screamed Tayuya.

"Sakon and Ukon!" bellowed Kidomaru.

Chiyoye began to approach them as well.

"What do we do?" asked the spider man.

"Keep shooting! Finish what we started!" ordered Tayuya.

Tayuya and Kidomaru began to attack Chiyoye once more.

Suddenly, she stopped walking towards them, and stretched out her hand in front of her.

"Huh?" asked Kidomaru.

"What is she doing?" inquired Tayuya.

Suddenly, Kidomaru felt something grab his ankle. He looked down, and screamed in horror.

A horde of zombies was emerging from the ground!

Unfortunately, it was already too late for him and Tayuya. The zombies immediately began to devour their flesh, causing them to scream in pain and in terror as they began to revert back to their original forms, much like Jirobo and Sakon &amp; Ukon before them.

"Ha! That was too easy!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Nonetheless, she was feeling much stronger than before.

"Well, I won't have to worry so much about Fairy Tail anymore..." noted the mage.

Once again, she began to take her leave.

_Meanwhile..._

Levy got back from her mission to destroy the Jupiter Cannon. She was rather satisfied as to how well it had gone.

However, she suddenly noticed that Mirajane had a rather worried look on her face.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the letter mage.

"Chiyoye just received a drastic power boost!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"What?" asked Levy.

Curious, she looked into the crystal ball indicating Chiyoye's power...and discovered that the mana had turned green.

She immediately turned to the crystal ball guide, and discovered that the mana was color-coded for their convenience.

Apparently, Chiyoye had moved up a level when it came to magic.

"This isn't good..." murmured the letter mage.

Hopefully, she could be stopped before the mana in the crystal ball changed color again. According to the guide, yellow was up next.

If the mana in that crystal ball turned black, then not even the entirety of Fairy Tail may be enough to stop her.

"We need to catch her fast!" exclaimed Levy.

Immediately, she began to wonder where she had gotten such a significant power boost. Granted, she was probably harvesting innocent people like cattle as she pondered, but it seemed rather sudden.

Sighing, she decided to turn back to the matter at hand.

"We have to stop Phantom Lord at all costs!" exclaimed Levy.

Immediately, she went to reenter the battlefield.

_Oh no! Chiyoye has successfully slain the Sound Four and has inherited their abilities! She's going to be a lot stronger from now on...I can tell you that._

_But do you remember who they were summoning? Hopefully, he will be able to stop Chiyoye from slaying anyone else._

_In the next chapter, there's going to be more bloodshed...I'm sorry to say. This time, Kenichi is going to be responsible._


	22. Chapter 22: Fall Of Phantom Lord

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, we're going to see the end of Phantom Lord...as something bad is going to happen to the remaining Element 4 members..._

_Oh, and Kimimaro is going to be dueling Chiyoye. I hope you enjoy!_

**Chapter 22: Fall Of Phantom Lord**

Totomaru, Monsieur Sol, and Aria were all very unhappy. They had failed in their mission...not only that, they did not where Juvia was.

Where had she gone?

Aria began to cry.

"It looks like we're going to have to tell our master the bad news." noted Aria.

"Zis vas a disaster..." noted Monsieur Sol.

"Are we going to make it out in one piece after we go talk to him?" inquired Totomaru.

"Probably not." nodded Aria.

However, at that very moment, they began to hear the sounds of wings flapping.

"Huh? Is that you?" asked Totomaru.

"It is not moi." answered Monsieur Sol.

"It's not me either." spoke Aria.

Curious, they noticed that there was a shadow on the ground. Apparently, whoever that was was above them.

They looked up, and gasped in surprise.

It was a man riding a dragon.

As it turned out, the man riding the dragon had noticed them as well.

It was none other than Kenichi.

Immediately, he began to scan the trio with his Rinnegan.

Much to his surprise, he found that they had an energy source other than chakra flowing inside them.

"Interesting..." thought the ninja. He had never seen this before.

However, from what he could tell, they were still far less powerful than himself...

...and he launched his attack.

Immediately, Kaishi began to breathe fire as he flew towards the trio, burning the landscape in the process.

"Run!" bellowed Totomaru.

Fortunately for Monsieur Sol and Aria, they were able to avoid the dragon's breath.

Unfortunately for Totomaru, the dragon was too fast for him, and he was caught in his fire breath.

"Aah!" screamed Totomaru as he was burned alive.

"Totomaru!" bellowed Aria.

"I can't believe zis...he killed him!" bellowed Monsieur Sol.

This was then followed by Kenichi lowering his dragon so that he could devour Monsieur Sol.

Desperate, he used his earth dome technique to try to protect himself.

Unfortuantely, Kenichi was able to cut directly through the front of the dome even with its regeneration abilities intact with his metallic claw, forcing Monsieur Sol to dispel the jutsu.

This was then followed by Kaishi devouring him as he screamed in horror.

Aria gasped in shock. In just a few minutes, this mysterious man had already wiped out two of his comrades!

Getting desperate, he removed his blindfold and began to attack Kenichi with some airspaces.

If Kenichi were a mage, this likely would have killed him right then and there.

Unfortunately for Aria, due to the fact that Kenichi was a ninja, this did not hurt him much, though this did knock him off his dragon.

Scowling at the air mage, he approached him...

...and ripped him in half at the waist. Blood leaked out of his mouth as he perished.

"I have to wonder...what exactly did they have? They had a source of power that I was not familiar with..." noted Kenichi.

Suddenly, he noticed that there was a portal nearby...that apparently lead to another world.

"Interesting..." spoke the ninja.

Curious, he began to enter the portal. Hopefully he would be able to find more victims there.

Personally, he was a bit surprised that there was more than one world in the universe...but no matter. It was originally his mission to rid the world of the weak...but he was perfectly happy to purge them both.

However, he was quickly noticed by Master Jose, who at that point was starting to wonder what was taking the Element 4 so long.

"Hmm? Are they coming back now?" inquired the master.

Immediately, he began to feel rather enthuastic.

However, Boze and Sue did not share this enthusiasm.

In fact, they seemed rather worried. They sensed something...evil emerging from the portal.

"Close the portal!" demanded Boze.

"What? But the Element 4 are finally returning! Why should we close the portal now?" inquired Master Jose.

"It's not the Element 4! It's something horrific! I don't want it anywhere near us!" screamed Sue.

Curious, he noticed that there was a claw emerging from the portal...and realized that he was right.

"Fine! No need to panic..." answered Master Jose as he began to close the portal.

To make a long story short, Kenichi was ejected from the interdimensional portal and found himself back in the world of ninja.

"I might have to search for another one of these...this other world intrigues me." noted the ninja.

For now, he decided that he should continue what he started. He was about to head to another clan to eradicate it, anyway.

Immediately, he leaped back onto his dragon and flew into the sky.

As he did so, he began to flashback to the first clan he had killed, which was his own.

_"Isn't this great, brother?" inquired Ayumu._

_As it turned out, they had both gone into the wilderness so that they could spend some time together._

_His parents, as it turned out, had left him alone with him so that they could spent some quality bonding._

_However, Kenichi had another idea in mind._

_"Huh? Is something the matter, brother?" inquired Ayumu._

_Immediately, he raised a kunai above his head._

_"Brother, what are you doing? Stop!" exclaimed the boy._

_Immediately, he began to stab his brother to death with the kunai._

_"You don't belong in this world, brother. I can't believe we're even related! Why am I even calling you brother? Consider our family tree weeded." spoke the teenager._

_"Brot...her..." murmured Ayumu as he passed away._

_Kenichi began to chuckle. His useless brother was finally gone!_

_Surely nobody would miss him, right? From what he recalled, his clan liked making fun of him._

_Wiping the blood off from the kunai, he threw it in the trash._

_"There...hopefully now nobody will know who did this to him..." answered Kenichi._

_Of course, they were inevitably going to discover the body._

_Meanwhile..._

As Chiyoye was getting ready to leave, she suddenly noticed that someone else was there.

"Hmm?" inquired the necromanceress.

As it turned out, Kimimaro had been successfully summoned.

"Yes? You rang?" inquired the Kaguya clan member.

Curious, he looked around, and gasped in shock.

The Sound Four had been completely wiped out!

"What the hell happened here?!" exclaimed Kimimaro.

"Admiring my handiwork?" inquired Chiyoye.

Kimimaro gasped in shock.

Curious, he turned around, and discovered who had done this to his squad.

"You...you did this?" asked the bone ninja.

He had to admit...despite the people that he had killed in the name of Orochimaru...he still felt somewhat sickened by what had happened to them.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. And you're next." answered Chiyoye.

At that very moment, the sorceress approached him and grabbed him by the chest before he could react.

However, she then realized something, and suddenly let go.

"What's this? It appears that you have a terminal illness." spoke Chiyoye.

"Yes...I've had it for quite some time now...it actually almost killed me once." nodded Kimimaro.

"Well then...I'm sorry to say it, but I won't be able to drain the life out of you then. Wouldn't want that in my bloodstream." answered the necromanceress.

"Wait, what?" inquired the bone ninja.

"No matter. I guess I'll just test out my new abilities on you and be on it." answered Chiyoye.

"Your new abilities?" asked the last member of the Kaguya clan.

"Thanks to my life-draining ability, I've managed to inherit the abilities of your deceased friends...I have to admit, they're quite a display." spoke the sorceress.

"You killed them just so you could make yourself more powerful?!" exclaimed Kimimaro.

"As a matter of fact, yes I did...and they weren't my first victims, I can tell you that." answered Chiyoye.

"Who were your first victims?" inquired Kimimaro.

"My own village..." spoke the sorceress.

"What?!" exclaimed the bone ninja.

_"I can't believe so many people have gone missing lately..." answered Chiyoye's father._

_"What could have happened to them?" inquired Chiyoye's mother._

_"If this keeps up, we might have to pack up and move out of town..." noted the man._

_"I sure hope that it doesn't come to that...are the police investigating the disappearances?" inquired the woman._

_"They are, but they're starting to disappear too...and there doesn't seem to any real pattern in the disappearances...it's as if they're targetting everyone in town..." spoke Chiyoye's father._

_"I heard that many of these victims have been eaten...when did this start again?" answered Chiyoye's mother._

_"About three years ago." explained the man._

_As they continued discussing the subject, they failed to notice that Chiyoye was listening in with her ear next to the wall._

_She began to giggle. Nobody suspected that she was responsible for the disappearances...not even her own parents!_

_Granted, killing the gravedigger was rather satisfying, but she had eventually decided that she should do more than that. She wanted to do it again...and again...and again._

_And so she did. She was feeling very excited indeed. She was actually having a hard time sleeping._

_Here she was, a seven-year-girl...and already she had killed no less than a dozen victims._

_And to make things even better, she was getting better at necromancy all the time._

_Soon she would be able to create her own army of zombies._

_But she wasn't looking forward to having to move away. Maybe she should lay low for a bit and let things quiet down before she struck again? That way she could continue her killing spree uninterrupted._

_Then again, if she moved away, she would be able to find more people to kill._

_Oddly, she recalled an incident where she had ended up draining the life from a man by touching him...it made her feel much stronger._

_Maybe she should try that again sometime?_

_At that very moment, she began to go to bed._

_"I'm looking forward to tomorrow!" exclaimed Chiyoye._

"You're sick..." answered Kimimaro.

"I could say the same to you...heh heh." spoke Chiyoye.

Immediately, he pulled a bone out of his torso and began to use it as a sword.

"Mission or no mission, I cannot allow you to kill any more people!" exclaimed Kimimaro.

"You're trying to stop me? I was going to kill you anyway, so I suppose you might as well." answered Chiyoye.

Immediately, she summoned a boulder and began to fling it towards the bone ninja.

Thankfully, he was able to smash it into rubble before it could cause him physical harm.

She then followed by summoning an earth golem.

As she did so, she decided to use her magic to twist it to her liking.

As Kimimaro discovered, the golem was now made of obsidian instead of earth.

"There! Now it's stronger than ever..." answered Chiyoye.

Immediately, she used the obsidian golem to attack Kimimaro.

Fortunately, he was able to destroy it somewhat easily.

However, Chiyoye did not seem too phased.

"Not bad! I had to admit, those friends of you were a big disappointment...I slew them easily." noted the sorceress.

"I'll have you know that I'm stronger than the four of them combined." answered Kimimaro.

"Are you now? Good, I want a challenge for a change...destroying this town was so easily that it actually got boring after a while...the most fun I had was with that police chief." spoke Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to wrap up the bone ninja with spider webbing...which he cut through somewhat easily by producing bones from his body.

She also tried shooting him with a bow and arrow, but he avoided it by several inches.

"Let's try another summon..." answered Chiyoye.

Pressing her hand on the ground, she summoned another creature.

This time, it was Kyodaigumo...who seemed rather surprised that Kidomaru did not summon her.

Once again, she decided to give her new summon an upgrade.

Immediately, what appeared to be a deadly poison began to flow through her mandibles.

"You had better not get bitten...it's not going to end well if you do, I can promise you that..." answered the sorceress.

Fortunately for Kimimaro, he did not get bitten, and he was able to slay the giant spider with his sword.

"Alright then...let's just another summon." said Chiyoye.

This time, she summoned her three Doki, who like Kyodaigumo seemed rather surprised at the occurrence.

"What happened to our old mistress?" inquired one of the Doki.

"Your old mistress is dead now. I am your new mistress." explained Chiyoye.

The three Doki scratched their heads.

Once again, Chiyoye used her magic to give them an upgrade. Immediately, she wrapped them up in bandages, causing them to resemble mummies.

"There we go! This should help protect you from his sword strikes...they're perfectly regenerable..." answered the sorceress.

However, Kimimaro was still able to defeat the Doki even with this upgrade.

She then followed by summoning a flute to use Tayuya's genjutsu, but Kimimaro knocked it out of her hand.

"There's just one of your friend's abilities left to try out..." answered Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to lunge towards Kimimaro with her fist, creating two more arms made of decaying flesh in the process.

However, Kimimaro produced spikes from his body, forcing her to stay back.

"You have a counter for everything, don't you? Alright then...why don't you try attacking for a change?" inquired Chiyoye.

Immediately, Kimimaro lunged towards Chiyoye with her sword, which she blocked using her Rashomon.

She strengthened the metal gate with her magic in the process, causing an enormous skull to appear on it.

However, Kimimaro still destroyed it afterward.

He then swung his sword at Chiyoye, only for her to teleport away.

"Well well well. It looks like the abilities of your friends aren't going to be enough for me to take you down. No matter, I've also been dying to test out these new spells in my spellbook." spoke the sorceress.

"Spellbook?" thought Kimimaro. Where was he?

Immediately, she began to attack Kimimaro with lightning, followed by some fireballs, both of which he avoided.

However, she then followed by summoning a giant, decaying hand to grab onto Kimimaro.

This time, he barely avoided that attack.

"Heh heh heh...once I get strong enough, I'll be able to summon the entire zombie! And what a big zombie he will be..." answered Chiyoye.

Kimimaro began to feel rather nervous. That hand was rather large enough as it was.

Realizing that he was facing a dangerous opponent, he began to activate the first stage of his cursed seal.

"Funny...that's what your friends did when they fought against me...it didn't do them any favors! Ha!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Kimimaro began to growl at the sorceress. The more he spoke to her, the more repulsed of her she became.

Personally, he was starting to consider her to be the worst person that he had ever met.

Then again, considering how much she loved to kill others, that wasn't much of a surprise.

"Let's see how you deal with some of my friends, shall we?" inquired Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to summon some zombies to attack Kimimaro.

Frantically, he began trying to cut them away with his swords. Fortunately, as he knew from experience, he was capable of holding his own against many opponents at once.

However, they did not simply disappear in one hit as was the case with Naruto's clones. They in fact were rather resistant to damage, and they kept on coming towards him.

And to make matters worse, Chiyoye was summoning more undead to assist her.

"This is going to be a long fight." he thought.

Immediately, he lunged towards the zombies.

Chiyoye had to be stopped...

...no matter the cost.

_Meanwhile..._

"Who was that?" inquired Master Jose. He had to admit, he was mildly disturbed by the evil energy that he had sensed when that mysterious entity started emerging from the interdimensional portal.

Curious, he noticed that blood had leaked from the interdimensional portal in the process. Apparently, it had killed someone a few minutes ago.

But it was gone now. He had nothing to worry about, and he could continue his attack on Fairy Tail interrupted.

"Is there any particular reason you're here?" inquired the magician.

"The Jupiter Cannon has been destroyed!" exclaimed Boze.

"Team Shadow Gear destroyed it in retaliation for you having them beaten earlier..." explained Sue.

"What?! Impossible!" bellowed Master Jose.

"Yes...what do you want us to do now? Personally I think we should surre-"

Boze was suddenly interrupted.

"We are not surrendering!" exclaimed the shadow mage.

"What? Don't you think this has gone on long e-"

Sue was suddenly interrupted as well.

"I will not rest until Fairy Tail is destroyed! It is time for us to bring out our ultimate weapon!" bellowed Master Jose.

"Our ultimate weapon?" inquired Boze.

"You know the one." answered the shadow mage.

"Oh right...we're going to transform our guild base into a giant...wait, don't we need the Element 4 to do that?" questioned Sue.

"We don't need anyone else. I'm going to manage the giant myself!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"Really? You've never done so before..." answered the male mage.

"There's a first time for everything." answered the leader of Phantom Lord.

Immediately, the guild base began to transform into a mecha.

"Let's see Fairy Tail try to stop me now!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"Right, of course..." nodded Sue.

"Of course..." answered Boze nervously.

Immediately, the Phantom Lord mages exited the guild hall for their last stand against Fairy Tail, Boze and Sue included.

"It's a shame that I never managed to get my hands on the girl...but no matter! That was just going to be the icing on the cake...and I can always try again later." answered Master Jose.

He began to direct the giant towards the Fairy Tail guild base.

_Meanwhile..._

"Thank goodness that Jupiter Cannon got destroyed...I didn't want it to hurt anyone here..." answered Naruto.

Erza let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you going to be OK, Erza? That cannon really took the breath of you." noted the genin.

"I think I'll be fine, thank you." answered Erza as she helped herself to her feet.

Immediately, she began to change back to her normal clothes.

"Do you think it's over?" inquired Naruto.

"I'm not sure that they'll be able to keep fighting after that...so yes." nodded Erza.

"Really? You sure?" asked the genin.

"Well, we have some lookouts just in case." answered Erza.

Immediately, she pointed towards Alzack and Bisca.

"I see that we're still recruiting..." noted Naruto.

"Yes, we are." nodded the knight.

Immediately, the genin pulled out a book.

"What is that?" inquired Erza.

"Oh, it's a book my master Jiraiya wrote...he said that he wanted me to have one of these...even though I'm not really into erotic novels. He even autographed mine." answered Naruto.

"Did you say erotic?" asked the knight.

"Yes, why do you ask?" inquired Naruto.

"Mind if I have that book for a few minutes?" asked Erza.

"Um, sure." nodded the genin as he handed the book to his friend.

"Wow...this book is great...is this part of a series?" answered the knight as she flipped through the pages.

"It sure is." nodded Naruto.

"If we ever get the interdimensional portal running again...you should show me where I could get those sometime..." answered Erza.

"Really? I didn't know you were a fan of novels like these..." noted the genin.

"I guess it can be just between us...though Lucy already knows about it..." spoke Erza.

"While you're at it, you might want to introduce yourself to Jiraiya...he really likes attractive females...he might give you his autograph too." noted Naruto.

"You think he'll like my seductress armor?" asked Erza.

Naruto's face turned red.

"Um...of course he will! I know that he loves my Sexy Jutsu..." exclaimed the genin.

"I imagine he would." nodded Erza.

Immediately, Naruto left Erza alone to continue reading the novel.

"Aren't they a cute couple?" thought the knight.

_Meanwhile..._

Gray knocked on the door to Tsunade's office.

"Let him in." answered the Sannin.

Sure enough, she was standing in the office along with Shizune, the latter of which had opened the door.

"We've got someone that would like to join your forces..." said Gray.

"Really? Who is it?" inquired Tsunade.

Juvia raised her hand.

"Is there a particular reason you're recommending her to us?" asked the Sannin.

"Well, she did save my life..." answered the ice mage.

"She did?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes, she did...Kankuro managed to save her life in return...which is why she volunteered." answered Gray.

"Well, when you put it that way...I suppose she can join us." spoke Tsunade.

"Yes!" cheered Juvia.

"Just let us test out her abilities first...and while you're at it, I was thinking that you would wnat some training." answered the Sannin.

"How come?" inquired Gray.

"Since you're interdimensional partners with my apprentice Sakura...I figured this would be a good idea." nodded Tsunade.

"Interdimensional partners?" inquired Shizune.

"It's been happening an awful lot lately..." noted the Sannin.

"Alright then." nodded Gray.

However, at that very moment, a scout came by with some urgent news.

"What's the matter?" inquired Tsunade.

"There's been another attack." explained the scout.

"What?" inquired Shizune.

The scout immediately explained who the victims are and what had happened to them, causing Juvia to gasp in shock. They matched the description of her friends!

Immediately, she began to cry.

"What's the matter?" inquired Gray.

"It's my comrades...they were wiped out completely...I'm the only survivor now..." said Juvia.

Gray immediately pressed his hand on her shoulder.

"Who could have done this to them?" asked Shizune.

"Well, I saw what appeared to be a man riding a dragon flying away when I discovered their bodies..." answered the scout.

"Kenichi..." murmured Tsunade.

"Who's Kenichi?" asked Gray.

"He's a man that's a a threat to virtually everyone around him...you can ask your friends Lucy and Natsu for more details. But if you ever see him, stay away." explained the Sannin.

"Alright then." nodded the ice mage.

Juvia continued to cry.

"Should we take her to some shelter? She looks like she needs some time alone..." noted Gray.

"There's a house nearby that you can use...though there's only one bed." answered Tsunade.

Gray nodded, and began to escort Juvia towards the house.

_Meanwhile..._

"You wanted to see me again?" inquired Lucy.

"This time we're going to try summoning Gamabunta. Naruto's already done so before, so this shouldn't be too difficult for you." answered Jiraiya.

"I suppose." nodded the summoner mage.

Curious, she noticed that Jiraiya appeared to be writing a novel of some kind.

"What are you doing?" asked the mage.

"I'm making the next Icha Icha novel..." explained Jiraiya.

"Interesting..." noted Lucy.

Curious, she took a closer look, and noticed that the female protagonist on the novel reminded her of herself.

"Did you base her off me?" asked the kunoichi.

"I write what I know...and I know a lot about attractive females." noted Jiraiya.

"OK..." answered the summoner mage. She was once again feeling a bit disturbed.

"So, are you ready?" inquired the Sannin.

Lucy nodded, and pressed her hand on the ground.

Immediately, she summoned Gamabunta.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the summoner mage.

"Where am I now? I was relaxing in my swamp..." answered the giant toad.

"Greetings, Gamabunta. Today you're getting a new summoner." explained Jiraiya.

"What? A new summoner?" asked Gamabunta.

Lucy waved to the giant toad rather nervously.

"First you let Naruto into the deal, now you're letting her then?" inquired the giant toad.

Apparently, he wasn't looking forward to being summoned by three different people...three was a crowd, and he was a busy toad.

"He might want to test your abilities first." noted Jiraiya.

"What do you have in mind?" inquired Lucy.

"If you can stay on my back for a few hours or so...I'll let you be my summon. But only if you can pull it off!" exclaimed Gamabunta.

"I'm assuming you're going to try to shake me off?" asked the kunoichi.

Gamabunta nodded.

"OK...I'll be back in a few minutes." nodded Lucy.

She came back a few minutes later and attached herself to Gamabunta.

"OK, I'm ready now!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Immediately, Gamabunta began to shake himself uncontrollably.

"It's a good thing Natsu isn't taking this test...otherwise he'd fail for sure." thought Lucy.

A few hours later, he began to pant for breath.

Much to his surprise, Lucy had managed to stay on without any problems.

"How'd you...do it?" asked Gamabunta.

"I superglued myself to your back." explained the kunoichi.

"Clever girl..." murmured the toad.

**"Why didn't Naruto ever think of that?" **inquired Kurama.

"Congratulations, Lucy...but how are you going to free-"

Lucy jumped off his back a few minutes later.

"I'm a bit of an escape artist..." explained the kunoichi.

"Really? You are?" asked Jiraiya.

"I'm pretty hard to keep tied down..." answered Lucy.

"I see..." nodded the Sannin.

Signing the contract with Gamabunta, Lucy dismissed him a few minutes later.

"So, I'm officially a toad summoner now?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yes. But come back later, I still have many things to teach you..." answered the Sannin.

"How much do you have left to give?" asked Lucy.

"Enough to last you for years." nodded Jiraiya.

"Wow..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, Lucy said farewell to Jiraiya as she went to tell Shikamaru the good news.

"So, how did it go?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Pretty well. I can summon Gamabunta now." answered Lucy.

"Really? That sounds like it'll come in handy...I wish I could summon something that big..." noted Shikamaru.

"Maybe you will someday." nodded the kunoichi.

Once again, Shikamaru went to sleep.

"I'll see you later!" answered Lucy as she went to test out her new summon.

She may be trapped in an another universe...

...but at least she was still having a good time, she thought.

_Meanwhile..._

A few minutes after Naruto handed his copy of Icha Icha to Erza, he was faced with a startling discovery.

"The Phantom Lord guild base...it's moving right towards us!" exclaimed Alzack.

"I think Phantom Lord is giving us everything they have!" bellowed Bisca.

"That doesn't sound good..." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, he leapt into action.

Sure enough, they began to hear a loud thumping sound, like a miniature earthquake.

Naruto looked around, and discovered that they weren't kidding.

"We might be in danger here..." answered the genin.

And to make matters worse, there were several Phantom Lord mages joining in on the action.

It looked like Fairy Tail was going to have to give the giant everything they had.

"Here I go..." said Naruto as he began to pull out a key.

Immediately, the metal giant attacked the genin with a spell, forcing him to move out of the way.

"Erm, that is one mighty giant..." answered the genin.

Immediately, Team Shadow Gear began to attack the giant.

"We can do this!" exclaimed Levy.

She began to write down the word Storm...and sure enough, a thunderstorm began to attack the giant.

This was then followed by Droy using his plant magic to wrap up the giant, followed by Jet spin-dashing into the mechanical monstrosity.

Suffice to say, they managed to knock it off-balance.

"So far, so good! Keep at it!" exclaimed Levy.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to head back into the guild hall. It looked as if Team Shadow Gear had things under control.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

At that very moment, the giant began to break free from its restraints, and began to charge up for a darkness spell.

"Hit the deck!" screamed Levy.

Fortunately, they were able to avoid the darkness spell.

Unfortunately, it was still enough to send them flying, and Droy and Jet ended up being separated from Levy.

"Metal giant is killing us!" screamed Droy in horror.

"I don't think it's actually killed any of us yet..." answered Jet.

"Metal giant is going to kill us!" exclaimed Droy.

At that very moment, Boze and Sue approached them.

"Can we help you?" asked Droy.

"I think they're going to be helping us die..." answered Jet.

Sure enough, Boze and Sue were getting ready to cast some spells.

Droy gulped.

Noticing that her two teammates were in danger, Levy went over to help them...

...only to find that her leg had been injured.

"Am I wounded out on the battlefield? What's a girl to do?" questioned the letter mage.

"Need a hand?" asked Gajeel.

"Huh? Gajeel? Is that you?" inquired Levy.

"Don't worry, I'll take things from here...can you make it back to the infirmary?" questioned Gajeel.

"I think so...I just need some crutches, I think." answered Levy.

Gajeel immediately made some crutches out of metal.

"Thank you." said the letter mage as she headed towards the infirmary.

Sure enough, Droy and Jet were being pummeled by the Phantom Lord mage duo...Jet had been transformed into a frog by Sue and Droy was being punched in the stomach by Boze.

"Aren't you a fatty..." noted Boze as he pummeled Droy into submission.

However, help had arrived by an unlikely source.

"Gajeel, is that you? I thought that Fairy Tail took your prisoner..." questioned Sue.

Realizing that they did not realize that he had left Phantom Lord, Gajeel decided to play along, hiding his Fairy Tail guild mark in the process.

"Don't worry, I managed to escape...though it wasn't easy. They put me in a prison full of plastic." explained Gajeel.

"They have a plastic prison?" inquired Boze.

"Makarov was prepared for everything." answered Gajeel.

"That explains a lot." nodded Sue.

"Now run along now. I'm going to deal with these two myself." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

Boze and Sue nodded.

As soon as they were out of sight, Gajeel helped Droy to his feet.

Unfortunately, he did not have a spell to cure the polymorphed Jet.

"Ribbit!" bellowed Jet.

"Right...you take him to the infirmary...I already sent Levy there...I think her leg got broken." answered Gajeel.

"Yes, of course!" nodded Droy.

Immediately, he began to take Jet towards the Fairy Tail infirmary.

He then noticed that the Phantom Lord giant was made of metal, and he suddenly got an idea.

Immediately, he went up to one of the giant's legs (careful to avoid being stomped on in the process) and began to take some bites out of it.

"This tastes like dark chocolate, strangely enough. What a coincidence..." murmured Gajeel.

Apparently, a metal giant created by Master Jose himself had that sort of flavor.

Speaking of Master Jose, he quickly noticed what Gajeel was doing.

"Gajeel?! What are you doing?" bellowed the guildmaster from within the giant.

Gajeel sweatdropped.

"Um, hello?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Why are you eating my giant? Can't you see that I'm about to destroy Fairy Tail with it?" inquired Master Jose.

"About that...you see, I happen to be part of Fairy Tail now...so I can't let you do that." answered Gajeel.

"What? Why would you betray me like this?!" exclaimed Master Jose.

"You ate the Exceed I befriended...don't you remember?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Oh, right...how could I have forgotten that...no matter! I'll teach you to betray me! You're going to suffer for your defiance!" bellowed the guildmaster.

Immediately, he began to pick up Gajeel and started squeezing the life from him using the robot's right hand.

"Gah!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"It's a shame...after this, I'm going to have to look for another dragonslayer to do my bidding with...and while I'm at it, I might have to replace the Element 4 as well...they never returned from that mission I gave them..." noted Master Jose.

"Losing...oxygen..." murmured Gajeel.

"No matter! I don't need anyone else! As long as I still have this giant, I'll be fine. So long, Fairy Tail!" bellowed Master Jose.

In the robot's left hand, he began to charge up for another darkness spell. An evil grin immediately appeared on his face.

However, he quickly found himself being interrupted by Naruto's Rasengan.

"What the-" exclaimed Master Jose.

Immediately, Naruto's Rasengan hit the robot in his left arm, forcing it to cancel the spell.

He then followed by hitting the robot in his right arm...causing it to drop Gajeel. He caught him shortly afterwards.

"No hard feelings...about me beating you up?" inquired Gajeel.

"Sakura's done worse." nodded Naruto.

Once again, the giant began to advance towards Fairy Tail...

...only for Master Jose to discover that Gajeel had eaten through the robot's right leg, which was now lying on the floor.

As the giant was synchronized to the Phantom Lord guildmaster's movements, he had to adapt accordingly.

Thus, he was going to have to hop on one leg.

The metal giant reacted accordingly, and began to hop towards the Fairy Tail guild base.

However, this time, it was Elfman and Mirajane's turn to shine.

Immediately, they began to transform into their beast and demon forms respectively.

"We're not letting you destroy Fairy Tail!" they exclaimed in unison.

Together, they began to attack the robot, causing a significant amount of damage.

"You think you can stop me?" inquired Master Jose.

Immediately, he grabbed onto them both and began squeezing the life from them like he had done to Gajeel a moment earlier, causing them to revert back to their original forms.

"We're not..." murmured Elfman.

"...going to surrender..." continued Mirajane.

"Really? That's too bad." answered Master Jose as he continued approaching Fairy Tail.

Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't either.

Immediately, he hit the giant in the other leg, causing it to collapse on the ground.

This was then followed by Gajeel eating through the other leg as well.

"Why didn't I make this giant out of wood?" inquired Master Jose.

Then again, that would make it vulnerable to Natsu's fire magic...and by extension Hinata as well. Apparently Natsu wasn't the only fire dragonslayer in the guild anymore.

Getting desperate, he began to crawl on the floor, causing the metal giant to do the same as it continued his way towards the guild base.

"He sure is persistent, isn't he?" inquired Naruto.

"So are we!" nodded Elfman.

Transforming once again, the duo ripped both of the arms off of the robot, rendering it immobile.

With most of his magic depleted and his robot disabled, Master Jose decided that if he was going to die...then so would Fairy Tail.

"That's it! I'm...taking you...all with me!" bellowed the guildmaster.

Immediately, he prepared the robot to self-destruct...

...only for Makarov to suddenly punch him in the face.

"I don't think so." answered the guildmaster.

"Guildmaster? Is that you? I thought you were...older." noted Master Jose.

"I made a friend...which is more than you will ever do." noted Makarov.

Immediately, he began to pummel Master Jose into the ground as payback for what he did to him earlier.

"Not so entertaining when you're on the other side, now is it?" inquired the man.

"I surrender!" bellowed Master Jose.

"Consider your guild disbanded. I'm telling the magic council of everything you've done." answered Makarov.

"Noooooo!" screamed the guildmaster.

He then knocked Master Jose out cold, causing the robot to collapse into pieces.

Thankfully, he was able to crawl his way out, lifting Master Jose's unconscious body as he did so.

_A few minutes later..._

"Did we win?" asked Naruto.

"I think so." nodded Makarov.

Sure enough, Gajeel was helping himself to the metal scraps that remained of the robot.

"So, is Gajeel officially a member of our guild now?" inquired Mirajane.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Makarov.

Sure enough, the Phantom Lord mages were retreating.

The magic council came to arrest Master Jose a few minutes later. By the looks of it, Phantom Lord was finished.

"Right then...you want to throw a party?" inquired the guildmaster.

"Yes!" nodded Naruto.

Sure enough, Fairy Tail went back towards their guild base to celebrate their victory over Phantom Lord.

As they did so, Naruto began to think to himself.

"This has been a rather exciting day...I've managed to help defeat Phantom Lord and even managed to make a friend...how about that." noted the genin.

However, he got the feeling that his adventures in the world of magic weren't over yet.

Nonetheless, he was looking forward to them.

"I may still not be able to go home...but at least I can have a good time here, right?" he thought.

_This has been a rather exciting chapter, hasn't it? Phantom Lord's been defeated and now everyone can celebrate!_

_But since Kenichi and Chiyoye are on the loose...the story hasn't ended...but for all sakes and purposes, you can consider this the end of Part I!_

_How many parts are there going to be? Well, I haven't quite decided yet...but in case it's not obvious, the next part is going to be Part II!_

_Expect more interdimensional partners...and of course, more action! Also, we're going to pick up where Kimimaro and Chiyoye left off..._

_See you!_


	23. Chapter 23: A New Recruit

Ninja Tail

_In ths chapter, we're going to pick up where Part I left off...that is, Kimimaro and Chiyoye are going to resume fighting...and we're going to see how it turns out._

_Also, someone is going to be joining Fairy Tail...can you guess who it is? Then again, you might have already figured it out. It's rather fun to foreshadow things._

_Welcome to Part II!_

**Chapter 23: A New Recruit**

Kimimaro slashed and stabbed his way through the zombies. Though more of them kept on coming, he was not slowing down the assault.

"How many zombies does she have?" questioned the bone ninja. It felt that he was facing an entire army of them.

Then again, this wasn't the first time that he had been sent on the battlefield against multiple opponents. Orochimaru in particular considered him to be a one-man army.

And to some extent, he was right. He personally wasn't surprised that he wanted him to be his next body vessel.

At least, that was how it used to be before he came down with an illness. Nowadays, he wanted Sasuke Uchiha to be his body.

Wait...was Lord Orochimaru trying to replace him?

"No no, he wouldn't...I'm still useful to him. He took me in and raised me as his own..." thought Kimimaro.

"I see that you're still fighting...let's make things a bit harder, shall we?" inquired Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to flip through the pages of her spellbook.

"Ah, here we are!" exclaimed the sorceress.

She began to summon some gargoyles to help her defeat her opponent.

"Attack!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Unfortunately for Kimimaro, he wasn't having an easy time taking down the gargoyles. And to make matters worse, his illness was starting to take effect.

Immediately, he began to cough up blood.

"What's the matter? You're feeling sick? Oh dear...maybe you should have stayed in bed! Don't worry...I'll put you to rest..." exclaimed Chiyoye.

Getting desperate, Kimimaro activated the second stage of his cursed seal. Bones emerged from his body and he grew a tail.

"What's this? It appears that you've transformed into a dinosaur...well, time for you to become extinct like the rest of your kind." answered Chiyoye.

This allowed him to turn the tables on her summoned gargoyles, smashing them like butter.

This was then followed by him cutting through the remaining zombies, leaving none of them left.

"Well well well. It looks like you've gone full power...I'm assuming this is your peak?" inquired Chiyoye.

Once again, Kimimaro began to cough up blood.

"I won't let you...kill anyone else!" exclaimed the bone ninja.

"Oh, I assure you, I've got lots more planned than this little town..." answered Chiyoye.

Suddenly, spikes of bone began to shoot out of the ground.

"Hmm?" inquired the sorceress.

As it turned out, they were covering the floor within a twenty-foot radius.

"I guess I better get away from them..." answered Chiyoye.

Using a flight spell provided by one of the mages that she had killed, she began to fly up and out of the spikes' range.

"Well, I guess I won't be able to summon zombies anymore...they'll just get impaled by the spikes...though I will admit that it would be a bit satisfying to watch..." noted Chiyoye.

Suddenly, Kimimaro emerged from one of the bones and tried to impale her with his bone drill.

"What's this? You're as persistent as ever!" exclaimed Chiyoye as she avoided Kimimaro's bone attacks.

At this very moment, Chiyoye was actually tempted to retreat. She had to admit, she might have gone over her head with this one.

Kimimaro had proven to be the strongest opponent that she had faced so far...except for maybe Erza.

However, as she continued avoiding Kimimaro's attacks...she began to remember something.

Didn't she see a mark on Kimimaro's chest before it spread across his body?

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Once again, she let Kimimaro attack, who began to shoot bones from his fingertips at her.

However, she teleported directly in front of him, much to his surprise.

"What are y-"

Suddenly, she pressed her hand on the chest, and began to drain the chakra out of his cursed seal.

Immediately, it began to disappear, and Kimimaro reverted back to his normal state, much to his surprise.

"My cursed seal! You drained it! How did y-"

"Just because I couldn't drain you because you were ill...doesn't mean that I couldn't drain your cursed seal." explained Chiyoye.

At this point, the bone forest began to crumble into dust.

"Oh dear...not so tough without it, are you? Personally I want to test it out..." answered the sorceress.

As it turned out, the cursed seal of heaven had appeared on the back of her neck.

Activating the second stage of the cursed seal, her hair turned white, and her skin turned pale.

Kimimaro's skin turned pale as well, albeit for a much different reason. He couldn't believe that she was using his own cursed seal against him.

"This is rather ironic, isn't it? Personally I actually like this new look...I look just like a banshee. But no matter. It's time to finish this." answered Chiyoye.

Chiyoye then hit Kimimaro with a chakra-enhanced lightning bolt, causing him to fall to the floor and collapse on the ground.

At this point, the entire bone forest had disappeared.

To make matters worse, his illness was now fully starting to take effect, and he was beginning to feel very weak.

"You know, as pleasurable as it would be to kill you right here and now...I think it would be more satisfying if I just left you here to die...I look forward to you dying from that terminal illness of yours." answered Chiyoye.

"You won't...get away with this." murmured Kimimaro.

"Why, of course I will! Once I become the greatest mage in Fiore, nobody will be able to stop me...not even Fairy Tail!" bellowed the sorceress.

"Fairy...Tail? Mages?" inquired the bone ninja.

Immediately, she teleported away as Kimimaro passed out.

As she did so, the environment around her began to wither and die. Apparently, her magic was starting to take effect across the vegetation.

"Maybe I shouldn't just restrict myself to the townspeople here..." noted Chiyoye as she walked her way out of the town.

As she did so, she laughed at Kimimaro one last time. It was so hilarious that he suffered from such a deadly disease.

Maybe one day she would be able to infect Fairy Tail with it...imagine how many mages she would be able to kill.

But for now, she was simply content with draining the life from others.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, did we manage to defeat Phantom Lord?" inquired Sakura.

"Yes...Master Jose has been disbanded and his entire guild has been arrested." nodded Makarov.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the entirety of Fairy Tail was throwing a party. Alzack and Bisca were a shooting range, Cana was drinking as much alcohol as she could (which was quite a bit), Hinata was eating another torch, Elfman was flexing his muscles, Mirajane was looking at herself in the mirror, and Happy was helping himself to some delicious fish.

Granted, it wasn't quite the same with Lucy, Natsu, and Gray absent, but it was quite pleasant nonetheless.

Naruto himself appeared to be enjoying the celebration the most. Then again, Phantom Lord had captured him earlier.

Oddly enough, Gajeel didn't seem to be participating in the party.

"Are you going to participate?" inquired Makarov.

"It just feels funny celebrating the fall of a guild after I was once part of it..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

"Good point." answered the guildmaster.

"If you need me...I'll be eating what's left of their robot." spoke Gajeel as he left the guild hall.

"I have to admit...when I first started this guild, I never thought that I would one day be recruiting ninja instead of mages...but I guess that's just the way it is." he spoke to himself.

Sure enough, Levy was reading a book, Droy was eating some chicken wings, while Jet was running around the room.

Shrugging, he decided to read the newspaper. Surely, the defeat of Phantom Lord and their disbandment would be in the headlines, right?

Sure enough, it was.

However, he also noticed in that same exact newspaper the citizens of Elm Town had mysteriously vanished. In fact, it appeared to have been massacred.

"What?" inquired Makarov.

Suffice to say, he was rather surprised at the occurrence. However, he had also heard that the mana in Chiyoye's crystal ball had turned green, and that she had received a large power boost.

He immediately put two and two together, and began to wonder if he should really be celebrating.

"I suppose Fairy Tail can party for now...but we're going to have to send some mages to investigate...the stronger Chiyoye becomes...the worse things are going to be." answered Makarov.

"Is something the matter? You look worried about something..." asked Naruto.

As it turned out, he had decided to go talk to Makarov. By the looks of it, he was enjoying his fruit punch.

"It's just that Chiyoye's been getting stronger lately..." answered the guildmaster.

"What? She has?" inquired Naruto.

"I think we might need to investigate the town and see how many people she's killed...the more victims she has, the stronger she's going to get..." noted Makarov.

"I'll do it! With my leaping abilities, I'm one of the fastest mages here...or ninja...I'm not quite sure which." answered Naruto.

"Alright then. You might want to bring some friends in case you see Chiyoye though...I don't want her draining your life energy too...with the abilities of a Fairy Tail mage at her side she will become a much bigger threat than she is now." noted Makarov.

"Yes, of course." nodded the genin.

In this case, he decided to bring Hinata and Erza with him.

"Hmm? You want some help? Sure, Naruto!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"OK, I'll help." nodded Erza.

Immediately, they set off to Elm Town, which as it turned out wasn't too far from where they were.

However, they quickly found it to be empty.

"Where did everyone go?" inquired Naruto.

Hinata used her Byakugan...

...and gasped in shock.

The whole town had been massacred!

"Chiyoye was here, alright..." answered the kunoichi.

"What?!" exclaimed Naruto.

Suddenly, he stepped on a corpse, and began to scream.

"Yes, Naruto...this is horrifying. I may be a battle-hardened warrior...but even I'm disturbed by this." nodded Erza.

"I don't believe it..." answered Naruto.

"I can't believe it either, Naruto. Who would have thought that Chiyoye would be able to pull this off while we busy fighting Phantom Lord?" asked Erza.

Hinata immediately used her Byakugan to check for survivors.

Suddenly, she noticed something that disturbed her greatly.

"What's the matter, Hinata? Did you find any survivors?" inquired Naruto.

"It's the Sound Four...they've been wiped out completely!" exclaimed Hinata.

"What? She killed the Sound Four?!" bellowed the genin.

Immediately, they went to investigate. Sure enough, Hinata wasn't kidding.

"Oh my gosh...she did this to them!?" bellowed Naruto.

"I feel sick..." answered Hinata.

Sure enough, the Sound Four had all been slaughtered in horrible ways. Jirobo and Sakon &amp; Ukon had both been reduced to withered husks, and Tayuya and Kidomaru looked as if they had been eaten by other people.

Apparently, the latter was the work of Chiyoye's zombies.

Immediately, Hinata began to cry. She did admit that the Sound Four were a group of evil ninja...but she didn't want them all to die like this.

They didn't deserve to fall into her clutches, and quite frankly, neither did this town.

Curious, she visited the police station, and discovered that the police chief had been devoured and mutilated by his own prisoners and his own police crew.

Personally this hurt her the most. From what she could find in his paperwork, he had been doing everything in his power to try to protect the town from Chiyoye.

But in the end, he was completely powerless against her.

Naruto felt much the same way, and he began to cry as well. He was shocked as to how low Chiyoye had sunk in her quest for omnipotence.

Suddenly, Erza noticed that there was a young man lying not too far from where they were.

"Um, Naruto...I think there might be another victim here..." spoke Erza.

"Not another one!" exclaimed Naruto.

Once again, he began to cry. How many people was Chiyoye going to kill? It was bad enough that she had killed people from his new home...but now she had gone and killed people from his world as well.

Curious, they approached his body to see if Chiyoye had in fact claimed another life.

Immediately, Naruto recognized the body.

"She managed to kill him!? He was one of the strongest opponents I ever faced!" bellowed the genin.

Sure enough, Kimimaro was lying motionless on the floor.

By the looks of it, there had been quite a scuffle. There were a horde of corpses lying on the floor, as well as some rubble from the gargoyles she had summoned.

Curious, he noticed that Kimimaro's cursed seal of heaven was missing, and wondered what had happened to it.

Did Chiyoye somehow find a way to drain it?

"Not him too..." answered Hinata. She was still feeling as tearful as Naruto was. Personally, she wanted to close her eyes and look away from all of this.

Erza began to frown. By the looks of it, Kimimaro had been trying to stop Chiyoye from murdering more people. But in the end, he had failed.

"I don't think I will be able to forget his sacrifice..." thought the knight.

Suddenly, Naruto gasped in shock.

"What's the matter, Naruto? Did you see Chiyoye?" inquired Erza.

"I think he's still alive!" bellowed the genin.

"What? He is?" asked Hinata. Did someone really survive Chiyoye's attack? Then again, if there was anyone that could survive this, it was him.

"Yes, I think so! His pulse is faint, but it's still there! We might be able to save him!" exclaimed Naruto.

"We need to take him to the infirmary then." nodded the genin.

Immediately, they picked up Kimimaro and began to take him towards their guild hall.

_Meanwhile..._

Juvia left her new home, with a rather sad look on her face.

Sure enough, Gray was ready to greet her.

"It's OK...we're going to make your guildmates' killer pay. I promise you that." answered Gray.

"Do you know who it is?" asked Juvia.

"Natsu and Lucy told me about him...they said he was a man by the name of Kenichi. He's a mass murderer..." explained the devil slayer.

"He is?" inquired the water mage.

"I'm afraid that your friends were far from his first victims..." asked Gray.

"How terrible..." answered Juvia.

"Personally I don't think that we can even call him a human being...just look at all the things he's done." nodded the ice mage.

"I agree...he's a monster." agreed the water mage.

"The more I hear about him, the more horrid he seems." answered Gray.

"Did the scout see an interdimensional portal by any chance? I want to head back to my world..." spoke Juvia.

"I'm afraid Master Jose shut the portal...he didn't want Kenichi to invade Fiore as well, by the looks of it." nodded Gray.

"Good point..." answered the water mage.

Immediately, Juvia began to sigh.

"It's OK Juvia...we'll be able to find our way back to our world eventually...I know it." spoke Gray.

"You think we might be able to stop Kenichi one day?" inquired Juvia.

"We might be able to. From what we know about him, he's not used to fighting mages...only ninja." nodded Gray.

"That's a good sign." answered the water mage.

"Nonetheless, we're going to need to become a lot stronger if we wish to have a chance to defeat him. Lucy and Natsu said he had the Rinnegan." noted the ice mage.

"The Rinnegan?" inquired Juvia.

"It's a special pair of eyes that lets you use powerful jutsu...Kenichi has been using it to kill his victims left, right, and center." answered Gray.

"You really know your stuff, don't you, Gray?" asked the water mage.

"I happen to have become interdimensional portals with a rather smart girl, so yes." nodded the ice mage.

"Interdimensional partner?" inquired Juvia.

"When you use an interdimensional portal at around the same time as someone else, you end up inheriting their abilities, as well as their traits." explained Gray.

"That explains why I've felt so strange lately..." answered the water mage.

Gray then explained that Juvia had become interdimensional partners with Sakon and Ukon, and had thus inherited their kekkei genkai.

"That explains a lot..." noted the mage.

Likewise, her deceased teammates had inherited the abilities of the other members of the Sound Four prior to their demise.

"Now that I think of it...I can't help but shake the feeling that the Sound Four have met a terrible fate as well..." noted Gray.

"Did Kenichi catch them too?" inquired Juvia.

"No, I think it was someone else...someone that's looking for omnipotence..." explained the ice mage.

"That's too bad..." answered the water mage.

"Well, admittedly, they were elite bodyguards for a very evil ninja...but I can't help but shake the feeling that they suffered a fate beyond what they deserved..." noted Gray.

Juvia began to cry once again.

"It's OK...we'll help get you through this..." answered the ice mage.

"Thank you..." nodded Juvia, giving Gray a hug.

"If you need me, I'll be training with Tsunade...since I'm her apprentice's interdimensional partner...she figured that she had a lot to teach me..." noted the ice mage.

"See you!" exclaimed the water mage.

_Meanwhile..._

"Makarov, we have a survivor here!" exclaimed Naruto.

"What? You do?" inquired the guildmaster.

"He was the only one that survived the massacre..." spoke the genin.

"He did?" asked Makarov.

"Yes...however, he's in desperate need of medical attention." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, he took Kimimaro to a bed and put him on life support.

Sure enough, Levy, Droy, and Jet will also there...they were a bit surprised at the occurrence. Levy's leg was on a sling while Jet was still polymorphed.

As for Droy...well, he had nearly choked on a chicken bone.

Sure enough, Sakura seemed rather surprised that Naruto had brought Kimimaro to the guild.

"Why did you bring him here, Naruto? He's a psychopath!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I couldn't just leave him to die!" answered Naruto.

Sakura sighed. Naruto actually had a good point for a change.

Immediately, she began to heal Levy so that she could walk upright again.

"Thank you." answered Levy as she left the hospital seat.

"Hmm...I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to do about him..." answered Sakura as she noticed the polymorphed Jet.

At that very moment, Hinata came in and pressed her hands on Jet.

Immediately, he began to transform back into normal.

Once again, Hinata's purification abilities were coming in handy.

"Thank goodness...I was worried that I was going to end up having my legs eaten..." answered Jet.

"I would never do that to you." spoke Droy.

"I wasn't referring to you in particular." replied Jet as he exited the infirmary.

"Do you think you can heal him? I know that Kabuto could never pull it off...he didn't know enough about his clan and their anatomy..." noted Naruto.

"I suppose I could...but I'm going to need some time." answered Sakura.

"Alright then." nodded the genin as he left the infirmary.

"Is he going to be OK?" inquired Hinata.

"I think so...Sakura said that she could heal him...though it's going to take her a while." spoke the genin.

"That's a relief...I don't want anyone else dying." spoke the kunoichi.

"Yeah...I think Chiyoye might have drained his cursed seal though...it's vanished off of him completely." answered Naruto.

"That's not good." nodded Hinata.

"On the other hand...he might not be so violent though...the Cursed Seals tend to make people rather crazy...as you could see by the Sound Four..." noted the genin.

"True..." nodded the kunoichi.

"Nonetheless, I don't look forward to Chiyoye using the Cursed Seal when she's in a tight spot..." answered Naruto.

"Yeah...that doesn't sound good." nodded Hinata.

"You want to do another mission while Kimimaro recovers?" inquired the genin.

"Sure." nodded the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Makarov paid them a visit.

"Hi there!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Hello..." nodded Makarov.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, Igneel has finally returned after a long absence...and he wants to see his foster son again..." explained the guildmaster.

"He does?" asked the genin.

"Unfortunately, his foster son in question happens to be Natsu...and we still don't have enough magical power to bring him back..." answered Makarov.

"How sad..." nodded Hinata.

"I was hoping that one of you could head to the volcano that he lives in and explain things to him...mind you, it's going to be rather hot there..." explained the guildmaster.

"I think this is your mission then." nodded Naruto.

"You're right...I guess so." answered Hinata.

"See you later!" exclaimed Naruto as Hinata went to go visit Igneel.

_About thirty minutes later..._

"Well, this is the place." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she entered the volcano...

...and was surprised to see an enormous dragon.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Sure enough, she was not expecting that.

Then again, why would a human being want to live in a volcano?

"Er, are you Igneel?" asked Hinata.

"Why do you ask? I've been waiting a long time to see my foster son again..." answered Igneel.

"About that...I'm afraid that he's in another world..." spoke the kunochi.

"What?!" bellowed the fire dragon.

Immediately, he began to roar.

Hinata frowned.

"I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I used the interdimensional portal he did simutaneously and we both got trapped!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Igneel sighed. It appeared that this was an accident.

"I'm really sorry." apologized Hinata.

"I suppose it's not your fault. Thank you for telling me this." answered Igneel.

Immediately, Hinata began to take her leave.

As she did so, she noticed that there was a large pool of magma inside the volcano.

"Isn't this a big pool..." noted the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she lost her balance, and fell straight into the molten rock, causing Igneel to gasp in surprise.

He let out a sigh. It looked like Hinata had ended up like a snowman in the spring.

However, much to his surprise, she resurfaced a few seconds later.

"Thank goodness I happen to be fireproof now...otherwise that would have killed me." noted Hinata as she pulled herself out of the lava pool.

"Are you now?" inquired Igneel.

"Yes...when Natsu and I used the same interdimensional portal...he ended up giving me a gift." answered Hinata.

"Did he now?" asked the fire dragon.

"Yes...I happen to be a fire dragonslayer just like he is." nodded the kunoichi.

"Well then...would you mind if I teach you a few tricks before you leave?" inquired Igneel.

"Not at all...I've only been a fire dragonslayer for about two weeks...so any help would be appreciated." nodded Hinata.

"Alright then...could you try moving that boulder for me?" inquired the fire dragon.

Immediately, he pointed his tail towards the nearby boulder.

Hinata nodded. Much to her surprise, she was able to do so somewhat easily.

"I take it being a dragonslayer comes with super strength?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yes, it does." noted Igneel.

"I think I might be able to rival my friend Sakura then...she happens to be the interdimensional partner of Natsu's friend Gray..." explained Hinata.

"Funny, Natsu told me all about him...he said that they were best friends even though they always argued with each other." answered Igneel.

"Funny, I feel like arguing with her now." noted the kunoichi.

"Right...your next task is to create the biggest fireball you can..." said the fire dragon.

Hinata began to do so...sure enough, she managed to create a much larger fireball than she had done earlier.

"Interesting..." answered the kunoichi. Apparently, the larger the fireball was, the more she needed to focus.

At the fire dragon's request, she tossed it in the fire dragon's mouth, allowing him to have some breakfast.

"One last thing...I want you to drink some dragon blood." answered Igneel.

"Dragon's blood?" inquired Hinata.

"Don't worry, it's from a blood donor." spoke the fire dragon.

Immediately, he handed Hinata the jar containing the dragon blood.

"OK...here goes nothing." answered the kunoichi.

She began to drink the fire dragon blood...which unsurprisingly tasted like fire itself.

She quickly began to feel stronger.

"That was great...too bad I can't keep asking fire dragons for their blood like this..." noted Hinata.

"I'll let you know if I get some more...just don't drink too much or you'll risk transforming into a dragon yourself." warned Igneel.

"OK..." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to leave the volcano, feeling stronger than before.

"I think this visit paid off..." noted Hinata.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, did he take it well?" inquired Makarov.

"Yes, he did." nodded Hinata.

"You look happy about something." noted the guildmaster.

"Well, he gave me some training since I happened to be fairly new at being a dragonslayer..." answered the kunoichi.

"That was nice of him..." nodded Makarov.

"He said that I have super strength now..." explained Hinata.

"Yes...that was one of Natsu's natural abilities." answered the guildmaster.

Immediately, Hinata began to lift a rather large statue...that resembled Makarov himself.

"Hey! Be careful with that!" exclaimed Makarov.

Hinata immediately dropped the statue on the floor, careful not to break it.

"Sorry, I just wanted to test it out." answered the kunoichi.

At that very moment, Naruto came by.

"Kimimaro's waking up!" exclaimed the genin.

"He is? That's a good sign." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, they went to check on him.

Sure enough, Kimimaro was beginning to wake up from his forced slumber.

"Where am I? I thought I was about to die..." answered the bone ninja.

"If Sakura here hadn't saved you...you likely would have died..." noted Naruto.

"She did?" asked Kimimaro.

Curious, he noticed that his cursed seal had disappeared.

"What happened to my cursed seal?!" exclaimed the ninja.

"Chiyoye drained it and took it for herself." explained Hinata.

"What?!" bellowed Kimimaro.

He then remembered that Chiyoye had pressed her hand on his chest and had done just that.

"Oh, right...now I remember...she wiped out my entire squad..." answered Kimimaro.

"I know...we saw." nodded Naruto.

Kimimaro was at a loss to what to do. On the one hand, they opposed his master Orochimaru, whom he had dedicated his life to. On the other hand, they had saved his life and had cured him of his illness.

"I'm at a loss to what to do...Lord Orochimaru needs me..." answered Kimimaro.

"I'm afraid he doesn't care about you...he's been manipulating you for years..." spoke Naruto.

"What?!" exclaimed the bone ninja.

Curious, he remembered that Gaara had told him that long ago back when he was fifteen. Could it be that he was telling the truth?

"Has my life...been a lie?" inquired Kimimaro.

"It's OK Kimimaro...you have people that care about you now..." answered Hinata.

"I need some time alone..." spoke the bone ninja.

Immediately, he left his hospital bed and looked for a place that he could find some peace and quiet.

"Should I talk to him?" inquired Naruto.

"Give him time." answered the kunoichi.

_Meanwhile..._

"Master, I'm afraid that I have some bad news." answered Kabuto.

"Yes? What is it?" inquired Orochimaru.

"The Sound Four have still not returned from their mission..." explained the medical ninja.

"What?" asked the Sannin.

"We have reason to believe that they have been completely wiped out." answered Kabuto.

"They have? Well, there goes some of my most valuable assets..." noted Orochimaru.

"This unfortunately includes Kimimaro...he was summoned in order to assist them...apparently somebody killed them all." explained the scientist.

"Did he get killed too? Personally I was expecting his illness to do him in one day..." spoke the Sannin.

"By the looks of it, yes." answered Kabuto.

"No matter...so long as I still have Sasuke, I should be good to go." spoke Orochimaru.

Immediately, Kabuto left his master's chambers.

As he did so, he began to wonder who could have done to this to the Sound Four.

By the looks of it, they were a powerful ninja.

However, he got the strange feeling that whoever had done that to them was not actually a ninja...but someone else entirely.

"Interesting..." noted Kabuto.

Personally, he wanted to perform an autopsy on the Sound Four to see if he could find what had killed them.

However, he did not know where he could locate their bodies.

"Where did they go?" inquired the medical ninja.

Shrugging, he decided to go read some medical books. He wanted to do some experiments.

Maybe one day he could become as powerful as his master. That was a rather joyful thought.

Then again, he wasn't interested in learning all jutsus like Orochimaru was. He was actually fairly content with the jutsus he already had.

"Maybe I could try experimenting to create the ultimate ninja..." he thought.

_Meanwhile..._

"Wow...look at all the clones." thought Lucy.

As it turned out, Lucy had successfully managed to create no less than ten dozen clones of herself.

Of course, she could simply poke one with a kunai and it would disappear into a puff of smoke, but it was a success nonetheless.

She had to admit, she missed her old summons, but at least she managed to get a rather powerful one in her arsenal.

She was starting to wonder if she was going to need Natsu to save her again. With Naruto's abilities on the side, she was a lot stronger than before, and she personally wondered if she was now stronger than he was.

She had in fact saved Shikamaru from Totomaru when he created a rescue team to pull her fat out of the fire, and had done so somewhat easily.

"Wow...I'm going to have a lot of stories to tell if I get back home..." answered Lucy.

Now that she thought of it...would her father still want to take her back to her residence if he knew that she had a nine-tailed fox inside of her?

Then again, she was getting used to it rather quickly.

**"Sending in the clones, now are we?" **inquired Kurama.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I am." nodded Lucy.

**"Great. Now I have to look at your ugly face about ten dozen times." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Ha ha. Very funny." answered the summoner mage.

Suddenly, she noticed that Natsu was standing a short distance from her...by the looks of it, he was sparring with Team Guy.

In this case, he was up against Neji.

"Go, Natsu!" exclaimed Tenten.

"Go, Neji!" bellowed Rock Lee.

Sure enough, he was managing to hold his own against him despite his lack of self-confidence.

Then again, he had been regaining it slowly but surely.

Eventually, he managed to defeat Neji, causing Tenten to cheer and Rock Lee to applaud.

Neji then shook Natsu's hand.

"I didn't know I had it in me..." answered the fire mage.

"You had it in you. Trust me." nodded Neji.

Immediately, Natsu waved to Lucy.

"Hi, Natsu!" exclaimed Lucy.

Suddenly, Rock Lee blew Lucy a kiss.

"Whoa!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Tenten put her hands on her ribs.

"What?" asked Rock Lee.

"Do you have to do that every time you see an attractive female?" inquired Tenten.

"Sorry..." apologized the martial artist.

**"Who would want to kiss you? He must be drunk." **noted Kurama.

Immediately, Lucy dismissed her clones.

Kurama sighed in relief.

Shikamaru approached her shortly afterwards.

"I see that you've mastered Naruto's shadow clone technique..." noted the jonin.

"Yes, I have." nodded the kunoichi.

"Well, congratulations." answered Shikamaru.

"Thank you." spoke Lucy.

"Do you want to do another mission together? I've got time..." asked the shadow ninja.

"I'd love to...but I was thinking of doing a B-Rank Mission...Jiraiya said that I was ready to do one..." said Lucy.

"Did you get Tsunade's permission?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes, I did." nodded the summoner mage.

"Good...if you're going on a B-Rank Mission, you're going to need a medical ninja..." answered the shadow ninja.

"A medical ninja?" questioned Lucy.

"We're trying to minimize casualties." explained Shikamaru.

"Ah." nodded the summoner mage.

**"Is he your boyfriend?" **asked Kurama.

"Theres goes my nine-tailed fox." answered Lucy.

"That's life as a jinchuriki in a nutshell." noted Shikamaru.

Once again, Shikamaru went to sleep.

Lucy immediately went to the mission board to see if there were any available requests.

Sure enough, there was a mission that involved destroying a bandit village, as they had been stealing money from Konoha.

However, their leader in question happened to be a fairly powerful ninja.

"Sounds right up my ally." answered Lucy.

Immediately, she gathered Natsu and Gray to assist her in this task...

"Now, we just need a medical ninja." answered the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Juvia volunteered.

"Hmm? You want to be our medic?" inquired Lucy.

"According to this notebook Gray gave me...I should be able to use Sakon and Ukon's kekkei genkai to heal you if you get injured...likewise, I'll be able to enter your bodies if I get injured." answered Juvia.

"This body thing is creeping me out...but at least it's effective." noted Gray.

Natsu began to shiver.

"Yes, I know...my teammates inherited quite a few things from the Sound Four..." answered Juvia.

In fact, each of her teammates had obtained the abilities of each member of the Sound Four. Of course, Monsieur Sol was already able to manipulate earth, though he received a power boost nonetheless.

"I miss my teammates..." answered Juvia.

Immediately, they set out to deal with the bandits, who had set up camp not too far from Konoha.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they had bandit archers guarding it.

"Be careful." warned Lucy.

Natsu and Gray nodded.

_Meanwhile..._

Kimimaro let out a sigh. Gaara had been right the whole time. He really had been Orochimaru's puppet.

Personally he was tempted to stab himself with his bone sword and end it right in there.

But he figured since Naruto and Sakura had just saved his life, that would be rather foolhardy.

"What am I going to do?" inquired Kimimaro.

Maybe he could try running away and try living in solitude? Then again, his clan had told them not to run away with his problems.

Then again, they had told him to solve his problems with violence.

"That didn't turn out too well for them." thought Kimimaro.

Maybe he could turn himself into the authorities and go to prison? At least there he wouldn't stand out amongst everyone else.

Then again, considering his clan had deliberately raised him to be a serial killer, they might sympathize him with him and give him a second chance in life.

Now that he thought of it, he had been feeling much saner now that the cursed seal had been removed. Did it really have that much of an effect on his mind?

Finally, he came to a situation.

"I suppose I might as well join the guild that helped me..." answered Kimimaro.

Personally, he was rather intrigued at this magic concept. He hadn't been in the world of magic for long, and he was curious about this Fairy Tail guild.

Their guildmaster seemed reasonable enough.

Immediately, Kimimaro asked Makarov if he could join the guild.

Makarov nodded, and stamped the guild mark on his chest where his cursed seal had been previously.

"I guess it's time for me to start a new life..." he thought.

He had to admit, he was rather impressed that Sakura could heal his illness...then again, she was the apprentice of Tsunade, one of Orochimaru's former friends.

Personally he wondered why things couldn't have stayed that way. Orochimaru threw his friends behind him in his neverending quest for power.

And to think that he was willing to give his body to him.

Kimimaro let out a sigh. If only Orochimaru had actually cared about his wellbeing.

Suddenly, he noticed that there was a poster indicating that the S-Class Trial was about to begin.

"Hmm?" inquired the bone ninja as he picked up the poster.

"Do you want to join the S-Class Trial, Kimimaro?" inquired Makarov.

"Is there a particular reason I should do so?" asked Kimimaro.

"Well, you'll get to become a S-Class Mage...or in this case S-Class Ninja...you'll be considered one of the strongest members of our guild...this year we're going to be doing this tournament-style..." explained the guildmaster.

"Then I suppose I'll participate." answered the ninja.

"Very good! We're looking forward to seeing you there!" exclaimed Makarov.

Immediately, he left to get some coffee.

"I wonder if I can make it..." he thought.

_Well, it looks like Gajeel and Juvia aren't going to be the only ones leaving the side of darkness...yes, I let Kimimaro into Fairy Tail._

_For balancing purposes...I had Chiyoye drain his cursed seal. Nonetheless, he's going to be about as strong as Erza. That seems fair, right?_

_Speaking of Chiyoye...she has the Cursed Seal Of Heaven now...things aren't looking too good, are they?_

_Are you starting to see why Fairy Tail wants to stop her yet?_

_Toodles!_


	24. Chapter 24: The S-Class Trial

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, the S-Class Trial is going to begin...and Lucy and her friends are going to enter the bandit village and take on their leader._

_But unfortunately their leader will turn out not to be alone._

_Can you guess who are going to be participating in the S-Class Trial?_

**Chapter 24: The S-Class Trial**

Naruto let out a sigh. His manga had ended rather recently, and it looked like he and his friends weren't going to have any more adventures.

He was currently sitting on a chair, reading the last chapter.

"How sad." answered the genin.

Then again, all good things had to come to an end.

At least he was getting another movie.

"That's something to look forward to." noted the genin.

Not only that, but Fairy Tail was still going strong.

At that very moment, Erza came by.

"Hey there, Erza." answered Naruto.

"How are you doing?" inquired the knight.

"Pretty good, pretty good. At least my fanfics seem to be living on after my manga ended..." noted the genin.

"They probably always will." answered Erza.

"I heard that they're having a S-Class Trial so that Fairy Tail can decide who their next S-Class Mage is." spoke Naruto.

"They actually invited you." spoke the knight.

"Really? They did? Did they invite you too?" inquired the genin.

"I'm already an S-Class Mage." explained Erza.

"Oh. Never mind then." answered Naruto.

"So did your friends Hinata and Sakura..." explained the S-Class Mage.

"That's interesting." nodded the genin.

Immediately, he lifted himself off his chair and went to go prepare himself for battle.

From the looks of it, it was going to be quite a tournament.

He proceeded to examine the roster.

"Let's see now...there's Hinata, Sakura...Gajeel...Cana...myself...Elfman...Levy...and would you look at that, Kimimaro." answered the genin.

Shortly afterwards, a mage beckoned him to the battle arena.

"This reminds me a bit of the Chunin Exams..." spoke Naruto.

Sure enough, there was a generator to determine who was going to fight who first.

Laxus was serving as the referee once again.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Greetings." answered the thunder mage.

As it turned out, he was up against Gajeel Redfox.

"Uh-oh..." thought the genin.

Gajeel sweatdropped. Was he going to have to beat Naruto up again?

Shrugging, he stepped into the arena along with Naruto.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Gajeel immediately started off by tossing some rather sharp-looking knives at Naruto, who frantically ducked underneath them.

He then followed by turning his arm into a sword and then swinging it at the genin.

In retaliation, he hit him with his Rasengan, which actually managed to significantly injure him.

"Gah!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

However, he was not down for the count yet.

Deciding that he needed to fight more defensively, he then covered his skin with some iron scales.

"How am I going to get past that?" inquired Naruto.

He then followed by punching Naruto in the face and knocking him down.

"Ow..." murmured the genin.

However, as Gajeel recalled correctly, Naruto was not the one to give up easily.

Immediately, he began to create some clones in order to protect himself.

"Trying to make some meat shields are we? Not too bad of a strategy." noted the iron dragonslayer.

However, Gajeel had a way to counter that.

Immediately, he began to use his metalbending abilities to create restraints to pin the clones to the wall.

They immediately exploded into smoke, much to Gajeel's satisfaction.

However, he quickly noticed that the real Naruto was not among them.

"Huh? Where did he go?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

Gajeel's question was answered when suddenly Naruto hit him with another Rasengan, causing his armor to shatter.

"Agh!" screamed the dragonslayer.

"Huh. I'm actually holding my own against him without using my summons." answered the genin.

Now that he thought of it...shouldn't he be doing that?

Shrugging, Naruto decided to summon Loke...who immediately entered the arena.

"I thought you said that the audience couldn't participate?" inquired Happy.

"They can if they're a summon spirit..." answered Makarov.

"No fair! Why can't I be a summon spirit!" complained the Exceed.

Curious, Naruto noticed that Hinata and Sakura were both cheering him on. Kimimaro also seemed to be cheering as well, though he didn't seem nearly as excited.

On the other hand, Levy and Cana were both rooting for Gajeel.

Loke immediately hit Gajeel with a Twister, sending him flying and causing him a lot of pain.

"Agh!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

At this point, he was having trouble standing.

Getting desperate, Gajeel began to throw a flurry at knives at Naruto, pinning him to the wall.

"A little help here?" inquired the genin.

Unfortunately, Loke had spotted a rather attractive female amongst the audience, and he immedaitely went to flirt with her.

"Oh man..." murmured Naruto.

"Are you going to surrender yet?" inquired Gajeel.

But as before, Naruto was not one to give up.

Managing to set one of his hands free, he immediately summoned Aquarius.

However, she wasn't looking forward to working for Naruto.

"Why should I help you?" inquired the Celestial Spirit.

"I think he's staring at your body." answered the genin.

"What?!" exclaimed Aquarius.

Oddly enough, Gajeel actually was staring at Aquarius's body.

To make a long story short, she was not amused. She immediately hit Gajeel with a tidal wave, sending him flying once again.

This time, he was down for the count...as Laxus quickly demonstrated to the audience.

"Naruto Uzumaki is our winner! Gajeel Redfox is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed the thunder mage.

"Well, it looks like I'm still in the game." answered the genin.

Levy, Cana, Hinata, Elfman, Mirajane, and Elfman all applauded Naruto.

Kimimaro simply smiled.

Shortly afterwards, some mages appeared to heal Naruto and Gajeel's injuries.

"Good fight..." answered the iron dragonslayer as he went towards the bleachers to watch the rest of the S-Class Trial.

He may have lost the trial, but at least he could watch the remaining battles, right?

"Thank you." nodded Naruto as he went to the bleachers.

Once again, the scrambler decided who was going to fight who.

This time, it was Hinata Hyuga vs. Sakura Haruno.

"Funny, didn't Natsu and Gray always argue with each other?" thought Naruto.

Personally he was wondering if this had spread to Hinata and Sakura as well, due to their respective interdimensional partners.

Sure enough, Hinata and Sakura both stepped into the arena.

"Who should I root for?" thought Naruto.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Immediately, Hinata created a ring of fire around herself to protect her from Sakura's attacks.

"Wouldn't want her hitting me now..." thought the kunoichi.

In contrast, Sakura immediately went on the offensive, trying to use her ice magic to extinguish the barrier.

She pressed her hand on the ground, and summoned a Vulcan.

Immediately, he began to throw snowballs at Hinata from above the barrier.

"Not another one..." thought Hinata.

As it turned out, she had been shuffling through the Fairy Tail library and had found out how to summon them.

However, Hinata retaliated with some firepower of her own, which instantly defeated the Vulcan.

Unfortunately for Hinata, Sakura was able to leap above the barrier.

"Let's settle this mano-to-mano, shall we?" inquired the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began attacking her opponent with her fists.

However, Hinata retaliated with her Gentle Fist technique, sending Sakura flying into the barrier.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Sakura as she was burned by the flames.

Thankfully, due to the rules that had been set in place for the S-Class Trials, Hinata had set the flames to a rather low temperature.

However, it was still painful nonetheless.

Sakura once again leaped over the flames, but this time Hinata was ready.

Immediately, she began to perform her Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique.

Unfortunately for Sakura, she was caught in the circle.

"This can't be good..." thought Sakura.

Sure enough, Sakura found herself being hit no less than sixty-four times, and she began to feel very weak.

"Ugh..." murmured the kunoichi.

Immediately, she found herself being unable to stand.

"Did I win?" asked Hinata curiously.

Laxus counted down from 10. Sure enough, Sakura could not get up.

"Hinata Hyuga is our winner! Sakura Haruno is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed the referee.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief. She was still in the game.

Sakura Haruno sighed out of sadness. It looked like she was going to have to try again next year.

Hinata Hyuga shook Sakura's hand.

Once again, they went to the bleachers to continue watching the combatants fight as two healing mages healed their injuries.

This time, it was Cana Alberona up against Elfman Strauss.

Immediately, she began to sweatdrop.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to win this fight..." noted the card mage.

At least she could try, right?

Immediately, she began to shoot cards at Elfman, cutting him in the face.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Elfman.

"Well, at least I managed to injure him..." noted Cana.

However, Elfman responded by picking up Cana and tossing her to the ground.

"Can I have a drink?" asked the alcoholic.

Elfman handed Cana some liquor.

"Thank you." answered the card mage as she downed it in one gulp.

She then hit Elfman on the head with the bottle.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the beast mage.

"Yeah...I'm a bit of an improviser." noted Cana.

However, at that very moment, Elfman began to transform into his animal form.

"Uh-oh..." thought the female mage.

He then began to claw at Cana, causing her to pass out from fright.

Elfman transformed back into his regular form shortly afterwards.

Cana was down for the count, as Laxus explained.

"Elfman Strauss is our winner! Cana Alberona is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed Laxus.

Cana woke up shortly afterwards as two healing mages healed both combatant's injuries.

"I'm going to go drown my sorrows." said the card mage.

Immediately, she went to the nearest tavern.

"I wonder if I'm going to become an S-Class Mage just like my sister..." thought Elfman. He had done better than the last time he had participated in an S-Class Trial.

_Elfman Strauss climbed up a mountain along with his sister Mirajane. Whoever reached the top first was going to be the winner and would obtain the title of an S-Class Mage._

_However, shortly after he began climbing the mountain, he encountered something scary._

_"Aah! It's a spider!" bellowed Elfman._

_The spider in question happened to be rather small, as it happened to be male._

_Immediately, he fled for the hills, leaving Mirajane alone to climb the mountain._

_"Elfman? Elfman?" inquired the future S-Class mage._

_Mirajane let out a sigh. It looked like she was climbing the mountain alone._

_As she did so, she noticed that the small spider in question had a mate that was far larger spinning a web a few feet away from him._

_"Aww, look how cute that big spider is!" exclaimed Mirajane as she continued climbing._

"On the plus side, my sister did manage to earn the title of an S-Class Mage that time..." thought Elfman.

If only he had been braver, maybe he would have won.

No matter. He had a second chance and he wasn't going to let an arachnid scare him this time.

Hinata and Mirajane had both encountered a spider and had survived, and quite frankly, so could he.

The last fighters were Round 1 were of course Levy McGarden and Kimimaro Kaguya, since they were the only ones left.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Immediately, Levy McGarden and Kimimaro Kaguya began to fight.

However, it quickly became apparent that Kimimaro had a distinct advantage.

Though Levy had quite a varied arsenal at her disposal, Kimimaro was able to counter every single one of her attacks.

Levy tried scorching him on fire, pelting him with water, zapping him with lightning bolts, and hitting him with a rock, but none of them were too effective.

"Am I going to get curb-stomped like Cana was?" inquired Levy.

Unfortunately, yes she was.

Immediately Kimimaro summoned a pterodactyl to help him defeat Levy.

As it turned out, due to the fact that each member of the Sound Four (including Jirobo, who had finally obtained a summon of his own a year before his demise) had their own summon, he had decided to practice summoning creatures as well.

As it turned out, his forte was summoning dinosaurs.

Of course, technically the pterodactly wasn't actually a dinosaur...but apparently his summoner contract wasn't that literal.

Then again, that wasn't much of a surprise considering what his second stage of his cursed seal looked like...before Chiyoye drained it to increase her combat abilities.

Immediately, the pterodactyl picked up Levy and began to lift her up into the sky.

"This isn't good..." thought Levy.

She hit the ground very hard, and she immediately collapsed on the floor.

She was down for the count.

"Kimimaro Kaguya is our winner! Levy McGarden is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed Laxus.

Two healing mages healed Levy and Kimimaro, even though the latter was very much still able to fight another battle.

"I guess I'm the only girl left." noted Hinata.

Kimimaro smiled in satisfaction. Personally he was expecting that he would lose rather quickly due to the fact that he no longer had access to his cursed seal.

Then again, the removal of his cursed seal was probably for the best. It did make Sasuke Uchiha do some rather twisted things.

Once again, the scrambler began to decide who was going to fight who. It didn't take long considering that there were only four combatants left.

This time, it was Naruto Uzumaki...

...versus Hinata Hyuga.

"Um..." answered Naruto.

Hinata sweatdropped.

Naruto and Hinata both entered the arena. It was going to be rather awkward fighting each other considering that they were childhood friends.

But at least they would be able to test out their combat abilities.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Once again, Hinata set up a ring of fire to protect herself. Since she wasn't very enthusiastic about punching Naruto in the face, she decided that she would instead try fighting defensively.

Likewise, Naruto wasn't looking forward to hitting Hinata as well.

As such, he decided to have his celestial spirits do his fighting for him. That way he wouldn't technically be fighting Hinata himself.

Knowing that Hinata's eyes were her weakness, Naruto decided to summon Scorpius.

"Hey there! Could you try putting sand in Hinata's eyes for me? I figure that would make life a lot easier..." noted the genin.

Scorpius nodded, and began to kick sand towards Hinata.

However, she quickly brushed the sand away. Apparently, she was somewhat aware that Naruto would try that.

"I guess I'm going to have to try to put out the fire..." thought the genin.

However, Aquarius didn't seem too enthusiastic to listening to him, so he couldn't just summon a tidal wave to extinguish the ring of fire.

"I've got to find a way to get her to obey me..." noted Naruto.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Hinata was taking the opportunity to shoot fireballs at him that passed directly through the ring of fire.

"I'm going to be cremated if one of those hits me..." noted Naruto as he performed some evasive manuevers.

Curious, he began to summon some clones to help him defeat Hinata. Hopefully they would be able to find something that he could use to put out the fire.

Unfortunately, the clones were stupid and went directly through the ring of fire, reducing themselves to ash.

However, he then noticed that there was now an opening for him to attack.

Immediately, he hit Hinata with one of his Rasengan.

"Aah!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Well, I finally managed to get a hit in..." noted Naruto.

However, it appeared that Hinata had fainted. That attack must have caught her by surprise.

Shrugging, Laxus began to perform a countdown.

As it turned out, Hinata was down for the count.

"Naruto Uzumaki is our winner! Hinata Hyuga is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed Laxus.

Hinata woke up shortly afterwards.

"Did I hurt you?" inquired Naruto.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." answered the kunoichi.

"I guess I'm in the top 2 now..." noted the genin.

"You sure are. Congratulations, Naruto." answered Hinata.

Hinata and Naruto both went to sit in the bleachers after the healing mages healed them up.

Of course, the next battle was between Elfman Strauss and Kimimaro Kaguya...since they were the only ones still left in the semifinals.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Immediately, Elfman Strauss transformed into his animal form to help him defeat Kimimaro.

However, Kimimaro retaliated by summoning a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"Wow..." answered Sakura.

"You think this is the same one from Jurassic Park?" inquired Naruto.

"Probably not." answered Hinata.

Immediately, the Tyrannosaurus Rex took a bite out of Elfman.

Thankfully, Kimimaro ordered the T-Rex not to bite down as hard as he could, so he wasn't seriously injured.

However, Elfman responded by punching the T-Rex's teeth out.

"Oh dear..." murmured Levy.

Unfortunately for Kimimaro, the T-Rex's teeth were his only real strength. His feeble arms weren't a match for Elfman's bulging muscles.

Elfman punched him in the gut, and he collapsed on the floor.

"Well, so much for my Tyrannosaurus Rex...at least he tried." noted Kimimaro.

Curious, he wondered if he should try summoning a different dinosaur. Surely, there was a different one that he could use that was more effective against Elfman.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

Immediately, he summoned a Triceratops, which let out a roar.

"This is going to be good." noted Naruto.

The Triceratops then charged at Elfman, piercing him with her horns.

"Yeow!" bellowed Elfman.

"He can still talk in his animal form?" inquired Sakura.

"Apparently he can now." nodded Naruto.

"Those horns sure are useful..." noted Kimimaro.

However, Elfman managed to grab the Triceratops and throw it towards Kimimaro, who leapt out of the way.

Shrugging, Kimimaro decided that he needed to use the weapon that would work against an animal.

After a few moments of thinking, he gave himself the answer.

Suddenly, he reached into his spine and pulled out the bone protecting his spinal cord.

He then began to whip Elfman into submission.

"Ouch! Ow! Oof! Aah! Ouchies!" bellowed Elfman.

"Deja vu." said Gajeel and Naruto in unison.

Immediately, Elfman began to transform back into his regular form.

Elfman tried to continue fighting, but Kimimaro stabbed him with a bone sword, and he collapsed on the ground.

He was down for the count.

"Kimimaro Kaguya is our winner! Elfman Strauss is out of the S-Class Trial!" exclaimed Laxus.

Of course, it was now between Naruto Uzumaki and Kimimaro Kaguya.

"This is the finale, everyone! Whoever wins this fight shall become an S-Class Mage...or should we say S-Class Ninja! 3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus.

Immediately, Naruto began to summon a horde of clones to help him defeat Kimimaro.

However, Kimimaro was able to take them all down very quickly without spending too much chakra.

"This reminds me of our last battle so long ago..." answered the genin.

"I know." nodded Kimimaro.

Kimimaro then followed by trying to slash Naruto with his bone sword.

However, he was able to avoid the strikes, as he was rather fast.

Naruto began trying to combo Kimimaro using taijutsu, but unfortunately the bones that emerged from his body quickly put a stop to that.

"I can't take him down with my bare hands, it seems." thought Naruto.

He was going to have to try a different tactic.

Shrugging, he decided to use his Rasengan. That seemed as good of a tactic as any.

However, Kimimaro was able to shield himself from it.

"Darn it! He's just as strong as ever!" exclaimed Naruto.

Apparently, having his illness removed from his body was helping him make up for his lack of cursed seal.

However, Naruto then remembered that he now had an advantage that he previously did not during his last encounter with him.

"Oh, that's right...the Celestial Spirits." said Naruto.

This time, he summoned Taurus to help him defeat Kimimaro.

"Can you charge at him for me?" asked the genin.

"Yes, sir!" nodded Taurus.

As he did so, he waved at Hinata and Sakura.

"Is he hitting on us?" asked Hinata.

"I should punch him later..." noted Sakura.

Oddly enough, Naruto actually managed to hit Kimimaro this time.

However, he quickly retaliated by summoning an Ankylosaurus.

"Uh-oh." thought Naruto.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that it was protected by some rather impressive armor, Taurus was unable to harm her.

The same did not apply for the ankylosaurus itself, who was able to send Taurus flying with one swing of her club.

"Mooo..." murmured Taurus as he fainted.

Sighing, Naruto dismissed his Celestial Spirit.

Kimimaro then followed by summoning two velociraptors to attack Naruto. Frantically, he began to run away.

Unfortunately, the velociraptors were smart and began attacking him from two different directions.

"Why do velociraptors have to be so clever?" thought Naruto.

Sighing, he decided to summon the Gemini Twins to help him deal with them.

Thankfully, they were able to keep him busy.

However, the ankylosaurus managed to hit him with her club and sent him flying.

"Aah!" exclaimed Naruto.

He was sent flying out of the arena, which counted as a loss.

"And our winner is...Kimimaro Kaguya!" exclaimed Laxus.

Kimimaro actually smiled upon hearing this. He had to admit, he wasn't really looking forward to starting a new life...but if he was considered to be one of the best in his current life, maybe it wasn't so bad.

Laxus immediately took him to a hall where the other S-Class Mages were waiting for him. Immediately, they began to applaud.

"You did it!" cheered Gildarts.

"Not bad." spoke Erza.

"Way to go!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"I salute you." said Laxus.

"I guess I'm the fifth S-Class Mage now...or S-Class Ninja." said Kimimaro.

"I suppose you're our first S-Class Ninja." answered Erza.

Immediately, she left the guild hall to look for Naruto, who looked rather content on getting second place.

"Congratulations on getting second place. Maybe next year you'll actually be able to win." noted Erza.

"Yeah...maybe I will." nodded Naruto.

"By the way, each S-Class candidate that didn't manage to win gets a consolation prize." said Erza.

"They do?" inquired the genin.

Immediately, Erza handed Naruto a present.

As it turned out, it was a Makarov bobblehead.

"Yes!" cheered Naruto.

Naturally, Elfman, Hinata, Sakura, Gajeel, Levy, and Cana received consolation prizes as well.

"I get some metal to eat. Not bad." noted Gajeel.

"Yes! I got an action figure!" exclaimed Elfman.

Hinata squealed upon getting a Natsu action figure.

"I get a punching bag that resembles Naruto...well, now I have another way to take out my rage on him." answered Sakura.

"Finally! Now I can read the last book of Harry Potter!" exclaimed Levy.

"Perfect! I got some alcohol!" bellowed Cana.

"Well, I'm glad that this trial turned out well." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he went back to his apartment to call it a day.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for the foursome, the bandit archers noticed them, and they began to shoot arrows.

Fortunately, Gray was able to shoot icicles at them in retaliation, causing them to pass out.

However, their problems were not over yet.

As it turned out, the bandits had beasts of prey that they could use in the event they ended up being attacked.

Immediately, a gorilla punched Natsu in the face.

"Ouch!" bellowed Natsu.

He then picked up Gray and threw her at Juvia, who landed right on top of her.

Immediately, their cheeks turned red.

Fortunately, Lucy was able to counter with some beasts of her own, and summoned a jaguar to scare away the gorilla.

However, the bandits had a jaguar of their own.

"Things can't be this simple, now can they?" inquired the kunoichi.

Immediately, the jaguar bit Natsu in the arse.

"Ouch!" bellowed the fire mage.

It then began to tear at Lucy's ninja outfit.

"Hey!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Thankfully, she was able to scare it off by creating some clones of herself.

"Not the clothing damage again...then again, this hasn't happened in a while..." noted Lucy.

Fortunately, her ninja outfit wasn't heavily damaged.

However, bandits were beginning to attack the foursome with their daggers.

"Give us your money!" bellowed one of the bandits.

"We know where you live!" exclaimed another bandit.

"Do we actually know where they live?" asked a third bandit.

"We know that they live in Konoha, don't we?" inquired the second bandit.

**"And I live inside your body." **said Kurama.

"Yes, you do..." nodded Lucy.

And to make matters worse for the four, more bandit archers had appeared...and they had set their arrows on fire.

Fortunately for Natsu, he happened to be fireproof, though the arrowheads could still enter his bloodstream nonetheless.

Immediately, Lucy and Natsu took shelter, while Juvia shielded Gray with her body.

Thankfully, due to her ability to convert her body into water, the arrows weren't hurting her much.

"Thanks." answered Gray.

Using her summoner abilities, Lucy summoned some crows to attack the bandit archers.

"Get them off me!" bellowed one of the archers.

Once again, Lucy's summoning abilities were coming in handy.

Juvia then followed by sending a tidal wave to wash the bandits away.

However, they were sending in some bandits that happened to know some jutsus.

In this case, these bandits were able to camouflage themselves.

"Where did they go?" inquired Gray.

Curious, Natsu used his Byakugan to pinpoint their locations.

He then followed by shooting fireballs at them.

Likewise, Lucy summoned a pair of tracking hounds.

Suffice to say, this camouflage ability did not turn out to be too useful for them.

The bandits however were anything if not persistent. They began to create clones of themselves in order to swell their numbers.

Much like Naruto's clones, they exploded upon hit, so they weren't too much of a hassle.

Nonetheless, it was still making life more difficult for them.

And to make matters worse, one of the bandits had gone off to go alert their leader.

"Who is their leader anyway? I don't believe they went over it during our mission briefing..." noted Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

"Mistress Setsuna, we've got terrible news! Konoha has decided to fight back against us! They've sent four of their ninja to invade our camp...and they're doing a good job at it!" exclaimed one of the bandits.

Setsuna sighed.

"I should have known that they were going to attack us eventually..." noted Setsuna.

As it turned out, Setsuna was the leader of the bandits...she happened to wear a white kimono to go with her long white hair, and was wearing a pair of black sandals.

She also happened to wield a sword...a katana, to be specific.

"Alright then...I guess I'm going to have to find a way to take care of this..." spoke Setsuna.

Fortunately for Setsuna, she happened to be quite skilled at wind jutsus, and was very agile.

Immediately, she began to summon a wind clone to help her defeat her enemies.

Unlike Naruto's shadow clones, this one was going to take more than one hit to take out.

Granted, it was still fairly fragile...but she was pretty good at avoiding taking hits. By extension, her clones were not too bad at avoiding being hit as well.

"Right...do me a favor and deal with the intruders, will you? I just obtained a huge amount of ryo from Konoha recently and I don't want it to go to waste." explained Setsuna.

The clone nodded, and went to go search for the intruders.

As it did so, Setsuna thought back as to how she became the leader of the bandits in the first place.

To be honest, she hadn't really intended on becoming the bandit leader. She was just tired of them making sexist remarks about women.

She had simply approached their camp one day while she was on a walk and they began to laugh at her.

In retaliation, she began to slash and cut them in rapid succession.

Immediately, they wanted her to be their leader due to how strong she was. As it turned out, their former leader wasn't a ninja and therefore wouldn't be a match against her.

Thus, he decided to give up his title to her...and stopped making sexist comments about women while he was at it.

Nonetheless, she found that she enjoyed her new occupation. Her bandits would give her virtually everything that she wanted.

However, she was a bit worried that her bandits would not be able to handle Konoha ninja. She had heard not long ago that Captain Bloodbeard and his pirate crew had been arrested by Konoha forces.

It was a shame. She was actually hoping to team up with him one day so that together they could loot Konoha and strip it of its most valuable resources.

Then again, they might make sexist comments about her too.

_Meanwhile..._

"Quit slacking off! We don't have all day here!" exclaimed Shizune.

"Yarr! I'm doing the best I can!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Then why were you snoozing when I saw you?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I was just resting me eye!" exclaimed the captain.

"Get back to work!" demanded Tsunade's apprentice.

Reluctantly, the pirates went back to work.

"I wonder how long it's going to take for them to work up their debt to society..." thought Shizune.

She had to admit, they sure had a lot to answer for.

At that very moment, Tsunade approached her.

"Hello, Mistress Tsunade!" exclaimed Shizune, giving her a salute.

"How close are they to working off my gambling debt?" asked Tsunade.

"They've still got quite a ways to go. I think we're going to need more workers." spoke the kunoichi.

"I suppose we probably will." nodded the Sannin.

"Where are we going to get some?" inquired Shizune.

"I suppose we'll just have to get Lucy and her friends to bust more criminals." answered Tsunade.

"I'm not cut out for this!" bellowed Takeshi.

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you became a psychopath." suggested the Sannin.

"This isn't fair!" screamed the maniac as he weeded Tsunade's garden.

"I sure am glad that Kankuro managed to catch him again..." noted the Sannin.

"Yeah...imagine all the trouble he would have caused otherwise." answered Shizune.

"Once I get out of this slavery I'm going to kill you!" bellowed Takeshi.

"Good luck with that. I'm one of the legendary Sannin, and you've only mastered basic ninja techniques." answered Tsunade.

"One of these days I'm going to kill you!" screamed the ninja.

"Should we leave him to his imagination?" asked Shizune.

"Maybe. I'm not sure if I want to see what's going on in his head, though." answered the Sannin.

"Me neither." agreed Tsunade's apprentice.

_Meanwhile..._

Might Guy noticed that Rock Lee was not focusing on his training, and began to wonder what was going on.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Might Guy.

"Sakura got trapped in an alternate dimension." explained Rock Lee.

"What? She did? Oh, that's right...Tsunade explained that to us..." noted the jonin.

"I hope that she's OK..." noted the martial artist.

As it turned out, Tenten was sparring with Neji.

"I'm sure that she'll be fine. You know how strong she is." said Might Guy.

"True...still, I have to wonder where she went." answered Rock Lee.

"I will admit that Naruto and Hinata have already gone before her..." answered the jonin.

"That's true." nodded Rock Lee.

Personally he had heard that a young man by the name of Gray Fullbuster had taken his place. In addition to his ice manipulation techniques, he had inherited her super strength and well as her temper.

He began to wonder what would happen if he tried using an interdimensional portal. Would he end up becoming interdimensional partners with someone else?

It seemed to be different with everyone, judging from what had happened to Lucy and Natsu.

Then again, it didn't seem to be harmful towards them, though admittedly the former had inherited Naruto's nine-tailed fox and was therefore stuck with a ferocious beast inside her.

"It might be worth a shot..." noted Rock Lee. He sure found it interesting to suddenly be much more powerful than before and to have a new set of abilities.

Maybe he could get a ninjutsu-like skill to go with his taijutsu?

"That would be interesting..." thought Rock Lee. Considering how good he was at martial arts, that certainly would give him an advantage over other taijutsu users.

On the other hand, he might end up being cursed with something similar to how Lucy was.

"I might want to think things through before I jump through an interdimensional portal..." answered Rock Lee.

Then again, if it meant seeing Sakura again, he was all up for it.

Immediately, he decided to resume his training.

"That's better!" exclaimed Might Guy.

He had to admit, he had been improving significantly over the past few weeks.

If he kept it up, he just might surpass his master.

It was actually a bit scary.

Nonetheless, he decided that he wanted to keep on going. Tsunade didn't heal his limbs for nothing.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata was staring at her picture of Natsu. She had to admit, it was rather nice of Makarov to give her a picture of him as a present for making it to the top four in the S-Class Trial.

"You like Natsu, don't you?" inquired Happy.

"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" asked Hinata.

"You've been staring at that picture for a long time." noted the Exceed.

Hinata's cheeks turned red.

"I suppose I have." nodded the kunoichi.

"I bet you can't wait to meet Natsu in the flesh!" exclaimed Happy.

"Well, I am rather excited about it. Then again, I imagine you would be happy to see him again too...as your name would suggest." noted Hinata.

"Of course I would!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"I wouldn't imagine that it would be too long before we get to see him again now...I've got a feeling." said the kunoichi.

"Hooray!" cheered Happy.

"By the way, I got to see his mentor, Igneel." spoke Hinata.

"Did you now?" inquired the Exceed.

"As a matter of fact, I did. He actually helped me learn some tricks..." explained the kunoichi.

"So that's how you were able to defeat Sakura." said Happy.

"I suppose...I couldn't defeat Naruto though. He's probably the strongest ninja in the history of ever." spoke Hinata.

"Is he now?" inquired the Exceed.

"Well, that's what I think of him." answered the kunoichi.

"Do you think Natsu is the strongest mage in the history of ever?" inquired Happy.

Hinata's cheeks turned red again.

"Why do you ask?" asked the kunoichi.

"No reason." answered Happy.

Curious, Hinata noticed that Happy let out a small giggle when he said that.

"I'm going to bed. See you later, Happy." said the fire ninja.

"Good night!" exclaimed Happy as he went to bed as well.

"This S-Class Trial was quite a hassle...but at least I wasn't one of the first to go..." she thought.

Maybe one day she could become an S-Class Mage herself...or maybe an S-Class Ninja.

That sure sounded like something that she could look forward to. Then again, she was going to have to wait another year for another S-Class Trial...unless they decide to reschedule it.

So it looks like she was just going to have to do more missions for now.

"Zzz..." murmured Hinata as she went to sleep.

_Meanwhile..._

Shikamaru let out a sigh. He had heard a rumor that Kenichi was on the move once again...and that he was still in the Land Of Fire somewhere.

Then again, not everything he had heard about him was actually true.

"I hope Lucy and her friends are safe...I wouldn't want anything to happen to them..." he thought.

After all, she did help him when he assembled a retrieval squad to get her out of the Element 4's clutches.

He had to admit, she managed to assemble a force about as quickly as he did.

It was good to see that they shared the same talent.

"Maybe she'll be fine." thought Shikamaru.

Immediately, he went to sleep.

_Lucy and her friends have successfully infilitrated the bandit camp...but unfortunately their leader happens to be a rather experienced ninja herself. Not good._

_Is the rumor of Kenichi still being in the Land Of Fire true?_

_In the next chapter, we're going to see more action...including Setsuna herself and what she can do. See you!_


	25. Chapter 25: The Bandit Queen

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Lucy and her friends are going to take on the Bandit Queen...you've been waiting for a confrontation, now haven't you?_

_Oh, and Naruto and his friends are going to try to slay a vampire! Hooray._

**Chapter 25: The Bandit Queen**

Lucy and her friends were starting to get a bit bored. To be honest, taking out these bandits was becoming too easy.

Then again, the bandits were losing morale rather quickly.

However, as it turned out, things were going to start getting more difficult.

Suddenly, Setsuna's wind clone appeared.

"Mistress? Is that you?" asked one of the bandits.

"I'm one of her clones, actually." explained the wind clone.

"Oh...help us! Please!" exclaimed the bandits.

"I'm working on it." nodded the clone.

Immediately, she pulled out a katana.

"Uh-oh..." thought Lucy.

With a few slashes of her sword, a small tornado appeared and began to juggle Natsu, who began to feel motion sick.

"Ugh..." murmured Natsu.

"Thank goodness this is only a clone..." noted Lucy. From what she could tell, a duplicate a ninja created of themselves was always much weaker than the original.

Nonetheless, this clone seemed to be a tad bit stronger than the bandits they had faced earlier.

Immediately, the wind clone began to try to slash Lucy, whose ninja outfit ended up being slashed.

"Aw man..." complained Lucy.

She then followed by trying to slash Gray, who countered with an ice sword.

"This clone is fast." noted the ice mage.

Apparently, they were going to have to stay on their feet if they wanted to take down the clone.

Immediately, he began to participate in a swordfight with Setsuna's doppelganger. Thankfully, she wasn't as good as swordplay as her original counterpart.

Juvia took the opportunity to flank the clone with her three-armed punch, which was rather successful.

Immediately, the clone was knocked on her feet.

Gray then followed by stabbing the clone with his ice sword, causing it to explode into a burst of wind.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." noted Lucy.

"I don't think this is over yet though..." acknowledged Gray.

"True..." nodded the summoner mage.

At that very moment, the former bandit chief appeared, and began to rally the bandits together.

"They're ready for an all-out assault!" exclaimed Natsu.

"That's not good." nodded Juvia.

Immediately, the bandits began to swarm the foursome.

"It looks like we're going to have to make a stand here..." noted Lucy.

Natsu began to feel rather nervous.

Juvia started off by launching a miniature tidal wave at the bandits, causing them to collapse on the floor.

Gray then followed by dropping icicles on the bandits, which sure enough proved to be rather sharp.

Natsu then shot several fireballs at the bandits...though he was still rather woozy from the tornado that Setsuna's clone had summoned, he was still going strong nonetheless.

Lastly, Lucy decided to attack the bandits with something rather ironic...a flock of magpies.

"Agh!" exclaimed one of the bandits.

"Get them off me!" bellowed another bandit.

"They're trying to take my jewels!" exclaimed a third bandit.

"Well, that worked surprising well." noted Lucy.

However, she quickly discovered that the former bandit chief was now piloting what appeared to be a war machine.

"Something tells me they're starting to get rather desperate." spoke Lucy.

Natsu's face was covered with sweat.

Immediately, the war machine began to shoot several cannonballs.

"Look out!" exclaimed Gray.

This was then followed by the war machine charging straight towards them.

"Oh my..." noted Juvia.

It appeared that they were going to have to work together once again in order to take down the machine.

"Give it up! You're finished!" bellowed the bandit chief.

"I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch." said Lucy.

"Funny, I believe that I stole a flock of chickens last week..." answered the former bandit chief.

"OK..." answered Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

Curious, Naruto decided that it was about time to accept another request. Surely he would do better at the S-Class Trials next year if he became stronger?

Then again, he might not actually be at Fairy Tail next year.

Nonetheless, he decided that he wanted to help the citizens of Fiore again.

This time, he had the peculiar request to slay a vampire.

"Hmm...this sounds rather risky." noted Naruto. Inevitably, the vampire was going to want to drink his blood.

Curious, he wondered if any of his friends wanted to participate in this mission.

Sure enough, Hinata was nearby, licking the flames from another torch.

"Hey there, Hinata! Do you want to help me with a mission again?" inquired Naruto.

"Huh? Sure!" nodded Hinata.

"OK then! Let's become vampireslayers, shall we?" exclaimed Naruto.

"I might become the next Buffy..." murmured the kunoichi.

"The next Buffy? Well, admittedly, I'm the blonde here..." noted the genin.

"But you're not a girl." answered Hinata.

"Fair enough." nodded Naruto.

Curious, he noticed that Sakura was nearby as well, and she was punching a punching bag with her fists, which were currently coated in ice.

"Maybe I should start calling myself the Avalanche...since I have super strength to go with my new ice powers..." thought Sakura.

"Sakura, can you help me with this mission as well?" inquired the genin curiously.

"Sure...what do you need help with?" asked Sakura.

"I'm trying to slay a vampire." explained Naruto.

"Alright then." nodded the medical ninja.

"Um, Sakura...you're taking off your pants." warned the genin.

Frantically, Sakura put them back on.

Curious, he noticed that Gajeel was nearby as well, eating a sword.

"Gajeel, can you help me? I know that we were enemies in the past but..." answered the genin.

"Is there going to be combat?" inquired Gajeel.

"As a matter of fact, there is. I need you to help me slay a vampire..." spoke Naruto.

"A vampire? Alright then." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

Curious, Naruto decided to see where he needed to go to complete the mission.

As it turned out, the vampire lived in a dark, spooky castle near a small town by the name of Scaryvania.

"Scaryvania? Go figure." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the four set out to go search for the vampire.

"Hmm...it says that Scaryvania is to the east...I suppose we should head there for supplies before we go slay the vampire." answered the genin.

Sure enough, there was a dark, spooky forest up ahead.

"We might want to be careful...there might be dangerous creatures in that forest." noted Hinata.

"Well, I already went into a jungle where there were several creatures trying to kill me...one of them ripped off my shirt." answered Naruto.

"You got your shirt ripped off?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah...it's already happened to me twice." said Naruto.

Gajeel rubbed his hand behind his head.

The four of them cautiously proceeded through the forest.

Sure enough, there were several unfriendly creatures inside. Immediately, they were attacked by ghosts.

"Turn back..." warned one of the ghosts.

"It is dangerous..." answered another ghost.

"We know...we're trying to slay a vampire here so that people don't get their blood drunk." answered Sakura.

One of the ghosts slashed her in the face.

"Alright, you asked for it!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, her fists went straight through the ghost.

"Don't try to punch us...it is futile..." warned said ghost.

"Darn it! What's a girl to do?" inquired Sakura.

"Maybe you could try hitting them with your ice magic?" asked Hinata.

Oddly enough, Hinata's Gentle Fist technique was proving to be very useful against the ghosts, since said technique targetted the soul.

Shrugging, Sakura tried doing so, which proved to be effective.

Gajeel's iron dragonslayer magic was proving to be useful as well...apparently, the ghosts didn't like metal too much.

Naruto tried to summon Taurus and Aries, but they were both very frightened.

"Take a deep breath for me, will you?" inquried the genin.

Taurus and Aries nodded, and began to take deep breaths.

"I wonder why this forest suddenly became so scary." said Sakura.

"Maybe there's something tainting it..." answered Hinata.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sound of what appeared to be wolves.

"More wolves? I already recall facing them in my ice mission...then again, something seems more sinister about these ones..." noted the kunoichi.

Sure enough, they were now under attack by some wolves...who happened to have glowing red eyes. Apparently, they were possessed by something.

Taurus and Aries began to panic.

"Don't let them eat us!" exclaimed Taurus.

Aries immediately jumped into Taurus's arms.

"Um, hello there, miss...I haven't seen you before." answered Taurus.

Aries's cheeks turned red.

"Um, hello?" inquired the sheep spirit.

Immediately, Naruto created some copies of himself to attack the wolves...since unfortunately his celestial spirits weren't being helpful at the moment.

"Maybe I should try summoning a spirit that's braver?" inquired Naruto.

Suddenly, one of the wolves bit Aries in the leg.

"Ouch!" bellowed Aries.

This made Taurus angry...though he happened to be somewhat lecherous, he was also somewhat chivalrious, and he did not want a pretty girl to end up in danger.

So, he began fighting back against the wolves...who oddly enough turned to be more bark than bite.

"There we go!" exclaimed Naruto.

Realizing how brave Taurus was being, Aries decided to step in on the action as well.

Immediately, she began to plow through the wolves with her horns.

"It looks like they're beginning to falter..." said Hinata.

"That's a good sign." nodded Naruto.

However, it appeared that their leader was on the eve on his appearance.

Their leader in question...happened to be a werewolf.

"Uh-oh..." thought the kunoichi.

"You want to get through this forest? You'll have to kill me first!" exclaimed the werewolf.

"It appears that he's guarding the way out of the forest so that intruders won't disturb his master..." noted Sakura.

"Your name is..." asked Naruto.

"My name is Lycan...admittedly my parents weren't too creative..." answered Lycan.

"OK..." answered Gajeel.

Immediately, Lycan lunged towards the four.

_Meanwhile..._

Levy was trying to get the interdimensional portal up and running again. She had been saving her magic for the occassion.

Now, it was about time to try again.

"Hopefully I can make it last longer this time..." noted the letter mage.

She didn't want the interdimensional portal to close on anyone else.

On the plus side, her experiments with it were proving to be rather successful.

"At this rate I should be able to make it more permanent..." noted Levy.

That way everyone could go back home and everyone would be happy. Sometimes, she knew what it was like to be homesick.

"I feel bad separating everyone from their homes..." thought Levy.

Then again, Makarov did insist on trying to test out the interdimensional portal. He said that it would be wrong to let it go to waste.

Now that she thought of it, she was rather interested in seeing what was on the other side herself.

The world of ninja seemed like a rather interesting place. Was it like the world of magic? There were a lot of questions that she wanted answers for.

"Hmm..." thought the letter mage.

However, she got the feeling that heading to the world of ninja could be rather dangerous as well. She might not want to go in there alone.

"I suppose I could try bringing my teammates with me...then again, they might not be as interested in exploring the world of ninja as I am." answered Levy.

Shrugging, she decided that it was time to continue her work.

She didn't want to be a slacker.

"Let's see now...if I cast this spell and then cast that spell...hmm..." answered the letter mage.

Suddenly, Happy entered the room.

"What are you doing?" asked the Exceed.

Levy jumped in surprise.

"Happy! You scared me!" exclaimed the Letter Mage.

Happy sweatdropped.

"Sorry about that..." answered the Exceed.

"It's fine...I was just working on making another interdimensional portal so that everyone could get back home..." spoke Levy.

"Hooray!" exclaimed Happy.

"Hopefully I'll be able to make it more permanent so that it doesn't suddenly close like it has before..." answered the letter mage.

"Woohoo!" bellowed the Exceed.

"However, I have to wonder how making a permanent interdimensional portal would effect Fairy Tail and Fiore as a whole..." noted Levy.

"Hmm?" asked Happy curiously.

"Now that I think of it...we seem to be adding a lot of ninja to our guild to replace the ones that we've lost to the interdimensional portal..." acknowledged the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"At this rate we might have to change our guild's name to Ninja Tail!" exclaimed Happy.

"And you just made a title drop." answered the letter mage.

"A title drop?" inquired the Exceed.

"You just said the title of the story out loud." explained Levy.

"I did? Heh heh." answered the blue cat.

"Yeah...I'm starting to see why the author would want to call it that..." noted the letter mage.

"Yeah!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Can we stop breaking the fourth wall now? I need to focus..." asked the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"Huh? Of course." nodded Happy.

Immediately, Levy continued trying to research so that she could make a better interdimensional portal.

"How big can I make an interdimensional portal anyway? I'm not sure if I need to limit myself to one size..." answered the letter mage.

Happy left to go take a catnap.

_Meanwhile..._

"Sheesh...those bandits sure have impressive technology..." noted Lucy.

Did they somehow manage to enter the world of magic?

Then again, she had heard that some ninja had been using puppets to assist them in combat...they were rather elaborately designed.

In fact, according to Juvia and Gray, one such puppeteer had managed to save her life.

"Hooray for ventriloquists...I guess." answered the kunoichi. To be honest, ventriloquist dummies kind of freaked her out. They were kind of...uncanny.

To make matters worse, several bandits had arrived to assist the war machine. Some of them shot arrows, others tried to stab them.

"As if the war machine wasn't powerful enough alone..." thought Lucy.

Thankfully, they managed to take out the bandits quickly.

Unfortunately, the war machine showed no signs of slowing down the assault.

Suddenly, the war machine pulled out a flamethrower and began to shoot out flames at the foursome.

"Prepare to be cooked!" exclaimed the former bandit chief.

"Wah!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Take cover!" warned Gray.

The bandit chief began to laugh...though in the process several of the huts the bandits were using as houses were burned away.

"I might have to help rebuild those huts later..." thought the former bandit chief.

However, his plan to defeat the intruders had a flaw.

Natsu immediately swallowed the flames and began to shoot them at the war machine, setting it on fire.

"Aah! Fire fire fire!" bellowed the former bandit chief.

And since the war machine was made of wood...the fire began to spread quickly.

Thankfully, there was an emergency fire extinguisher inside the war machine, along with an axe.

Using the axe, he pulled out the fire extinguisher and began trying to put out the fire.

Fortunately for him, he succeeded.

"Thank goodness...sheesh...look how messed up the war machine is now..." noted the former bandit chief.

However, the fire extinguisher gave Juvia an idea of what to do next.

Immediately, she attacked the war machine with a waterfall, causing the inside of the machine to be flooded.

"Aah!" exclaimed the bandit chief.

This did the trick, and the war machine was shattered.

Immediately, the bandit chief went to alert Setsuna of the situation.

"Well, looks like a job well done." answered Lucy.

"Yes, it does." nodded Gray.

"I think they're going to send their leader now though...I believe it was that woman we encountered earlier...or rather her clone." spoke the summoner mage.

"I hope that we're ready..." said Natsu.

"Juvia thinks we are. Drip drop, drip drop." answered Juvia.

Immediately, the former bandit chief alerted Setsuna of the situation.

"Can't you do anything right?" inquired Setsuna.

"I tried to stop them, mistress! But they were too strong!" he explained.

"Fine...I'll deal with them myself. Don't make such a big deal out of this." answered the bandit queen.

"Fine..." answered the former bandit chief.

Immediately, Setsuna pulled out her katana.

"Off to slay the intruders I go." said the wind ninja.

"Where did you get to be so strong?" inquired the man.

"Well..." answered Setsuna.

_"Alright, you sissies! I want you all to be the strongest ninjas you can be! If you slack off, you're going to suffer the consequences!" exclaimed the sergeant._

_As it turned out, Setsuna used to study at a ninja military school. Her parents had been rather hard on her._

_"Sir, yes, sir!" bellowed the ninja._

_"Right then...show me what you got!" bellowed the rather nasty ninja._

_Unfortunately, the ninjas did not have much._

_"Are you kidding? C'mon, be a man!" exclaimed the drill sergeant ninja._

_"But I'm a girl..." said Setsuna, raising her hand._

_"Then don't act like a woman! Act like a man!" bellowed the sergeant._

_Sighing, Setsuna decided to give it the best she had._

_As it turned out, she had hidden potential._

_Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind sent her fellow students flying away._

_"Wah!" bellowed one of the students._

_"Hold on to your seat!" exclaimed another student._

_"Magnificient! Apparently, you're stronger than I thought! Maybe I should use you as an example..." answered the sergeant._

_"An example?" asked Setsuna._

_Granted, during her chakra test it was proven that wind was her speciality...but she had no idea she was this talented with it._

_Immediately, the sergeant asked Setsuna to step up in front of the other students._

_"Um...sure..." nodded the wind ninja in training._

_Setsuna did as the sergeant demanded._

_As it turned out, the sergeant was much more amicable towards those that actually were strong._

_"This fine girl is the best student we have ever had! I want you all to be just like her!" exclaimed the sergeant._

_Immediately, his students saluted Setsuna with respect._

_"You know...as much as I dreaded going here...I guess this isn't so bad..." thought the wind ninja._

_She was going to have quite the story to tell her parents when she got home._

"So...you used to be a student at a ninja military school?" inquired the former bandit chief.

"Did you think I spent my time as a youth picking flowers?" asked Setsuna.

"I guess not." answered the chief.

"What is your name, anyway? I don't believe you ever told me before you let me be in charge as the bandit queen..." spoke Setsuna.

"My name? It's Kerai..." answered Kerai.

"I see..." nodded the wind kunoichi.

"Where did you get that katana?" inquired Kerai.

"Well, since I did so well at the ninja military school...my parents gave me this as a gift. Said that I could use it to help me become the best ninja I could be..." explained the wind kunoichi.

Immediately, Setsuna left to go deal with the intruders.

"Good luck out there!" exclaimed the former bandit chief.

_Meanwhile..._

Once more, Hinata set up a ring of fire to help defend her teammates.

"Funny, during our battle, you seemed to prefer fighting offensively..." noted Gajeel.

"Well, that's because you made me angry...I usually don't fight like that nowadays." answered Hinata.

"Oh..." acknowledged the iron dragonslayer.

"Speaking of which, don't beat up Naruto again..." demanded the female fire dragonslayer.

"We actually got a duel over who got to be the next S-Class Mage, actually." said Naruto.

"I know...I was there. I meant don't torture him again...he's not a test dummy." demanded Hinata.

Gajeel nodded. From now on, he wasn't going to be evil. Being evil sucked.

Of course, Sakura wasn't one to fight defensively. After asking Hinata if she could remove her from the fire barrier, she began pummeling the wolves with her fists.

Likewise, Gajeel began doing the same. Apparently, he wanted to go on the offensive as well.

"Do you want to go on the offensive too, Naruto?" inquired Hinata.

"No thanks. I'm good." nodded Naruto.

Unfortunately, it appeared that even some of the trees in this forest were a threat to them.

Immediately, they began to try to claw at their faces.

"Oh my gosh! The trees are attacking us!" exclaimed Naruto.

However, they did not seem to realize that they were up against a fire mage.

Hinata tossed some fireballs at the offending treants, causing them to burn.

"Well, I guess I won't have to worry too much about trees suddenly attacking me...I might as well become a lumberjack." answered the kunoichi.

Then again, she'd rather attack enemies with her fists rather than with an axe...much like Sakura herself.

However, Sakura now had a variety of weapons to go with her bare hands these days.

"I wish I had some silver right about now..." noted the kunoichi as she began to freeze the wolves solid.

"You will never defeat my pack!" exclaimed Lycan.

Immediately, he began to howl and more wolves began to appear.

"Funny, you appear to be the only werewolf in your pack..." questioned Sakura.

"I know...the other werewolves kicked me out because I was a lunatic..." answered Lycan.

"I can see why." nodded the kunoichi.

"Heh heh...lunatic." thought Gajeel.

Curious, Naruto remembered that he could also summon Gamabunta to help him attack his enemies.

Immediately, he pressed his hand on the ground, and the giant toad arrived to help.

"Lucy, is that you?" inquired Gamabunta.

Curious, he then realized that it was actually Naruto.

"Oh. Never mind, then." answered the giant toad.

"Hmm? Did you say Lucy?" asked Naruto. Apparently, Jiraiya was training Lucy in Naruto's absence.

"Yes, I said that." nodded Gamabunta.

"Oh...I guess Lucy's training under pervy sage's wing...interesting..." thought Naruto.

Immediately, Gamabunta began to attack the wolves, crushing them underneath his bulk.

However, Lycan wasn't one to give up, and he sank his teeth into Gamabunta's leg.

"Ouch!" bellowed the giant toad.

"I'm going to eat your legs!" exclaimed Lycan.

However, Gamabunta managed to grab the werewolf by the tongue, and flung him into the sky.

"Aaugh!" screamed the werewolf.

Leaping his way back towards Gamabunta, he began trying to claw him in the face.

"He's persistent..." noted the toad.

"You didn't tell me that you could summon a giant toad..." answered Gajeel.

"I usually save him for emergencies..." explained Naruto.

Immediately, Gamabunta hit Lycan with some water, causing him to smell rather bad.

This did not do favors for Hinata and Gajeel's heightened senses of smell, who began covering their noses.

"Ugh...my nose..." murmured Hinata.

"Agh..." spoke Gajeel.

In retaliation, Lycan began to tear into Gamabunta viciously.

"I might need some help here..." said the giant toad. Lycan may be much smaller than he was, but he was still very ferocious.

"Taurus! Aries!" exclaimed Naruto.

Taurus and Aries began to help the giant toad defeat Lycan, attacking him with an axe and some wool respectively.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Lycan.

Oddly enough, the wool in question made him feel rather relaxed.

"I thought I you could only summon toads..." questioned Gamabunta.

"Not anymore..." answered Naruto.

"Alright then..." nodded the giant toad, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Unable to defeat the trio, Lycan eventually fainted...shortly afterwards, he transformed into a small puppy.

"Hmm...it appears that whoever cast that spell on him...their magic is wearing off..." noted Hinata.

"You think it was the vampire?" inquired Sakura.

"Most likely." answered the Hyuga clan member.

Shortly afterwards, the forest became much more cheery. It now looked far less scary than before.

"So far we seem to be doing a good job." said Naruto.

"I actually liked the old forest better..." answered Gajeel.

"I guess you can't please everyone." shrugged the genin.

Immediately, they continued making their way towards Scaryvania.

_Meanwhile..._

"Here comes their leader!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Setsuna approached them.

"Well well well. It looks like you and your friends have launched an all-out assault on our little camp...I guess Konoha couldn't tolerate us any longer." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"No, we could not. You can't just go around stealing our belongings, you know." said the summoner mage.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Natsu.

"No matter...to be honest, I was getting a bit bored being the leader of the bandits...I actually wanted something to do other than go around stealing from others...I'm glad I've finally found something else to do." answered Setsuna.

"Yeah...I guess so." nodded Gray.

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you shall get." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to blow the four away.

"Aah!" exclaimed Natsu.

"The wind is buffeting my face!" bellowed Gray.

"She sure is strong..." noted Juvia.

"I'm not the leader of the bandits for nothing." answered Setsuna.

She then followed by trying to slash the four in rapid succession. Juvia immediately blocked with her Rashomon gate.

"What's this? It appears we have a Rashomon user here...I'm rather impressed. It's not going to be easy to tear it down...at least not for my loyal bandit crew..." noted Setsuna.

The Rashomon gate then followed by shooting bubbles at the kunoichi, who began cutting through them with her blade.

"I haven't recalled a Rashomon gate being able to do so before...but I guess I have to adapt accordingly." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to slash and cut the Rashomon metal gate, causing it to fall apart. She then panted in exhaustion shortly afterwards. It was hard work.

"That was one strong metal gate...now then, where were we? Ah yes!" exclaimed Setsuna.

Summoning three clones of herself, she began to whip up a hurricane.

Immediately, the four of them found themselves being buffeted with some rather fierce wind indeed.

"What jutsu is most effective against wind, anyway?" inquired Gray.

"I believe that it was fire jutsu...Natsu, you need to do something about this!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You think I can do it? I hope you're right..." answered the fire mage.

"Well, at least he seems a bit more confident than our last mission together..." thought the kunoichi.

Taking a deep breath, Natsu let out a Fire Dragon's Roar, causing the wind clones to disappear and the winds to disappear.

Setsuna was rather shocked at the occurrence. Then again, considering a wind user's corresponding weakness in the chakra elemental table, she wasn't too surprised. It was only a matter of time before one of them was going to try that.

"I might need to be cautious...that drill sergeant did warn me that wind ninja were weak against fire ninja...and that I would be at a disadvantage if I ended up facing one..." noted Setsuna.

She began wondering if pillaging ninja from the Land Of Fire was such a good idea, and if she should have tried pillaging ninja from the Land Of Lightning instead.

But no matter. Even if she found herself outmatched, she could always rely on her apprentice to help her out in a bad situation.

But for the time being, she needed to deal with her biggest threat.

Immediately, she began to slash Natsu repeatedly.

"Agh!" exclaimed Natsu.

He collapsed on the ground, not expecting Setsuna to be so quick.

"Natsu!" bellowed Lucy.

Fortunately, Juvia was there to help. She immediately stuffed Natsu in her body so that he could heal.

However, this caused Setsuna to mark her as her next target.

"Stab the medic first...the drill sergeant said..." answered the wind ninja.

As Juvia knew, if she suffered damage while Natsu was still in her body, he was going to feel it as well.

She immediately began trying to avoid Setsuna's attacks while Natsu began the healing process.

"I'm giving my name a whole new meaning..." thought Juvia, noting how similar her name was to "rejuvenation".

"Should we help her?" asked Gray.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Gray used his ice magic to freeze Setsuna in place.

"Let me go!" exclaimed Setsuna.

"Only if you agree not to rob the Land Of Fire again..." answered Gray.

"That's a bit tempting at the moment...but there's still a lot of loot that I've left unplundered..." noted the wind ninja.

Immediately, she broke free from Gray's ice magic.

"Darn it! I was hoping that it would hold her a bit longer..." noted the ice mage.

She then followed by shooting wind sickles at Gray.

"Yeowch!" bellowed the ice mage.

At this point, Lucy decided to see if she could summon a magical creature rather than an animal for a change.

She ended up summoning a miniature dragon.

"Perfect! Now I can fight wind with fire!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Isn't that just dandy?" asked the dragon.

"Why do you sound like Eddie Murphy?" inquired Lucy.

"No reason..." answered the miniature dragon.

Immediately, Lucy used her mini dragon to attack Setsuna with fireballs, which she began to parry with her sword.

"Aren't you a fiesty one..." noted the wind kunoichi.

"I'm not going down without a fight." answered Lucy.

"Of course you're not..." spoke Setsuna.

At that very moment, Gray stabbed her from behind with an ice dagger.

"Agh!" bellowed the wind user.

Juvia and Natsu appeared a few minutes later.

"I'm starting to see why my bandits had trouble disposing of you...but no matter. It's time for me to call for reinforcements!" exclaimed Setsuna.

Setsuna let out a whistle, and several bandits appeared to help their mistress defeat the intruders.

"Calling for reinforcements, huh? I do that all the time..." noted Lucy.

Juvia, Natsu, Gray, and Lucy got ready to fight the bandits once again.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata, Naruto, Sakura, and Gajeel approached Scaryvania. Once again, the background was becoming dark and spooky.

"Now this is more like it." thought Gajeel.

"At least the forest is still cheerful." noted Hinata.

Suddenly, several villagers began to attack them.

"We're under attack!" bellowed one of the villagers.

Immediately, the angry mob began to throw pebbles at them, as well as lunge at them with their pitchforks.

"Ouch! Quit it!" demanded Sakura.

"Seems they're not too happy to see us..." answered Hinata.

"You're with the vampires, aren't you?!" exclaimed one of the villagers.

"What? We're not with the vampires!" bellowed Naruto.

Curious, the villagers suddenly halted their fire.

However, one of them pointed out something suspicious.

"Wait...if you're not with the vampires...what are you doing hanging out with one of them?" inquired one of the villagers.

Immediately, said villager pointed to Hinata, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"Huh? Hinata? She's not a vampire..." answered Naruto.

Curious, Hinata recalled that she happened to be in a family of aristocrats...and that she had drunk some dragon blood not too long ago.

Also, her eyes happened to be rather pale.

"Is is true? Am I really a vampire?" inquired Hinata.

Curious, she looked at herself in the mirror and discovered that she had a reflection.

"Oh...I guess not. Heh heh." answered the kunoichi.

"Put your weapons away. She's not a vampire, she is our friend." explained Sakura.

The villagers let out a sigh of relief.

Immediately, they escorted them to their leader...whose name happened to be Samson.

"Greetings! I take it you accepted our request to slay a vampire?" inquired Samson.

"Yes, we did." nodded Sakura.

"I'm looking forward to it." spoke Gajeel.

"Of course you are." answered the medical kunoichi.

"Good...his name is Dracferatu. He's been attacking us and drinking our blood...and turning us into his loyal followers..." spoke the village chief.

"That's terrible." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Samson handed the four an instruction book on how to deal with vampires.

"Interesting..." answered Hinata.

She decided to hold onto the book for safekeeping.

"I take he lives in that dark, scary castle out in the distance?" inquired Sakura.

"As a matter of fact, yes he does. Be careful! He has a horde of evil minions to do his bidding!" warned Samson.

"Right, of course. I'll stab him in the heart with a stake and watch him turn into dust! Or maybe I'll expose him to sunlight and watch the sun do the rest..." nodded Gajeel.

"I'm afraid sunlight doesn't reduce him to ash...it just makes him sparkle." answered Samson.

"Oh...I guess I'll just stab him in the heart with a stake then." spoke the iron dragonslayer.

"Good luck out there!" exclaimed the village chief.

Curious, Naruto started to wonder if he was being deceived again. Samson seemed a bit more trustworthy than Ebemener Scourge was...but he didn't want to fall for the same trick twice.

"Would you mind if we took a look at your reflection first? Just wondering...last time we went on a mission like this we ended up running into a rather corrupt mayor...he almost made us kill Santa!" asked the genin.

"Sure. Wait, kill Santa? Sheesh." questioned Samson.

Sure enough, he had a reflection.

"Well, he seems trustworthy enough. Let's get going!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I'm with you there." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, the four headed towards Dracferatu's Castle.

"They might be our only hope..." thought Samson.

_Meanwhile..._

Konohamaru once again walked his way to school. This time, he had brought some ryo to protect himself from the bullies.

"Let's see now...this is about five hundred ryo...this should be enough to hold them off for now..." said the genin.

Then again, their prices just might be absurd. They seemed rather...greedy.

At that very moment, The Sorority approached him again.

"Did you bring the money this time?" asked Momoo.

"Yes, I did." nodded Konohamaru.

"Good! Hand it over!" exclaimed the leader of The Sorority.

Immediately, Konohamaru handed the thugs the ryo he had in his pocket.

"So, are you not going to beat me up?" inquired the genin.

"No. We are not." answered Momoo.

Konohamaru let out a sigh of relief.

"We're just going to wedgie you up that flagpole over there." explained the leader of the bullies.

"What?!" bellowed the apprentice. He thought that he was going to be safe from the bullies now. Why were they still bullying him?

Immediately, the bullies picked up Konohamaru by the underwear and hung him up the flagpole.

They then left him be so that he would be late to school.

"Bye!" taunted Momoo as he headed back home. Apparently, he wasn't interested in visiting his teacher himself today.

"This is a Morton's Fork, isn't it?" thought Konohamaru. Regardless of whether he paid the bullies ryo or not, he was still going to get bullied...though admittedly the bullying wasn't going to quite as extreme if he paid the bullies not to do so.

Apparently, it didn't matter much to the bullies whether he provided them with ryo or not. They were going to bully him regardless. What exactly was their problem? Did they all suffer from a bad childhood in the past?

Considering that he had lost his grandfather because of a deranged maniac that liked to dance around in other people's skin, he supposed that he could relate to them. He began to wonder how he was doing inside the Grim Reaper's stomach.

He was going to be stuck in there forever.

He had to admit...though he enjoyed training with his jonin teacher...he hated having to walk his way towards him every single time. For some strange reason, that was when Momoo and his gang always struck.

He also got the feeling that he wasn't their first victim...and that they were looking for another genin to bully as he spoke.

"Maybe I should try not walking alone for a change..." noted the boy. Maybe that way the bullies would be more hard-pressed to attack him. Then again, Momoo never seemed to try to bully him alone, either. Both times he had brought his friends with him.

"Well, I suppose it's better for nothing." said Konohamaru as he began to free himself from the flagpole.

Immediately, he landed on the ground and helped himself to his feet.

He then tucked his underpants back in.

"Here's hoping that I'm not late for school...my jonin teacher won't be happy with me if I am..." answered Konohamaru.

Hopefully things were going to change one day. But just who was going to be his savior?

"Hopefully someone big and strong..." he thought.

Maybe he should try telling his jonin teacher about the bullies? She might be able to give him a hand.

Then again, she always seemed to be rather busy, since he wasn't the only student that she was training at the moment.

She personally reminded him a bit of Kurenai, who as he knew happened to be his uncle's girlfriend.

Then again, unlike her, she wasn't a genjutsu specialist. She was in fact a ninjutsu specialist. She in fact had mastered three nature transformations, which he found to be impressive.

Then again, one of those nature transformations was one that she specialized in...which in this case was fire, much like his uncle.

Maybe he could try mastering more than one nature transformation. That would be something that he could show off to his friends, now wouldn't it?

These thoughts surrounded his head as he headed towards his jonin teacher.

_Who is Konohamaru's savior going to be? You'll find out in due time...but in the meantime, let's focus on our main characters, shall we? He's going to receive some time in the spotlight sooner or later...but for now, I hope you enjoy watching Naruto and Lucy (along with their friends) go on another mission._

_In the next chapter, we're going to be introduced to Setsuna's apprentice...as well as Dracferatu...see how I named him? Heh heh._


	26. Chapter 26: Naruto The Vampireslayer

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Setsuna is going to summon her apprentice to help her defeat Lucy and her friends...also, Dracferatu is going to start turning Naruto and his friends into vampires..._

_Isn't that just dandy?_

_Oh...and can you guess where I got the name of Setsuna's apprentice from? Heh heh._

**Chapter 26: Naruto The Vampireslayer**

Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Juvia battled the bandits, hitting them as hard as they could.

"Why do they have to be strong?" inquired one of the bandits.

"I'm starting to wonder if being a bandit is worth it..." noted another one of the bandits.

"Yes...I know..." nodded the first bandit.

"Get back to work!" demanded Setsuna.

"Yes, mistress!" exclaimed the second bandit.

Immediately, the bandits continued their assault, stabbing Gray in the leg.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Gray.

This made Juvia very mad, and the water inside of her began to boil.

In retaliation, she scalded the offending bandit.

"Gah!" exclaimed the bandit.

Thankfully, Gray wasn't terribly injured by the attack, though he did bleed a bit.

"Can I kiss it to make it better?" inquired Juvia.

Gray sweatdropped.

"I think I'll be fine...thanks for asking." answered the ice mage.

"OK..." answered Juvia.

Realizing that her bandits were not a match for the intruders, Setsuna decided that it was time for her to send out someone stronger.

"Who should I send...I know! It's time for my apprentice!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Your apprentice?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...I wanted someone to look after the bandits while I was gone...so I decided to recruit one. Say hello to Chihiro!" bellowed Setsuna.

In a puff of smoke, Setsuna's apprentice appeared. Immediately, Lucy noticed how attractive the ninja looked.

"Oh my gosh! He is so hot!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy was about to add the apprentice to her list of perfect boyfriends...

...until Chihiro pointed out something important.

"He?! I'm a girl!" bellowed Chihiro.

Lucy's face turned white with shock.

"Wha-what!?" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Natsu immediately fell on the floor.

"Oh boy..." murmured Gray.

Juvia's eyes widened.

"But...you look just like a boy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, Chihiro looked like just like a dude, and had short brown hair. She was dressed in a black kimono...unless her mistress who had a white kimono to go with her white hair.

"Hopefully you'll remember that as I zap you all with lightning bolts..." answered Chihiro.

Immediately, she used lightning bolts to attack the four, who frantically began to avoid them.

_Meanwhile in the ninja afterlife..._

Haku let out a sigh.

"What's the matter?" inquired Zabuza.

"I think that someone is ripping off our style..." answered the ninja.

"Are they now?" asked the water ninja.

"Yeah..." nodded the ice ninja.

"That's too bad..." answered Zabuza.

"Who could be doing this to us?" asked Haku.

"It's probably not their fault...I don't think they've even met us..." answered the water ninja.

"True...I don't think we're even the same gender..." noted the ice ninja.

"So...one of them looks like a boy but is actually a girl?" questioned Zabuza.

"Yes...pretty much." nodded Haku.

Zabuza shrugged. He always wondered if he had a double somewhere.

Apparently, that was the case.

"I wonder if they're going to get sued for copyright infringement..." answered the water ninja.

"Perhaps. I hope not though...I'm starting to feel sorry for them. It must feel bad not to be original." nodded the ice ninja.

"True...then again, I also get the feeling that they have much different powers than we do...and have a different occupation." answered Zabuza.

"I guess we won't have to sue them for copyright infringement then." noted Haku, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I didn't really want to bother anyway..." noted the demon of the mist.

_We now return to the land of the living._

"So, your apprentice is a lightning specialist?" asked Lucy.

"Oh...she's more than that." answered Setsuna.

"Is she now?" inquired the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Chihiro shot several beams of energy at the foursome.

"Yikes!" bellowed Natsu.

"Look out!" exclaimed Gray.

"Oh boy..." murmured Juvia.

"You see, she happens to be able to combine both wind and lightning jutsus in unison...in other words...she has access to Storm Release." answered Setsuna.

"Wow! That's really impressive!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yes, I know...she has a pretty nifty kekkei genkai. I'm glad that I managed to find her when I did." noted the kunoichi.

"How did you find her, anyway?" inquired Gray.

"It's a long story..." spoke Setsuna.

"Would you mind pausing the battle so that you can tell us that?" asked Natsu.

"Should we?" inquired Chihiro.

Setsuna shrugged.

"Sure, why not." answered the wind ninja.

_"Give us what you have in your pockets!" exclaimed a bandit._

_As it turned out, Chihiro had been surrounded by several bandits, who wanted to rob her due to the fact that she was well-off._

_"Never!" bellowed the storm ninja._

_"Alright then...we could have done this the easy way...but I guess we're going to do this the hard way!" exclaimed the bandit._

_Suddenly, Chihiro began to shoot energy beams from her hands to ward off the bandits._

_"Aah!" bellowed one of the bandits._

_"Run away!" exclaimed another bandit._

_At that very moment, Setsuna approached them. She had in fact been watching from a distance._

_"What seems to be the problem?" inquired the kunoichi._

_"It's this boy! We tried to rob him but he shot at us with energy beams! We could have died!" screamed one of the bandits._

_"Really? Alright then...I'll take him as an apprentice. He could be useful to me..." explained Setsuna._

_"I'm a girl!" bellowed Chihiro._

_"Correction...I'll take her as an apprentice." answered the kunoichi as she approached Chihiro._

_"She was a girl?" asked one of the bandits curiously._

_"I guess you learn something new everyday." spoke another bandit._

_"Why should I help you?" asked the kunoichi._

_"Well, I'll give you a profit of the cut if you help me steal things..." answered Setsuna._

_"Can we rob my parents? They live in that mansion over there..." inquired Chihiro._

_"Your parents? How come?" asked the wind ninja._

_"They haven't been treating me nice...they arranged me to be married to a pig!" exclaimed the storm ninja._

_"A pig?" asked the wind ninja._

_"Well, he looked like a pig. What were my parents thinking?! He is a total jerk! He doesn't love me, he just wants my money!" answered Chihiro._

_"I see..." nodded Setsuna._

_"Maybe we should try robbing him instead..." suggested the masculine-looking girl._

_"Alright then...let's go make some pit stops, shall we?" inquired the kunoichi._

_"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" exclaimed Chihiro, saluting Setsuna with respect._

"Suffice to say, we've gotten rather close since we've first met..." noted Setsuna.

"I thought you said that it was a long story..." answered Lucy.

"Well, maybe it was shorter than I remembered it." spoke the wind kunoichi.

"Well, it was still rather entertaining." nodded Natsu.

"Glad you liked it..." nodded Chihiro, pulling out a picture of her and Setsuna.

"Aww..." said Gray.

Juvia began to smile.

"Now can we get back to fighting? I'm itching for action..." said the kunoichi.

"Sure...I know how much you like combat..." answered Setsuna.

Immediately, Chihiro summoned a thundercloud to attack the foursome.

"Hope you brought an umbrella." spoke the kunoichi.

Juvia pulled out an umbrella.

Chihiro sweatdropped.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is the castle the vampire lives on, right?" inquired Naruto.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Sakura.

"It sure is spooky..." noted Hinata.

"I like it." answered Gajeel.

Feeling rather nervous, the four of them entered the castle.

Immediately, the door shut behind them.

"Gosh." answered the kunoichi.

"Well, I guess there's no turning back now...we need to confront the vampire..." noted Naruto.

"But where is the vampire? This place is huge..." noted Sakura.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to help search for the vampire.

However, even with said Byakugan, she couldn't find the vampire anywhere.

In fact, the only thing she found suspicious was a lone bat sleeping right outside the castle. Grnated, he was rather large for a bat, but other than that there wasn't anything suspicious about him.

"Maybe he's not hiding anywhere?" inquired the kunoichi.

Curious, Gajeel used his sense of smell to help search for the vampire.

However, he could not find Dracferatu either.

"I guess he really isn't home..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Shrugging, the foursome decided to explore the castle. They had to admit, it was rather interesting...even if it wasn't well-lit.

Sure enough, the castle happened to have several different paintings. Oddly enough, none of them actually featured vampires.

Maybe Dracferatu wasn't always a vampire?

"Nice place he has here...it actually reminds me a bit like home." answered the kunoichi.

"Look at all the decorations..." noted Naruto.

"I guess when vampires aren't drinking blood of the innocent...they're living in fancy castles." acknowledged Sakura.

"Yeah, I guess." nodded Gajeel.

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the castle.

"Yikes! That was loud!" exclaimed Naruto.

Shortly afterwards, they noticed that Gajeel had gone missing.

"Gajeel? Where are you?" inquired Sakura.

"Where did he go?" asked Hinata.

"This isn't good." answered Naruto.

"We need to look for him!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she used her Byakugan to search for Gajeel.

However, she could not find him anywhere.

"This isn't good." answered the kunoichi.

"You can't find him?!" exclaimed Sakura.

"No, I cannot." nodded Hinata.

"Oh man..." answered Naruto.

"We better go look for him then." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, they began to search for Gajeel.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" thought Hinata.

Something told her that the vampire might be closer than they thought.

Curious, she began to wonder if she should read the instruction book that Samson had given her.

Chances were that it was full of useful information that she could use against Dracferatu.

Of course, it wasn't going to be very useful if she couldn't find the vampire.

Was he really not at home...or he was just hiding?

"Something's not right here..." thought Hinata as the trio continued to explore the castle.

_Meanwhile..._

"Bullseye!" exclaimed Bisca.

"Congratulations, honey!" bellowed Alzack.

"I did it!" cheered the cowgirl.

"Excuse me, have you seen Naruto? I wanted to return the book he gave me...I managed to finish it..." explained Erza.

"I believe he went on a mission to slay a vampire..." explained Alzack.

"A vampire?" inquired the knight.

"Yes, I know. Isn't he brave?" asked Bisca.

"That's nice..." nodded Erza.

"Hopefully he'll successfully be able to slay a vampire...that way he can be a vampire slayer!" exclaimed Alzack.

"Wouldn't that be nice...then again, we already have a devil slayer and a dragon slayer in our guild..." noted the kunoichi.

"It's true...we do..." nodded Bisca.

"I just hope that he can take care of himself." acknowledged Erza.

"I'm sure he'll be fine!" exclaimed Alzack.

"Well, that's rather reassuring...to be honest, I don't remember the last time I ever went on a mission to slay a vampire..." answered the knight.

"Well, they're not as common as some people think they are..." noted Bisca.

"That's true." nodded Erza. Personally, it was probably for the best. If an army of bloodthirsty vampires decided to attack Fairy Tail, they might as well consider themselves exsanguinated.

"They always want to suck our blood..." thought the knight.

Shrugging, Erza decided that maybe Alzack and Bisca were right. There was only one vampire after all.

However, she remembered something important.

"Can't a vampire create followers by biting them in the neck?" inquired Erza.

Curious, she wondered if Naruto was aware of that when he went on that mission along with his teammates.

"Hmm..." thought the knight.

She began to wonder if she should to the library and look up information about vampires. She just might be able to slay some of them.

"Off to the library I go." she said.

Sure enough, the library wasn't too far from where she was previously.

"Here we are!" exclaimed Erza as she began to read from the book.

According the book, vampires could live for thousands of years.

"Aren't they long-lasting..." noted the kunoichi.

Personally, she was starting to wonder if there was any kind of creature other than vampires that could live that long. Not even werewolves had such a lifespan.

Then again, she had heard of demons that had lived for thousands of years as well. Apparently, they could live that long if they were powerful enough.

"Let's keep reading..." thought the knight.

_Meanwhile..._

Curious, Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura noticed that there was a staircase leading directly to the basement of the castle.

"I wonder what we're going to find there..." answered the genin.

As he discovered, there was a dungeon in the basement of the castle.

"Hmm...a dungeon..." thought Naruto.

"I'm scared..." murmured Hinata.

"Me too..." nodded Sakura.

Disturbingly, the dungeon happened to be filled with skeletons. Perhaps these were previous victims of Dracferatu.

Thankfully, he hadn't appeared to have killed too many people, though he typically nourished himself on human blood. Perhaps he had standards?

"That's a relief..." thought Naruto.

Nonetheless, it was rather disturbing.

Suddenly, another lightning bolt hit the castle.

"Not again!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Sheesh...those lightning bolts are loud." answered Naruto.

This time, they noticed that Sakura had gone missing.

"Um...Hinata...where did Sakura go?" inquired the genin.

"Has she gone missing too?" asked Hinata.

"It looks that way..." answered Naruto.

"This is really bad, Naruto. Now I'm really starting to get worried." spoke the kunoichi.

"You're right, Hinata! This is terrible...I can't believe it..." nodded the genin.

"We might have to call off the mission..." answered Hinata.

Suddenly, Naruto noticed that there was another staircase. There appeared to be footprints on it.

"Um, Hinata...I think I might know where Sakura is..." answered the genin.

"What?" asked the kunoichi curiously.

Nervously, Naruto pointed to the staircase.

"This isn't good, Naruto...I think she's been kidnapped!" exclaimed Hinata.

"You're right! We have to save her!" bellowed Naruto.

"We might need to save Gajeel as well while we're at it...he went missing before Sakura did." noted the kunoichi.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the genin.

Immediately, the duo climbed down the staircase to begin searching for their missing friends.

Instead, all they found was a coffin...that happened to be open.

"Hmm? Is this where Dracferatu sleeps?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Apparently." nodded Hinata.

Naruto began to feel more nervous than ever.

"OK...I think we've done enough. I think we should call off the mission now...there's no vampire and there's no sign of our friends..." answered the genin.

"You're right...I guess we should call off the mission." nodded Hinata.

Suddenly, Naruto let out a scream.

"Huh?" asked Hinata.

Curious, she turned around, and noticed that Naruto was being dragged away by a shadowy figure.

"Aah! Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Naruto!" bellowed Hinata.

At this point, she was struggling not to panic. All of her friends had disappeared now, and it looked as if they had been abducted by Dracferatu.

What was she going to do? It looks like she was stuck playing the final girl role of this horror movie.

Immediately, she decided that she needed to flee and call for reinforcements.

"I'm getting out of here!" bellowed Hinata.

However, no sooner did she reach the entrance did her friends stop her.

Hinata gasped in shock. Her friends had all turned into vampires!

"Join us Hinata...together we can suck some blood..." demanded Vampire Gajeel.

"The blood of the villagers tastes like honey...or cherry soda...or milkshakes...yeah, it kind of depends on the person...but generally it tastes pretty good." explained Vampire Sakura.

"C'mon, Hinata! Don't you want to join us? We're your friends!" exclaimed Vampire Naruto.

"Do I have a choice?" asked Hinata.

"Not really, no." answered the vampirized Naruto.

Immediately, he went up to Hinata and bit her in the neck.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

She promptly let out a sigh. Off to the world of vampires she went.

"Here I go..." said Hinata.

However, much to her surprise, she did not turn into a vampire at all. What was going on? Did this have to do with the lack of darkness in her body?

Shrugging, she decided that she needed to flee from the vampires before they drank her blood.

"Get her!" demanded the vampire version of Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

The thundercloud rained no less than a dozen bolts on top of Lucy's squad, causing electrocution.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Lucy. That was one nasty jutsu.

And to make matters worse, Chihiro still had plenty of chakra left, meaning that the thundercloud was going to remain for a while.

"We need to get rid of that thundercloud..." noted Gray.

"How are we going to do that?" suggested Juvia.

Curious, Natsu began to toss fireballs at the thundercloud to see if it would vanish.

Sure enough, the thundercloud began to shrink.

"Maybe we need to keep attacking it so that it will disappear?" questioned Lucy.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded Gray.

However, Chihiro was still attacking the four with her energy blasts. One of them hit Gray straight in the abdomen.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Gray.

Once again, Juvia stuffed Gray inside her body so that she could heal.

Fortunately, Natsu successfully managed to destroy the thundercloud.

Unfortunately, it exploded into several thunderbolts that were sent flying towards the foursome.

Once again, they were forced to avoid the attacks.

However, Setsuna was getting ready to summon another tornado.

"I'll send you all back towards Konoha!" exclaimed Setsuna.

"But it feels like we just got here..." complained Lucy.

"Too bad then." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she attacked the four with the twister, juggling them all in the sky and giving them some cuts. Unfortunately, the twister was too fast for them to avoid. Setsuna was one fast ninja.

"Ugh..." murmured Lucy.

**"Would you look at that. You're getting pulverized out there." **said Kurama.

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm rather impressed you're still standing after such an assault...but no matter. I'll be sure to end this quickly." said Setsuna.

And to make matters worse, Natsu's motion sickness had flared up again. He was feeling very sick to his stomach.

"Agh..." murmured the fire mage. Why did Setsuna have to trap him inside a twister? This was worse than the time he had gone on a merry-go-round without knowing what he was getting himself into.

He had to admit, it was a shame that he could not ride rollercoasters due to the fact that he had motion sickness. He personally wondered what one was like.

"Are you going to be OK, Natsu?" asked Lucy.

"You might have to go on without me..." answered Natsu, whose face had turned green.

Once again, Juvia stuffed Natsu inside his body so that he could recover from such an unpleasant experience.

However, he was going to need some time to recover. Motion sickness really knocked the breath out of him.

"This is bad..." thought Gray.

"You betcha! Are you ready to say your goodbyes?" exclaimed Chihiro.

Immediately, she began to charge up for a powerful blast.

"Yes! That's it! Show them what you've got!" bellowed Setsuna.

"Is this the end?" inquired Lucy.

"I hope not..." answered Gray.

Juvia began to hug Gray tightly.

"Aww...how sweet...she's going to hug me before we both get vaporized..." thought the ice mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Realizing that she didn't have much time, Hinata barricaded herself and began to read the book of how to slay vampires.

"I probably should have read this earlier..." noted Hinata.

According to the book, in the event that her friends ended up turning into vampires, she should try purifying them to transform them back into normal.

"I guess it's up to my Gentle Fist technique now..." answered the kunoichi.

Also, she should try putting garlic necklaces on her friend's necks so that they didn't get bitten again.

Fortunately, the vampire slaying book came with a bag filled with vampire slaying supplies.

"Well, speak of the devil!" exclaimed Hinata.

"I love the devil!" exclaimed Vampire Gajeel.

Hinata sweatdroped.

"Stand back, guys! I'll take care of this!" bellowed Vampire Naruto.

"Sure." nodded Vampire Sakura.

"We'll be waiting for you out in the hallway." answered Vampire Gajeel.

Immediately, Vampire Naruto began to bust down Hinata's barricade.

"I guess I'm going to have to confront him..." spoke the kunoichi.

Sure enough, due to the super strength that came with being a vampire, Naruto was able to bust down the barricade somewhat easily.

"I'm coming for you, Hinata!" exclaimed Vampire Naruto.

Immediately, he lunged towards Hinata. Again, due to the fact that he was now a vampire, he was now very fast.

However, Hinata retaliated by using her Gentle Fist to punch Naruto, which took out one of his fangs.

"Ouch! Darn it! I can't be a vampire without my fangs! Stop!" demanded Vampire Naruto.

"Sorry, no. I need to cure you." answered Hinata.

"Try to cure me? Good luck with that! You can't cure vampirism!" exclaimed the vampire boy.

"Actually, according the book, I can...so long as you didn't voluntarily surrender yourself to Dracferatu...which I don't think you did." answered the kunoichi.

"No matter! You'll never cure me!" bellowed the vampirized genin.

"I already managed to cure Santa...he had fallen victim to a rather nasty spell, too..." explained Hinata.

Oddly enough, Naruto seemed to remember that.

Raising an eyebrow, Hinata wondered if Naruto remembered his past life, and wondered if he could break free from Dracferatu's control if he tried to remember it as well.

"Don't you remember, Naruto? We've been friends for years! Don't tell me you're going to suck out my blood after this..." asked Hinata.

"You make a good point..." answered the genin.

Curious, Hinata noticed that Naruto's skin was going to become less pale.

Apparently, he was starting to fight Dracferatu's control over him.

Shrugging, Hinata took the opportunity to use her Gentle Fist to punch him and knock him down.

Sure enough, his vampirism was starting to wear off.

"Thank goodness..." said the kunoichi.

Naruto got up shortly afterwards.

"What happened? I don't quite remember..." answered the boy.

"I'm afraid you got turned into a vampire by Dracferatu..." spoke Hinata.

"Huh? Oh, that's right...I remember him grabbing onto me and biting my neck..." answered Naruto.

"We better make sure that doesn't happen again...thankfully, I appear to be immune to vampirism..." spoke Hinata.

"You're immune?" asked Naruto.

"Apparently it has something to do with the lack of darkness inside my body for Dracferatu to work with...well, that and I already have some vampire traits...I've already drunk some dragon blood." noted the kunoichi.

"That's true." nodded the genin.

Immediately, Hinata handed Naruto a garlic necklace so that Dracferatu wouldn't try biting him in the heck again.

"Thank goodness...being bitten in the neck by a vampire really hurts." noted Naruto.

"I bet it does...though personally it wasn't so bad for me." answered Hinata.

"Well yeah...that's because you didn't become a vampire." spoke the genin.

"True..." nodded the kunoichi.

"I think we need to save our friends...they've both transformed into vampires as well..." answered Naruto.

"It's us to the rescue then!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, the duo went to search for their friends.

_Meanwhile..._

Dracferatu was laughing with delight. Turning his guests into vampires was almost too easy, thanks to his ability to shapeshift into a bat and his ability to blend in with the shadows.

Though he couldn't look in the mirror to check himself out, Dracferatu looked much like a typical vampire. He had black hair, a black cloak, dressed mainly in red, had a bowtie, and had pale skin.

He had to admit, it always felt rather satisfying to drink blood.

"Right...soon I'll be able to turn everyone in Scaryvania into my vampire brethen...I look forward to vampirizing everyone there. Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

Suddenly, he began to smell garlic.

"Ugh! That horrible smell!" bellowed Dracferatu.

Much like other vampires, he hated that terrible smell.

"I might need to get a nosepeg." he thought.

Curious, he wondered where he had put them.

"They've got to be around here somewhere..." noted Dracferatu.

Sure enough, he had left them on the table next to his chair.

"Ah! Here they are! Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

Immediately, he put on the nosepeg so that he wouldn't have to tolerate the horrible smell.

"There...but how did garlic end up in my castle? I thought I had thrown it all in the trash!" exclaimed the vampire.

Suddenly, a vampire bat flew into the office.

"Can I help you?" asked Dracferatu.

"Master! We've got bad news! There are vampireslayers here! They're going to kill you!" exclaimed the vampire bat.

"What? I thought I had just dealt with them...I turned them into my vampire slaves so that they could do my bidding. Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

"Well, there's two of them out there!" exclaimed the vampire bat.

Dracferatu sighed. Apparently, he was going to have to do a better job than simply bite them in the neck.

"Alright then...you have my permission to deal with these unwanted guests." answered the vampire.

Immediately, several vampire bats appeared to assist his vampire bat messenger.

"Go out there and suck the blood out of them!" exclaimed Dracferatu.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the vampire bat messenger.

They promptly used echolocation to search for the intruders. They found them shortly.

The vampire bats immediately flew away.

"Right then...in the meantime, I'll be drinking some blood." answered Dracferatu.

Immediately, he pulled out a goblet and began to guzzle its delicious contents.

_Meanwhile..._

"I'm starting to feel worried about Hinata..." answered Shino.

"How come?" asked Kiba.

"I can't help but shake the feeling that she's in danger somewhere..." spoke the bug user.

"Oh..." nodded the dog user.

Akamaru began to howl.

"You think she's going to be OK?" asked Kiba.

"I hope." answered Shino.

"What kind of peril do you think she's in?" inquired the dog user.

"I believe she's up against something evil...and ancient..." explained the bug user.

"Oh...that doesn't sound good." answered Kiba.

"Something tells me that she might want to grab her crucifix..." spoke Shino.

"A crucifix?" asked the Inuzaka clan member.

"Arf?" inquired Akamaru curiously.

"That always seems to work against evil creatures. Then again, I get the feeling that her friends are in danger too." noted the Aburame clan member.

"Her friends?" asked Kiba.

"Well, I don't think she would go up against something that was evil and ancient alone..." noted Shino.

"Of course not...how ancient are we talking here?" answered the dog user.

"Probably something that's lived for at least a thousand years...maybe a vampire? My intuition isn't perfect." noted the bug user.

"I'm starting to feel scared..." spoke Kiba.

"Yes...I'm starting to feel scared too..." answered Shino.

Immediately, sweat began dropping down the bug user's face.

"I'm sure that Hinata will be fine! She can do anything!" exclaimed Kiba.

"I suppose you're right...you'd be surprised what bad situations she's bailed us out of..." noted the bug user.

Kiba began to flashback to the day Hinata helped him.

_"I need someone to look after my dog and there's no room in the kennel! What am I going to do!" exclaimed Kiba._

_"Arf..." murmured Akamaru._

_At that very moment, Hinata paid Kiba a visit._

_"Hi there, Kiba! What's the matter?" inquired Hinata._

_"It's my dog!" bellowed Kiba._

_"Hmm? Is he sick?" asked the kunoichi._

_"No...I just don't have anyone to look after him..." answered the dog user._

_"Oh...don't worry! I'll take care of it! I have spare time!" nodded Hinata._

_"Really? Thanks! You're a lifesaver!" exclaimed Kiba._

_Akamaru howled in triumph._

_"You're welcome." answered Hinata._

_Immediately, Kiba left so that he could go on a vacation._

Shino began to flashback as well.

_Shino let out a sigh. He simply could not find his wallet anywhere._

_He had tried sending his bugs out to look for it, but unfortunately they did not know what a wallet was._

_Shino sighed._

_"What am I going to do? I need that to go shopping..." noted the bug user._

_At that very moment, Hinata paid Shino a visit._

_"What's the matter?" asked the kunoichi._

_"I lost my wallet...and my bugs can't help me find it because they don't know what a wallet is." explained Shino._

_"Alright then! I'll help you look for it!" exclaimed the kunoichi._

_Immediately, she used her Byakugan to help her search for Shino's wallet._

_As it turned out...it was lying on the table._

_"Um, Shino...you left it on the table." explained Hinata._

_Shino sweatdropped._

_"I need to take better care of my belongings." noted the bug user._

_"Yeah..." nodded the kunoichi._

"And to think that she joined Team 8 thinking that she would be useless to us..." answered Kiba.

"I know...I'm really starting to miss her." noted Shino.

"I hope that we'll be able to see her again one day..." spoke the dog user.

"Me too..." nodded the bug user.

_Meanwhile..._

"Do you hear something?" inquired Naruto.

"It sounds like screeching..." answered Hinata.

Immediately, the duo were attacked by vampire bats.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the genin.

In retaliation, Naruto summoned Taurus and Aries to aid him...

...however, much to his surprise, he found them to be making out.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something here?" inquired the genin.

Taurus and Aries nodded.

"Well, it's good to see that you two met your matches..." answered Naruto.

"Thank you." nodded Aries.

He promptly dismissed the duo.

"I guess it's time for me to use another spirit..." said Naruto.

This time, he decided to summon Scorpius, who attacked the vampire bats with a sandstorm.

"Thanks for your help..." spoke the genin.

"No problem!" answered the scorpion.

Oddly enough, according to one reviewer, he had actually been using keys that Lucy had obtained after the Phantom Lord arc.

"How did I do that?" inquired Naruto.

Hinata shrugged.

"How very odd." noted the genin.

However, the vampire bats showed no sign of slowing down the assault.

"Keep attacking!" ordered Naruto.

"I might need some help here...please?" answered Scorpio.

Unfortunately, the vampire bats were drinking his blood, causing him to feel very woozy.

"How am I going to help you..." murmured Naruto. He didn't want his celestial spirits to get killed...though he had heard that they were all immortal and would only die if he kept them outside the spirit world for too long.

"Maybe you should try summoning an archer? He might be able to shoot down the vampire bats..." spoke Hinata.

Fortunately for her, she was able to keep the bats away by setting herself on fire.

However, Naruto was forced to keep his distance away from her as a result so that he didn't get barbecued.

Immediately, he tried summoning Sagittarius. Unsurprisingly, his summoner key had an arrow on it.

He saluted Naruto with respect.

"Are you going to question me not being your old mistress?" asked Naruto.

"I've had lots of masters and mistresses in the past, so I'm not complaining." answered the archer.

"OK...I didn't mean to replace her, that's all..." answered the genin.

Immediately, Sagittarius began to shoot at the vampire bats. This proved to be surprisingly effective.

Scorpio let out a sigh of relief.

The remaining vampire bats flew away.

"You think Dracferatu sent them to attack us?" asked Hinata.

"Most likely...I don't ever recall bats swarming me like this..." answered Naruto.

"Well, it's already happened to my teammate Shino a few times..." noted the kunoichi.

"Oh, right...he has bugs living inside him..." spoke the genin.

Suddenly, they noticed that Sakura and Gajeel were nearby. They appeared to be making out with each other.

"You are such a bad boy..." giggled Sakura.

"And you are such a bad girl..." answered Gajeel.

"OK..." murmured Naruto, a drop of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"We better get ready to fight, Naruto." said Hinata.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the genin.

Immediately, Naruto and Hinata prepared to fight their friends.

_Meanwhile..._

"Alright...just a few more tweaks...and voila!" exclaimed Levy.

Miraculously, she had managed to get another interdimensional portal running.

"Hopefully it's going to stay this time..." answered the letter mage.

Curious, she began to wonder where Naruto was so that he could tell him and his friends that they could go home.

At that very moment, Erza entered the portal chamber.

"Hey there! Have you seen Naruto?" asked Levy.

"He's on a mission..." answered the knight.

"That's a shame! I just got the interdimensional portal running again! It should stay this time too!" exclaimed Levy.

"That's too bad." spoke Erza.

"But at least he should be able to go home now, right?" inquired the letter mage.

"I guess so." nodded the knight.

"I'm going to miss the guy..." she thought.

"Let me know when he gets back." answered Levy.

"At least I'll get to see Lucy, Natsu, and Gray again..." thought Erza.

"OK, I will." nodded the knight.

"Personally I want to see what's on the other side myself..." noted Levy.

"Yeah, me too." agreed Erza.

"It must be a rather interesting world..." acknowledged the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"I bet so." nodded the knight.

At that very moment, Makarov came into the portal room.

"So, is the portal ready again?" asked the guildmaster.

"Yes, it is, guildmaster." answered Levy.

"That's a relief...I can finally get my old mages back..." noted Makarov.

"Of course, we are going to have to say goodbye to our new friends..." acknowledged Erza.

"Oh, right. Of course...then again, we might still be able to keep in contact with them." answered the guildmaster.

"They might want to revisit us if there's a special occasion." noted Levy.

"Right, I suppose they might be interested in that." nodded Erza.

Immediately, Makarov began casting a spell on the interdimensional portal.

He finished casting a few minutes later.

"There! That should come in handy if we want to communicate with anyone in the world of ninja later..." answered the guildmaster.

Levy nodded her head.

"Who should we try communicating with?" asked Erza.

"I'm not sure..." spoke Makarov.

_Meanwhile..._

Shikamaru got the feeling that something rather exciting was going to happen today. He wasn't quite sure what, though.

"What's going on?" inquired the shadow ninja.

Was Konoha going to get attacked? He sure hoped not. Last time someone declared war on Konoha, the Third Hokage ended up getting slain trying to defend them.

"Darn it, Orochimaru. You are such a drag." he thought.

To think that he had corrupted Sasuke with the Cursed Seal, too. It wasn't going to be the same without him.

Not to mention all those twisted experiments.

Why exactly did Itachi Uchiha kill off the Uchiha Clan, anyway? He wasn't quite sure.

"To think that Sasuke wouldn't have left us if it weren't for that..." spoke Shikamaru. Why exactly did he do it?

He had heard rumors that he had done so to prevent the world of ninja from declaring war on each other...though he wasn't sure if they were true. He was a bit surprised at what crazy rumors there were these days.

There was a fact a rumor going around that Naruto had been abducted with aliens.

"They didn't abduct him...I'm sure that they're friends with him..." answered the shadow ninja.

There was also a rumor that Hinata had been kidnapped by someone who wanted her Byakugan.

"She didn't get kidnapped...she went to search for Naruto..." said Shikamaru.

And of course, there was a rumor that Sakura had run off to be with Sasuke.

"Well, to be honest, I can see why people would think that...but she went to search for Naruto too. I was there when it happened..." answered the shadow ninja.

To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if he should try making an interdimensional portal again. Unlike the one that Fairy Tail had made, his was rather chaotic.

"I wouldn't want our worlds to somehow get merged together...then again, maybe they already have." noted Shikamaru.

It appeared that things weren't going to be the same in Konoha now that magicians from another world had paid them a visit.

Speaking of which he was wondering how Lucy was doing. She hadn't returned from her mission yet.

"Is she doing alright?" he asked to himself.

Personally he got the feeling that Lucy was a decent fighter and could look after herself.

Then again, he still couldn't help but feel a bit worried. Missions could be rather dangerous.

He got the feeling that Tsunade was right to bring a healer along.

At that very moment, Asuma Sarutobi approached him.

"How are you doing?" inquired Asuma.

"Pretty good. I'm starting to get worried about Lucy though...granted, she is the female protagonist of this fanfic...so I think that she would have a pretty hard time dying...thank goodness for plot armor..." noted the shadow ninja.

"I would imagine so, yeah..." answered the jonin.

"Then again, I don't think I can be too careful. I believe in Naruto Shippuden you got killed by Hidan, did you not?" asked Shikamaru.

"It's true, I did...personally I'm a bit surprised that I'm alive in this fanfic..." answered Asuma.

"Well, the beginning of this fanfic takes place during the beginning of Naruto Shippuden before you got horribly slaughtered...so maybe you'll survive this round. I don't know..." noted the shadow ninja.

"Maybe..." nodded the jonin.

"I suppose I should worry about Naruto as well...of course, he's the male protagonist of this fanfic but...sheesh, I'm breaking the fourth wall a lot today, aren't I?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes, you are." nodded Asuma.

"I guess I might as well just pray for them with my heart." answered the shadow ninja.

"I'll pray for them too." answered the jonin.

"Thank you..." nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, Asuma left so that he could do so.

"Author, are you there? Please, don't let Lucy die! I love her! And don't let Naruto die either! I love him...though not in the same way." bellowed Shikamaru.

_Naruto and his friends have become vampires, oh dear! Oh dear! Thankfully, Hinata managed to cure Naruto...but can they cure Sakura and Gajeel too?_

_Oh, and Lucy and her friends defeat Setsuna and Chihiro?_

_Find out in the next chapter of Ninja Tail!_


	27. Chapter 27: A Chance Encounter

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Lucy and her friends are going to defeat Setsuna and Chihiro...only to end up running into someone much worse._

_Can you guess who it is?_

_Oh, and Naruto and his friends are going to slay a vampire. Yay._

**Chapter 27: A Chance Encounter**

Chihiro continued to charge up for her energy attack. Already, she had gathered quite a bit of energy.

"Hahaha! In just a few minutes you'll all be wiped off the face of the earth!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Setsuna was beginning to wonder if the energy wave was going to destroy the entire camp, and began to feel rather worried.

Then again, her bandits could always rebuild. By the looks of it, they had already evacuated when they realized what was going to happen.

However, Lucy quickly noticed how long Chihiro was taking. Why was it taking her so long?

It then occurred to her that maybe she should try attacking her so that the jutsu would be dispelled.

"That seems worth a shot as any." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she summoned a weasel to bite Chihiro in the leg.

This worked surprisingly well.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Shortly afterwards, she lost concentration and the chakra surrounding her disappeared.

"What happened?" asked Chihiro.

"I think you took too long to use the jutsu..." explained Setsuna.

"Oh, c'mon!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Deciding to take their chances, Natsu, Gray, and Juvia then launched their attack.

Immediately, Natsu punched Chihiro in rapid succession.

"Aah!" bellowed the kunoichi.

She was sent flying, and crashed into a hut.

"What's going on?" inquired Chihiro.

Gray then punched her in the face, and knocked her out cold.

"Chihiro!" bellowed Setsuna.

Shortly afterwards, Juvia entered Setsuna's body.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Juvia.

Setsuna must have been terrified at the occurrence, because she passed out on the spot.

Juvia left Setsuna's body shortly afterwards.

"Can you use Sakon and Ukon's parasite technique?" inquired Gray.

"Sorry, no. The author thought that might be a bit overpowered since I'm a protagonist now...besides, I believe they needed the second stage of the cursed seal to do that..." answered Juvia.

"Ah well." nodded Gray.

"So, did we win?" asked Natsu.

"I believe so. The bandits are retreating." answered Lucy.

"They shouldn't bother Konoha for a while then." nodded the ice mage.

Immediately, Lucy pulled out a scroll.

"Let's send them to Tsunade, shall we? She'll want more slaves for her slave camp." said the kunoichi.

Using the scroll, she transported Setsuna and Chihiro to Konoha.

"So, does that take care of them?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes, Natsu. It looks like a job well done." answered Lucy.

_A few minutes later..._

Setsuna and Chihiro appeared at Tsunade's slave camp...with shackles on their wrists and ankles.

"Darn it! I can't believe we've become slaves!" exclaimed Chihiro.

"You didn't seem happy with your old life..." noted Setsuna.

"Well, being rich had its perks...I guess." answered the storm ninja.

"Get to work!" ordered Tsunade.

"I'm going to kill you one day!" screamed Takeshi.

"Yarr! I see that we have some more slaves here!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Yes, we do, Captain Bloodbeard." nodded Setsuna.

"Yarr!" bellowed the captain.

"Why do you keep talking like that? It's messed up." said Chihiro.

"It's a verbal tic! Yarr!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Chihiro shrugged as she began to lift some heavy rocks.

"I'm making them work off their debts to society while making them work off my own...I'm such a genius." thought Tsunade.

"Can we go home? I'm starting to get scurvy..." answered the pirate.

Tsunade tossed an orange at the pirate.

"Thank you." said the pirate as he began to eat the orange.

"Wouldn't want you all to get diseased...I've got standards here..." said the kunoichi.

"Thank goodness..." answered the pirate.

"Oddly enough so do I. Yarr." spoke Captain Bloodbeard.

"Huh? You do?" asked Tsunade.

"Well, I've never bothered stealing from the poor. Yarr." answered the captain.

"That's because the poor don't have ships." said one of the pirates.

"Oh, right...yarr..." spoke the pirate captain.

_Now back to our heroes._

Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Juvia happily left the bandit camp. They were rather satisfied to how the mission had gone.

"At this rate we'll be able to become jonin." noted Lucy.

"Yeah." nodded Natsu.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sound of wings flapping.

"Hmm?" asked Gray.

"Wha?" inquired Juvia.

Natsu gasped in fear. He recognized that sound.

Sure enough, there was Kenichi...and this time he appeared to have noticed them.

"Oh god..." answered Lucy.

Immediately, he landed his dragon so that he could talk to them.

He began to scan them with his Rinnegan to see if they were weak.

Much to his surprise, he found the same sort of mysterious energy he had encountered in his previous victims.

Nonetheless, he found them to be inferior to himself.

However, he then remembered that he wanted to save his chakra for the clan he wanted to wipe out.

Granted, he had gone away to kill three people that were not residing at their clan residence at the moment a few weeks ago...but he had not yet decided on a clan to target at the time.

"What have we here? It looks like we have more weak ninja..." answered Kenichi.

"We're not weak!" exclaimed Natsu.

"You know...you remind me of the three I encountered earlier...they had the exact same energy I see now..." answered the ninja.

"Huh?" inquired Lucy. Was he referring to their magic power?

Juvia's eyes lit up. He must have been referring to her deceased comrades.

"I had to admit, it was so satisfying to my pride to slay them...normally I would have saved my chakra for the clan I wiped out earlier today...but their mysterious energy intrigued me..." spoke Kenichi.

The water inside of Juvia began to boil.

"You're the one who killed them?!" exclaimed the water mage.

"Are you angry? Personally I think you should be thanking me. They were vermin that deserved to be exterminated...and quite frankly, so are you and your friends." answered Kenichi.

The water inside Juvia began to boil even more. She honestly hoped that she would be able to kill Kenichi someday.

Gray immediately pointed to the Rinnegan wielder.

"You will pay for what you did to her comrades! I promise you that!" bellowed Gray.

Immediately, Lucy fired a Rasengan at Kenichi.

However, much to his surprise, he caught it in his hand without even flinching.

"Trying to use the Rasengan, are we? I've heard of that technique quite some time ago...unfortunately, thanks to my Preta Path...the Rasengan is little more than a child's plaything to me..." answered Kenichi.

He promptly smashed it in his hand into chakra powder, much to Lucy's shock.

"Normally, I would kill you right here and now...but I've got a pretty big clan on my hit list. So I'm simply going to give you a parting present..." said Kenichi.

"What?" asked Natsu.

Immediately, he summoned a clone of himself to kill the four with.

"You have no chance to survive. Go ahead, make my day and your time." answered the ninja.

"Get back here!" demanded Juvia, wanting revenge on him for killing her comrades.

However, Kenichi simply flew away on his dragon, ready to cut a swath of terror across his next targeted clan.

Shortly afterwards, the clone began to attack.

"This isn't going to be easy..." noted Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata leapt towards Sakura and Gajeel, trying to hit them with her Gentle Fist technique.

"What the-" exclaimed Sakura.

"Something tells me you don't want to get hit by that...believe me, I know from experience." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Hinata immediately set up a wall of fire to prevent Sakura and Gajeel from running away from her fists.

"Aren't you a clever girl." noted Vampire Gajeel.

"Gajeel! Sakura! We need to cure you from your vampirism!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Huh? I thought Dracferatu vampirized you too..." questioned Vampire Sakura.

"Hinata found a way to cure me..." explained Naruto.

"Well, that's a problem." acknowledged Vampire Gajeel.

"Yes, I imagine it is for you." nodded Hinata.

"I guess we're going to have to take you both down so that we can remain vampires..." said Vampire Sakura.

Immediately, she punched Naruto and sent him flying.

"Not again!" exclaimed the genin.

This was then followed by Vampire Gajeel kicking Naruto to the ground.

He then ripped off his shirt and punched him in the stomach.

Naruto let out a sigh.

"I can't believe Gajeel ripped off my shirt again...well, I guess it's not his fault this time..." spoke the genin.

Unfortunately for Hinata, she was distracted at the sight of Naruto's bare chest, allowing Sakura to punch her as well.

"Ugh..." murmured the kunoichi.

Shortly afterwards, blood began to leak out of her mouth, causing Vampire Sakura to squeal.

"Huh? Oh that's right...you're vampires...you love blood..." answered Hinata.

"We sure do!" exclaimed Vampire Gajeel.

"Wasn't there something that I could use against vampires in my bag?" asked the kunoichi.

Sure enough, there was some holy water.

"Stand back!" demanded Hinata, splashing the duo with holy water.

"Aaugh!" bellowed Vampire Sakura.

"It burns!" exclaimed Vampire Gajeel.

Seizing the opportunity, Naruto grabbed onto Gajeel and restrained him.

"Let go!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

"Do it now! Hit him with your Gentle Fist!" ordered Naruto.

Hinata nodded, and began to pummel Vampire Gajeel with her Gentle Fist technique.

Immediately, he began to turn back to normal.

"Noooo!" bellowed Vampire Sakura. She seemed rather upset at the occurrence.

"Well, there's just one vampire left..." noted Naruto.

"What happened to your shirt?" asked Gajeel.

"You ripped it off while you were still a vampire..." explained the genin.

Gajeel sweatdropped.

"Of course, Sakura still happens to be a vampire..." noted Hinata.

Immediately, Gajeel wrestled Vampire Sakura to the ground, causing her to blush.

"I guess I should cure her too..." acknowledged the kunoichi.

Using her Gentle Fist technique, she was able to turn Sakura back to normal as well.

"What happened?" asked Sakura.

"You got turned into a vampire..." explained Naruto.

Curious, Sakura noticed that Gajeel had pinned her to the ground, and began to blush.

"He restrained you so that we could turn you back to normal..." explained Hinata.

Gajeel immediately released Sakura.

"So, are we all cured then?" asked the kunoichi.

"I believe so, yes..." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Hinata handed Sakura and Gajeel garlic necklaces so that they wouldn't get bitten in the neck again.

"This should ward off the vampire...right?" inquired Gajeel.

"It should..." answered Hinata.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't looking forward to getting bitten again.

_Meanwhile..._

Dracferatu let out a sigh. He got the feeling that the vampireslayers had somehow managed to cure their friends.

And at this rate, they were going to find him and try to stick a stake through his heart.

Then again, considering the fact that he regularly drank the blood of the innocent and loved every bit of it...it was only a matter of time before they came.

Fortunately, he happened to be a rather powerful magician, and had set up defenses to ensure that they could not invade his castle.

"Right then...I'll start activating my defenses now...ahhahaha." said the vampire.

Sure enough, the defenses began to take effect.

Suddenly, some of the suits of armor that had previously served as decorations came to life.

"Uh-oh..." thought Naruto.

And to make matters worse, they were armed with several different weapons.

"Not good." thought Hinata.

Immediately, one of the suits of armor tried to smash Naruto with a hammer.

"Aah!" exclaimed the genin as he jumped out of the way.

This was followed by one of the suits of armor trying to slash Hinata with a sword.

"Eep!" bellowed Hinata as she ducked underneath it.

Which was followed by one of the suits of armor trying to impale Sakura.

"Sheesh!" exclaimed Sakura as she leapt out of the way.

Finally, one of the suits of armor tried to ram into Gajeel with a spiked shield.

However, as it turned out, Dracferatu's defense system had a flaw.

Suddenly, Gajeel began devouring the suits of armor.

"These taste surprisingly good considering how old they are..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, he began to eat the suits of armor so that he could save his friends.

Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. They thought for a second that they were going to wind up dead.

However, they noticed that there appeared to be more suits of armor nearby.

"You might want to eat some more of them in case they happen to be enchanted too..." suggested Sakura.

"Yes, of course." nodded Gajeel.

Immediately, he continued eating the suits of armor.

"You think this is Dracferatu's only security system?" inquired Naruto.

"Probably not." answered Hinata.

"Well, I suppose things aren't always going to be this easy..." noted the genin.

_Meanwhile..._

Kenichi's clone turned his arm into a sword, and began to swing it at the foursome.

"Die!" bellowed the clone.

"Look out!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Sheesh...even his clone is rather dangerous..." noted Natsu.

Immediately, Gray countered with an ice sword of his own.

Taking advantage of the situation, Juvia punched the clone hoping that it would explode.

However, unlike Naruto's shadow clones, this particular clone could endure a lot of punishment, though a bit of smoke did appear nonetheless.

Immediately, the clone kicked Juvia away.

It then followed by tossing several kunai at the foursome.

"Kenichi must be pretty powerful if his clone is a decent fighter..." noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, she tried creating clones of her own.

Unfortunately, they didn't hinder Kenichi's clone too much. He began to cut through the clones using his arm sword.

In response, Lucy hit the clone with her Rasengan.

Like his original counterpart, Kenichi was able to use his Preta Path to defend himself against ninjutsu. Unlike his original counterpart, however, he was having difficulty preventing the Rasengan from harming him.

Sure enough, he was holding onto it in his hands, trying to prevent it from reaching his face.

Taking advantage of the situation, Natsu punched the clone in the face and knocked him to the floor.

This allowed the Rasengan to strike Kenichi's clone, causing smoke to appear out of his body. Apparently, that attack did a number on him.

Unfortunately, Kenichi's clone was able to summon a weaker version of the King Of Hell in the event that he ended up being threatened.

Immediately, he jumped into the King Of Hell and began to heal.

"Stop him!" exclaimed Lucy.

Gray began to attack the King Of Hell, causing it to be reduced to dust. Thankfully, unlike the real Kenichi's King Of Hell, it took quite some time to heal its summoner completely.

Not only that, but it was going to take some time before he could summon it again.

Nonetheless, some of the smoke surrounding the clone had disappeared, and he was ready to battle once again.

Immediately, the clone began to summon animals to defend himself.

"Go and kill!" bellowed the clone.

"Deja vu..." murmured Lucy.

Shortly afterwards, a snake began to wrap itself across her body.

"Let me go!" demanded the kunoichi.

Once again, it was Natsu to the rescue.

"Thank goodness..." said Lucy.

However, the snake bit Natsu on the hand in the process.

"Ugh..." murmured the fire mage.

Unfortunately, it was rather venomous.

This time, it was Juvia to the rescue, who stuffed Natsu inside her body so that the poison would be washed away.

Fortunately, the animals did not cause them too many problems other than that incident.

However, Kenichi's clone retaliated by turning his arm into a claw and slashing Juvia across the face.

Naturally, Natsu felt that as well.

"Thank goodness this clone can't summon that dragon I saw Kenichi with earlier...otherwise we'd probably be dead by now." thought Lucy.

However, though Kenichi's clone could not summon a dragon of that caliber, it could summon a lizard that bore a resemblance to it.

Immediately, it began to use that lizard as a flamethrower so that his opponents would burn.

"Burn!" exclaimed the clone.

Fortunately for Natsu, he was able to absorb the flames and spit them back at Kenichi's clone, giving him several first-degree burns.

Unfortunately, Kenichi's clone pulled him out of Juvia's body in retaliation and began to rip his soul out from his body.

"Aaaauuugh!" exclaimed Natsu. Having your soul ripped off from your body by Kenichi was very painful indeed.

This time, it was Lucy of all people to the rescue.

She hit Kenichi's clone with another Rasengan. This time, he wasn't paying attention and he was hit headon.

"Aargh!" bellowed the clone.

Immediately, Kenichi's clone fell on the floor.

Natsu then snapped the clone's neck, causing it to explode into smoke.

"You may have defeated me...but I shall eradicate you yet!" said the clone as he burst.

Suffice to say, the four of them were rather surprised at the occurrence. Maybe Kenichi wasn't quite as strong as he claimed he was.

"Did we just take out one of his clones?" inquired Gray.

"I believe so...man, it sure was a hassle for us..." noted Lucy.

"At least we managed to score a victory over Kenichi!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Don't get too excited, Natsu...the real Kenichi is still out there." answered the summoner mage.

"Oh, right..." nodded the fire mage.

"And he's going to wipe out another clan...and a large one too at that." noted Lucy.

"Oh man..." murmured Natsu.

"We have to stop him!" exclaimed Juvia, still wanting revenge on Kenichi.

"Getting back to Konoha would be a better decision. One of his clones was enough hassle for us as it was...imagine if he sent two of them after us..." questioned Gray.

"Oh, you're right..." nodded Juvia.

She immediately let out a sigh. She was hoping that she would be able to avenge her teammates...but apparently she wasn't going to be able to do today.

"I guess we should go home..." answered the water mage.

Gray nodded.

Immediately, the four went to go tell Tsunade about their encounter with Kenichi on their way back from their mission.

_Meanwhile..._

Kenichi let out a frown of disappointment. Apparently, the foursome he had encountered earlier had managed to slay one of his clones.

Granted, he could summon no less than a dozen of them at once if he wanted to, but it was still a disappointment nonetheless.

Perhaps they weren't quite as weak as he thought they were.

"No matter. Minor setback. If I encounter them again, I'm not going to go so easy on them..." thought Kenichi.

On the plus side, he had reached his destination.

This time, he had chosen to attack a clan by the name of Mizuhara that happened to live near a dock.

Kaishi immediately let out a growl.

"As much as I would like to send you out to destroy this filth...I think I'm going to try summoning something different." said Kenichi.

Immediately, he flew towards the water and pressed his hand on the ground.

Shortly afterwards, tentacles began to emerge from the water.

As it turned out, he had summoned the very creature he typically used whenever he wished to flood a city.

In this case, it was Shinsui, which was basically a giant octopus.

Immediately, it rose to the surface.

"Flood this clan until they all drown!" exclaimed Kenichi.

Shinsui nodded, and began to create a tidal wave.

Immediately, the unfortunate clan members screamed in horror as their village was flooded.

In a period about half an hour, they all drowned.

Kenichi smiled in satisfaction. Another clan had been successfully wiped out.

As he did so, he began to flashback back to when he was a teenager.

_Kenichi's parents mourned the death of their son. How could this happen to him?_

_They got the feeling that he had committed suicide...his clan had never treated him well._

_Unbeknownst to them, Kenichi was watching nearby._

_"What? They're actually mourning the death of that little rat? They should be celebrating!" exclaimed the ninja._

_His parents had behaved that way for quite some time now, and he was finally sick of it._

_"No matter. They'll be joining him shortly." answered Kenichi._

_Immediately, he pulled out a paper bomb that he had designed himself._

_"Let's see now...this should do the trick..." said the ninja._

_He promptly flung it as hard as he could._

_Still mourning the death of their son, Kenichi's parents did not notice him tossing the paper bomb._

_They were immediately blown to bits, and their blood was splattered across Kenichi's face._

_He immediately wiped his face off._

_"There...now there are less weak ninja in the world..." answered Kenichi._

_Speaking of which, he was starting to wonder if he should try slaying some other ninja that he knew as well. They clearly did not belong in the world of ninja._

_"I should really get to work..." noted the ninja._

_Immediately, he left his house, leaving the bodies of his parents behind._

"I can't help but remember my first victims..." thought Kenichi.

Deciding that his job was finished, Kenichi once again began to fly away.

As he did so, he dismissed his giant octopus.

"I'll have use for you when I visit another port town..." thought Kenichi.

_Meanwhile..._

"Greetings! Do you have any news for me?" asked Tsunade.

"We ran into Kenichi on our way back from our mission..." explained Lucy.

"You did?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Yes...fortunately we were lucky and he only sent one of our clones after us..." answered the kunoichi.

"We managed to defeat it, too!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Congratulations...you actually managed to encounter Kenichi and survive...more than I can say for almost everyone else..." noted Tsunade.

"We hope that we'll be able to stop him someday." answered Gray.

"Juvia will kill him for what he did to my comrades!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Hopefully one of us will be able to slay him one day. He's killed countless people..." noted Tsunade.

"It's true, he has." nodded Lucy.

"Anyways...congratulations on defeating the bandits." answered the Sannin.

"Thanks." said the kunoichi.

Sure enough, it was getting rather late.

"I think it's time for us to go to bed..." spoke Lucy.

"Yeah..." nodded Natsu.

"Where am I going to stay?" asked Gray.

"Well, there happens to be a house over there..." answered Tsunade.

"But where is Juvia going to sleep?" inquired the ice mage.

"Juvia knows!" exclaimed Juvia.

Immediately, she entered Gray's body and began to sleep.

"Juvia wanting to sleep inside my body is rather sweet...but this is going to take some time getting used to." noted Gray.

Shrugging, he decided to go to his new house and get some rest.

_Meanwhile..._

Continuing to explore the castle, the foursome resumed their search for Dracferatu.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he did not pay attention and ended up falling through a trapdoor.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the genin.

"Naruto!" bellowed Sakura.

"Where did he go?" questioned Gajeel.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for Naruto.

As she discovered, he had fallen into the castle dungeon.

Thankfully, it wasn't a big drop.

Immediately, she jumped down into the dungeon with him.

"Are you OK?" asked Hinata.

"I think so...man, that was scary." noted Naruto.

"Haven't we been here before?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I believe we have..." nodded the genin.

Suddenly, the skeletons inside the dungeons came to life.

"What the-" said Naruto.

"Um guys...I think we need some help here..." spoke Hinata.

Immediately, the skeletons began to bash down their cell doors.

Sakura and Gajeel entered the dungeon as well.

Sure enough, one of the skeletons bust down their cell door, and began to attack the foursome.

Thankfully, their bones were brittle and weren't too hard to break, as they were rather old skeletons.

Nonetheless, they were going to be a hassle in a horde, and more skeletons were breaking free from their cells.

"This must be another one of Dracferatu's defense mechanisms..." noted Naruto.

"Apparently." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, the skeletons began to pull out some swords.

"This reminds me back when Erza and I battled Chiyoye..." answered the genin.

Fortunately for his sanity, these skeletons were somewhat goofy-looking in comparision to Chiyoye's undead forces.

"That's a relief..." thought Naruto.

Thanks to her super strength, Sakura was able to punch through the skeletons and pound them into dust.

Likewise, Gajeel was able to do the same. Also, he was able to devour the skeleton's swords, as they were made of metal.

However, not all of the skeletons were taking them from up close. Some of them were shooting at them with bows.

"Hmm...it seems that the skeletons have somewhat of a varied arsenal." noted Naruto.

"Yeah..." nodded Hinata.

In retaliation, Sakura began to roll a snowball towards them. It knocked them down like bowling pins.

Gajeel then took the opportunity to hit them with his Iron Dragon's Roar, causing them all to crumble.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" inquired Naruto.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for Dracferatu.

"It looks like he's up on the roof." said the kunoichi.

"I guess we should head there then." nodded Sakura.

"Let's kick some vampire butt!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"I don't want to touch his butt." complained Hinata.

Gajeel sweatdropped.

_A few minutes later..._

Dracferatu sighed. His defense mechanisms weren't working at all. The four vampireslayers were still making their way towards him.

He let out a sigh. It looked like he was going to have to deal with them himself.

"Ah well. This makes things more fun. Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

Personally he was starting to wonder why the villagers simply didn't form an angry mob and go to slay him. That would be the simple solution.

Maybe they were all cowards?

Either that, or they felt that sending mercenaries was a better solution to the job.

"Right then, I'll be waiting for them...and when they approach me...I'll suck their blood out! Ahhahahaha." answered Dracferatu.

"You do realize that we're right here, right?" inquired Naruto.

Dracferatu gasped in surprise. He was not expecting them to approach him so quickly.

"How did you get here so fast?" asked the vampire curiously.

"We found a secret staircase leading directly to the roof...who would have thought that there was one in the dungeon?" asked Sakura.

"One of the skeletons showed it to us, actually. Seems that he hated you for biting him in the neck." answered Gajeel.

"You're not going to suck the blood out of any more innocent people!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she tossed a fireball at Dracferatu.

Frantically, he leapt out of the way. Fire was one of a vampire's weaknesses.

Well, that and he didn't want his cape to be set on fire. He loved his cape.

Sakura then followed by creating some stakes made of ice and tossing them at Dracferatu as well.

Dracferatu gasped in shock. If one of them hit him in the heart, he was going to be dead!

Well, more dead than he was now.

Naturally, Gajeel was trying to hit him in the heart as well.

Fortunately, he could use his cape as a shield.

In retaliation, he began to charge up a dark energy sphere.

"You're not slaying me! On the contrary, I am going to be slaying you! Ahahahaha." answered Dracferatu.

"Why do you keep laughing like that?" asked Sakura curiously.

"I'm a vampire! I love to laugh! Get over it! Ahahahaha." said the vampire as he tossed the dark energy sphere at Sakura.

As it quickly turned out, the dark energy sphere was rather explosive, and Sakura was knocked back quite a few feet.

"Sheesh." said Sakura as she rubbed her head.

Dracferatu then followed by revealing a swarm of vampire bats underneath his cape, which began to Naruto, Hinata, and Gajeel.

"Agh!" bellowed Naruto.

"Get off!" demanded Hinata.

"Ergh!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"What exactly do you have in your cape?" asked Sakura.

"Lots of things, actually. Ahahahaha." answered Dracferatu.

"Like...what?" inquired Sakura.

"Like this!" exclaimed the vampire.

Immediately, he pulled out a Twilight novel.

"Uh-oh..." thought Sakura.

He then tossed it at Sakura, hitting her in the face.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Shortly afterwards, she began to feel rather sick.

"Ugh..." murmured Sakura.

"You OK?" asked Gajeel.

"I think so...that Twilight novel made me feel ill..." explained the kunoichi.

"Yeah, it tends to do that to people." answered Gajeel.

Suddenly, Dracferatu pulled out a Twilight: New Moon CD.

"It's on CD now?!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"It sure is. Ahhahaha." spoke the vampire.

Immediately, he flung the CD at Gajeel, cutting his face.

"Agh!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

Shortly afterwards, he began to vomit.

"Twilight is so awful..." murmured Gajeel.

"This isn't going good..." noted Naruto.

"Maybe if we hit him with holy water, he'll be weakened?" inquired Hinata.

"Well, I have water balloons to put them in..." answered the genin.

"Let's try that." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

Immediately, Naruto began to fill the water balloons with holy water.

"There...now we can use these against the vampire." said the genin.

Unfortunately for Sakura and Gajeel, Dracferatu was about to sing the Twilight theme song using a microphone.

"Let's see you face the music. Ahhahaha." said Dracferatu.

Immediately, he began to sing the song, causing Sakura and Gajeel to scream in pain.

"Aaargh!" screamed the kunoichi.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

"It's over! Ahahahaha." said the vampire.

"I think it's over for you." answered Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Dracferatu.

Immediately, Hinata pelted Dracferatu with the holy water balloons, causing him to scream in pain.

"Agh! Now you've done it! You've wounded me!" bellowed the count.

"That was kind of the idea..." answered the fire dragonslayer.

Seizing his opportunity, Naruto went up to Dracferatu and stabbed him in the heart with a stake, causing him to scream in pain as he began to turn to ash.

"Agh! Well, it's been a nice thousand years." noted the dying vampire.

Dracferatu collapsed into an ash pile on the floor, leaving behind only his clothes.

Shortly afterwards, the sun came up.

"It looks like we've succeeded in our mission." noted Hinata.

Naruto immediately dressed himself in Dracferatu's clothing.

"Well, this should replace my ripped off shirt..." noted the genin.

"Yeah..." nodded Gajeel.

"Let's go home, shall we?" asked Naruto.

Sakura, Hinata, and Gajeel nodded.

Immediately, they began to head back to Fairy Tail to celebrate their success.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey there, Shikamaru." said Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy...how was your mission?" inquired Shikamaru.

As he asked that, Lucy noticed that he looked rather relieved.

"Pretty good...unfortunately, we ran into Kenichi." answered the kunoichi.

"What? You did?" asked the shadow ninja.

"Yes, we did...we were lucky to survive, to be honest. He only sent one of our clones after us." answered Lucy.

"Did he now?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Thankfully, we were able to destroy it by working together as a team...I guess Kenichi is going to have to do better than that if he wants to kill us." noted the kunoichi.

"That's a relief..." answered the shadow ninja.

"However, I think that he wiped out another clan...he mentioned that before he left us alone with one of his clones." acknowledged Lucy.

"That's terrible." nodded Shikamaru.

"Yes...when is the bloodshed going to end?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Well, since you managed to defeat one of his clones...you might be able to stand a chance against him." noted Shikamaru.

"True...but I don't think his clone was nearly as strong as the original...Kenichi was able to destroy my Rasengan somewhat easily...while his clone struggled to keep it in place..." acknowledged Lucy.

"Oh...I guess you still have a long way to go if you want to fight him then." spoke the shadow ninja.

"Well, I do seem to be getting stronger...maybe if I summoned Gamabunta he could keep his dragon busy?" questioned Lucy.

"Maybe...that dragon has the power to destroy an entire clan with his fire breath though...you might need something to back him up..." suggested Shikamaru.

"I suppose I might need something like that..." nodded the kunoichi.

"I guess you should keep training for now...the stronger you become, the more likely you'll be able to defeat him..." answered the shadow ninja.

"You're right...maybe I will be able to defeat him some day." noted Lucy.

"I'm going to sleep now..." said Shikamaru.

Once again, he went to sleep.

"I guess I should go to bed too...it's pretty late." answered the summoner mage.

Immediately, she headed back to Naruto's apartment.

_A few minutes later..._

Lucy laid across Naruto's bed, thinking about what had happened recently. She sure wasn't expecting to have a chance encounter with Kenichi.

Granted, she had already encountered him once before...but he hadn't noticed them that time. They had dodged a kunai back then.

"I sure am glad I managed to encounter Kenichi and survive...then again, I might not be so lucky if it happens again." noted Lucy.

According to Kenichi, he had been saving most of his chakra for wiping out another clan. If he had used more of his chakra to attack the foursome, they might have been dead by now.

**"Kenichi is a horrible person."** said Kurama.

"Hmm? You're disturbed by his actions too?" inquired Lucy.

**"I may be a bloodthirsty monster...but I have standards in my evil." **explained Kurama.

"That's good to hear." noted Lucy.

**"Yeah...I guess." **nodded Lucy.

"He must have a lot of chakra inside his body..." answered the kunoichi.

**"Believe me...he has enough raw power to be a member of the Akatsuki...I could feel it when I saw him..." **spoke Kurama.

"The Akatsuki?" asked Lucy.

**"They're a group of people out to capture and kill jinchuriki just like you and Gaara..." **explained the nine-tailed fox.

"Oh my..." answered the kunoichi.

Of course, considering the fact that Kenichi wielded the Rinnegan, it wasn't surprising that he was one of the most powerful ninja out there.

"It's a shame that someone so evil has so much power..." noted Lucy.

If only someone more benevolent had obtained the Rinnegan instead...that way the world of ninja would have a lot less problems.

Immediately, she went to bed. As she did so, she began to dream of a certain ninja.

"Wow, Shikamaru...look at you and your tremendous abs..." murmured Lucy in her sleep.

_Meanwhile..._

Naruto and his friends arrived back at the Fairy Tail guild.

Sure enough, Erza was happy to see him.

"Did you slay the vampire?" asked the knight.

"Yes, I did." nodded Naruto.

"Congratulations, Naruto! You're a vampire slayer!" exclaimed Erza.

"Yes, I sure am." answered the genin.

"We're vampire slayers too, I believe." nodded Hinata.

"Congratulations." said Erza.

"Can we go to bed now? I'm tired..." complained Sakura.

"Me too..." nodded Gajeel.

"Me three..." answered Hinata.

"Yes, you can. I was about to go to bed myself..." noted Erza.

"Right, of course...time for me to go to sleep too..." nodded Naruto.

"Why are you dressed like a vampire?" asked the S-Class Mage.

"My shirt got ripped off again..." answered the genin.

"What was it this time?" inquired Erza.

"Gajeel turned into a vampire...he ripped off my shirt...so I replaced it with the dead vampire's clothing..." said Naruto.

"Did you now?" asked the knight.

"Since he was reduced to ash, I figured that he wouldn't need it..." noted the genin.

"Alright then." nodded Erza.

"Of course, people are probably going to think that I'm a vampire now..." answered Naruto.

"Won't you be a cute little vampire..." answered the knight.

"What?" asked the gnein.

"Nothing." spoke Erza.

"I guess I'll wear this for a Halloween party...I'm going to go look for another shirt for now...and head to bed after that." said Naruto.

"OK. See you." answered the S-Class Mage.

Naruto immediately went to look for another pair of clothing.

He found one a few minutes later.

"There we go!" exclaimed the genin.

_Meanwhile..._

"You are so awesome, Hinata! I wish I could be a vampire slayer like you!" exclaimed Happy.

"Really? That's sweet of you..." noted Hinata.

"Can you give me your autograph?" asked the Exceed.

"Sure, why not." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, Happy pulled out a piece of paper and handed Hinata a pen.

She then gave Happy her autograph.

"Thank you! I'm going to treasure this forever!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Aren't you a fanboy." answered Hinata.

Immediately, Happy put the piece of paper on Natsu's dresser.

"So, are you going to sleep now? It's pretty late now..." noted Hinata.

"Yes, I am..." nodded Happy.

Immediately, he dozed off, and Hinata put him in his cat basket.

"I guess I should go to sleep too..." noted the fire dragonslayer.

She began to lie down in Natsu's hammock.

Oddly enough, she got the feeling that she was going to get to go home soon.

Was it wishful thinking? Or was her instinct kicking in?

"Well, here's hoping that it's the latter...then again, I am going to miss Happy...he always makes me smile." she thought.

She was starting to see why Natsu always kept him around, and why they were so close.

"I guess I'll have to say goodbye to him once I get to go back home..." answered Hinata.

She then began to doze off.

"Zzz..." murmured the kunoichi.

_At Lucy's apartment..._

"Well, it looks I've completed my mission. The vampire is dead and he shouldn't be hurting any more people." noted Naruto.

Oddly enough, he got the feeling that something big was going to happen soon. He wasn't quite sure what.

"Maybe we're going to get a new recruit? I know that we've already recruited Gajeel recently." acknowledged the genin.

Hopefully it wasn't going to be something bad. He wouldn't want another guild like Phantom Lord to launch an attack on Fairy Tail.

To think that he had been kidnapped and tortured by Phantom Lord, too.

Then again, Master Jose had been arrested and his guild had been disbanded, so hopefully he wouldn't cause any more problems.

"I guess I should get ready for tomorrow...who knows what's going to happen." said Naruto.

As he did so, he began to think of home. He was really starting to miss it.

Then again, the friends he had made in the world of magic were family to him as well.

"I'm starting to feel conflicted..." thought the boy.

He was going to miss his friends in the world of magic if he ever got back home.

Then again, there really was no place like home.

"I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." noted Naruto.

Personally he wondered if his shirt was going to get ripped off again on the way home. It sure seemed to be happening to him a lot lately.

But he decided that he could live with that. After all, he had a lot of new abilities he wanted to show to his friends on the other side.

"I bet they're going to be impressed..." noted Naruto.

Being the interdimensional partner of Lucy had its perks.

Immediately, he went to bed.

"Zzz..." murmured the genin.

_Can you guess what's going to happen in the next chapter?_

_Well, guess what! Naruto and his friends are going to get to back home! And so are Lucy and her friends..._

_Hooray!_

_You've been waiting for that, have you not? It's going to be a rather exciting episode..._

_But the story isn't going to end there...in case it's not obvious. It is going to affect the plot, I can tell you that._

_See you!_


	28. Chapter 28: Going Home

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto and his friends are finally going to get home! Hooray! Of course, due to the magic of the interdimensional portal, they're not going to be quite the same..._

_Lucy and her friends are going to get home as well...though again, they're not going to be quite the same..._

**Chapter 28: Going Home**

"Hinata! Wake up!" exclaimed Happy.

"What? Why are you waking me up again?" asked Hinata.

"You're finally going to get to go back home!" bellowed the Exceed.

"What? I am? Really? You mean it?" inquired Hinata.

Sure enough, she was rather excited.

"You heard me right! This time the interdimensional portal isn't going to disappear!" exclaimed Happy.

"That's a relief..." noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, Happy escorted Hinata to the interdimensional portal.

"I'm finally going to get back home...thank goodness..." answered Hinata.

"What's this about coming back home?" asked Naruto curiously.

"We're finally going back to Konoha, Naruto!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"What?!" bellowed the genin.

All of a sudden, he began to feel rather excited.

Sure enough, Makarov was in the interdimensional portal chamber.

"We've been working on for this quite some time now! I hope you're happy, because I know I am!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"That's my name!" answered Happy, jumping up and down.

At that very moment, Sakura entered the interdimensional chamber as well.

"I get to go back home, huh? I will admit I haven't been here as long as you two have..." noted the kunoichi.

"It's true, you haven't." nodded Hinata.

Sure enough, Kimimaro arrived on the scene as well.

"I get to go back home too, I guess...then again, I'm not sure if Konoha is going to accept me after all the things I did." noted the bone ninja.

"I'll take care of it." said Naruto.

Kimimaro let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Erza gave Naruto a hug.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

"I'm going to miss you, little guy!" exclaimed Erza.

"It's OK...we'll find a way to keep in touch." answered Naruto.

"I'm still going to miss you." said the knight.

"Yeah, me too." nodded the genin.

Immediately, he turned to his friends.

"Should we go first this time? The last time you tried to retrieve Lucy the portal closed on us..." he asked.

"It's true, it did...it was my fault though." answered Hinata.

"I'm going to miss you!" exclaimed Happy.

Immediately, he gave Hinata a hug.

"I'll miss you too." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

"Should we go look for Lucy while we're at it? She's going to want to hear this." noted Naruto.

"I'm contacting her right now, actually." explained Makarov.

Sure enough, Makarov had a pager he could use to contact people on the other side of the interdimensional portal.

Immediately, he handed some to Naruto and his friends as well.

"We'll use this to keep in touch with each other." explained the guildmaster.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded Sakura.

"Of course, I'll be sending one to Lucy and her friends too..." noted Makarov.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy jumped in surprise. A yellow pager had suddenly appeared in her hand.

"How did that get there?" inquired the kunoichi.

Suddenly, the pager went off.

"Hmm?" asked Lucy.

"Congratulations, Lucy! You're finally going to get to go home!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"Am I now?" asked the kunoichi.

"Yes, you are. So are your friends as well." explained Makarov.

At that very moment, Natsu and Gray approached her.

"Hey there, Lucy! We just got some pagers...I don't know why..." said the fire mage.

"Me neither, Salamander." answered the ice mage.

Oddly enough, Natsu's pager happened to be red while Gray's happened to be cyan.

"Good news, everyone. We're going to get to go home!" exclaimed Lucy.

On cue, Juvia suddenly left Gray's body.

"Are we now? Thank goodness...drip drop, drip drop." spoke the water mage.

"I guess we should head home now..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, Natsu began to search for the interdimensional portal with his Byakugan.

"There it is!" exclaimed the fire mage, pointing in its direction.

The foursome went to the interdimensional portal. Sure enough, Shikamaru was there.

"Are you finally going home? I had a feeling something big was going to happen." answered the shadow ninja.

Oddly enough, Kiba and Shino happened to be there as well, with the former being mounted on Akamaru. Apparently, they were wondering if Hinata was going to jump out of it.

"Yes, we are." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, she gave Shikamaru a hug.

"Goodbye...I'll be able to keep contact with you with my pager...let me know if you need anything." said Lucy.

"I'll miss you too." nodded Shikamaru.

Likewise, Natsu gave Kiba and Shino a hug as well.

"Thanks for helping us with our mission." spoke Kiba.

Akamaru licked Natsu in the face.

"We wouldn't have been able to pull it off with you..." noted Shino.

"Goodbye!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, the foursome entered the interdimensional portal.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, these are our interdimensional partners in the flesh?" asked Naruto.

Sure enough, Lucy, Natsu, and Gray stepped out of the portal. Juvia was once again sleeping in Gray's body.

Oddly enough, Lucy was dressed in a white shirt and black shorts today.

Immediately, Lucy shook Naruto's hand and introduced herself to him, and vice versa.

"So you're the one who took my celestial spirit keys..." answered the kunoichi.

"Do you want them back?" asked Naruto.

"You probably need them more than I do...nowadays I can press my hand on the ground and summon any animal I want..." noted Lucy.

"Alright then..." answered the genin.

"By the way, I also seem to have inherited your nine-tailed fox...do you want it back? Then again considering it's a bloodthirsty monster you probably don't..." spoke the kunoichi.

Lucy immediately lifted up her shirt, revealing Naruto's former jinchuriki mark.

"I'm sorry you're bearing my former burden..." apologized Naruto.

"It's OK...I think I can keep him inside me...don't worry about it." answered Lucy.

"That's a relief. I just wanted to make sure you were OK...see you later!" exclaimed the genin.

Naruto immediately entered the interdimensional portal.

Natsu shook hands with Hinata, causing her to blush.

"Greetings! You're my interdimensional partner, are you not? My name's Natsu." asked Natsu.

"Yes! Yes, you are! My name's Hinata!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Did you inherit anything from me?" inquired the fire dragonslayer.

"Yes...I'm a fire dragonslayer now..." answered the fire kunoichi.

"Neato!" exclaimed Natsu.

"By the way, I met your foster father...he wants to see you again." spoke Hinata.

"He does? Yes! I've been looking all over for him!" cheered the fire dragonslayer.

A few moments later, Happy gave Natsu a hug.

"Natsu!" cheered Happy.

"Happy!" exclaimed Natsu.

Unsurprisingly, they were very happy to see each other again.

"Good to see you two have been reunited..." noted Hinata.

Suddenly, Happy pointed to her.

"Huh?" asked the female fire dragonslayer.

"This kind girl looked after me while you were away!" exclaimed Happy.

"Hmm? Did you really?" asked Natsu.

"Yes, I did." nodded Hinata.

"Thanks...I don't know what I would do if he got in trouble..." noted Natsu.

"Yeah...thank goodness I was there when you weren't, right?" asked the kunoichi.

"She's my other best friend!" exclaimed Happy.

"Aww, how sweet." answered Hinata.

Hinata waved farewell to Natsu as she entered the interdimensional portal.

"Gee, she's cute..." thought the fire mage.

Gray immediately shook hands with Sakura, and they both introduced themselves to each other.

"I hope you're happy. I inherited your stripping habit!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Sorry about that." apologized Gray.

Immediately, he began to take off his shirt.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" exclaimed Sakura.

"But you're taking off your shirt..." pointed out Gray.

Sakura sweatdropped as she lowered her shirt.

"Anyways, I hope you enjoy your ice powers..." answered the ice mage.

"I'll use that to freeze Naruto solid if he gets on my nerves..." said the kunoichi.

"Right, of course...of course." nodded Gray.

"Why exactly did you become a stripper anyway?" asked Sakura.

"Well..." answered the ice mage.

_"I'm ready for training!" exclaimed Gray._

_Sure enough, Gray was dressed in a pair of swim trunks...out in the middle of a blizzard._

_"Very good." answered Ur._

_Sure enough, Ur was wearing a strapless bikini._

_"My teacher is the hottest woman in the history of the world..." thought Gray._

_"Alright then...let's start with some basic ice spells, shall we?" inquired Ur._

_Immediately, she began to create a snowball._

_Likewise, Gray began to do the same._

_"Very good! Keep this up and you'll become as strong as I am in no time!" exclaimed Ur._

_Gray let out a sigh._

_"What's the matter?" asked Ur._

_"I'm starting to get worried that you're going to end up like Obi-Wan Kenobi..." questioned the ice mage._

_"It's alright...just treasure the time we have together and you'll be able to move on...though admittedly it will take a long time for you to recover..." answered Ur._

_"You are hypothetically speaking, right?" asked Gray._

_"Yes, I am." nodded the powerful ice mage._

_Gray let out a sigh of relief._

"So, your mentor made you wear swim trunks out in the middle of a blizzard?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, she did." nodded Gray.

"Fair enough. My mentor made me roll a boulder up a hill..." noted the kunoichi.

"Who is your mentor?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Just a woman by the name of Tsunade...she happens to be one of the legendary Sannin." explained Sakura.

"You're a lucky girl!" exclaimed Gray.

"Well, by the sound of it...you got to work with a powerful ice mage...so you're a lucky guy." answered the kunoichi.

"I guess I am." nodded the ice mage.

"Hey, what's that on the back of your neck?" asked Sakura curiously.

"Oh, that's Juvia...she likes to enter my body so that she can go to sleep..." explained Gray.

"OK..." answered Sakura, feeling rather disturbed.

"She lost her comrades to a ninja that rode around on a dragon...they came to the world of ninja along with her only to end up getting slain by him...it's sad." continued the ice mage.

"A dragonrider? You mean Kenichi?" inquired Sakura.

"Yes, that's the one." spoke the ice mage.

"Tsunade said that if I ever saw him I should leap away as fast as I could..." answered the ice kunoichi.

"I can see why...we were very lucky to survive our encounter with him..." noted Gray.

"You survived an encounter with him?" asked Sakura.

"Well, he only sent one of his clones after us..." explained the ice mage.

"That's a relief. I'll be seeing you then." nodded the kunoichi.

"Bye!" exclaimed Gray.

Immediately, she jumped through the interdimensional portal along with Kimimaro.

Juvia left Gray's body shortly afterwards.

"That was a good nap..." said the water mage.

"So...now that we're back home...do you want to become a member of Fairy Tail? I'm sure that Makarov will let you join after all you've been through..." noted Gray.

"Juvia would love to!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Alright then. Let's go get you a guild mark." answered the ice mage.

_A few minutes later..._

Kakashi approached Naruto a few minutes after he left the interdimensional portal.

"Hey there, sensei! I'm finally home!" exclaimed the genin.

"That's a relief..." noted Kakashi.

Suddenly, he noticed Kimimaro was standing with him.

"Isn't that the last member of the Kaguya clan?" asked the jonin curiously.

"Don't worry...he's on our side now. He won't be slaying anyone else...besides, a rather twisted sorceress removed his cursed seal..." explained Naruto.

Kimimaro nodded.

"I see. You always did have that peculiar ability to change others...wait, a sorceress?" inquired the jonin.

"It's a long story." explained the bone ninja.

"I went to the world of magic, and I got these!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, he pulled out Lucy's former celestial spirit keys.

"Interesting..." noted Kakashi.

"I can use that to summon celestial spirits...a rather nice girl gave them to me...well, not voluntarily, but she was a nice girl." explained the genin.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" inquired the jonin.

"Well, when I entered the interdimensional portal, I ended up getting changed..." explained Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Kakashi.

"I inherited the celestial spirit keys of said girl...and I ended up giving up my tailed beast to her. She ended up becoming my interdimensional partner." explained the genin.

"You mean you're not a jinchuriki anymore?" inquired the jonin.

"No, I'm not." nodded Naruto.

He lifted up his shirt to reveal the lack of his jinchuriki mark.

"That explains why your whiskers have disappeared..." noted Kakashi.

"Really? They did? Weird..." acknowledged Naruto.

"Should we do something about me? I think Tsunade still thinks I'm a psychopath..." spoke Kimimaro.

Naruto stamped the Konoha mark of peace on Kimimaro's arm.

"There...now everyone will know that you come in peace." spoke the genin.

Kimimaro let out a sigh of relief.

"So, how is your interdimensional partner doing?" inquired the jonin.

"She's doing fine...she doesn't think having a nine-tailed beast in her is a big deal." answered Naruto.

"That's a relief." nodded Kakashi.

"Still, I wonder where she is now..." noted the genin.

Suddenly, Naruto's pants ripped.

"Should I get you a new pair of pants?" asked the jonin.

"That would be appreciated." nodded the genin.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy headed back to her apartment, happy to be home once again.

"It's been a nice trip...but I think it's time for my vacation to end." thought the mage.

Immediately, she was greeted by her landlady.

"Hi there! I haven't been here for a long time, haven't I?" asked Lucy.

"Where have you been?" inquired the landlady.

"All the way back in another world...it's a long story." explained the kunoichi.

"I see." nodded Lucy's landlady.

"So, how much rent do I owe?" asked Lucy.

"That fine boy who was here earlier already paid your rent, actually..." explained the landlady.

"Oh, did he? That's a relief." answered the kunoichi.

Curious, she noticed that the door to her apartment had been repaired recently.

"Did something happen while I was gone?" asked Lucy.

"Someone tore down the door with an axe..." explained the landlady.

"Really? Why'd they do it?" inquired the summoner.

"Well, I may have insulted their mother." she explained.

"Why would you do that?" asked Lucy.

"I was having a bad day...don't worry, I'd never do to that to you. Your mother is deceased after all." answered the landlady.

"OK...thank you for your sensitivity. I'll see you later!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Immediately, the landlady left Lucy to her own devices.

"It's good to be home..." cheered the kunoichi.

She proceeded to take a bubble bath.

"Now this feels good..." said Lucy.

**"Nice rack you have here." **spoke Kurama.

Lucy's face turned red.

"Are you spying on me?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

**"Well, I am stuck inside your body..." **noted the nine-tailed fox.

Lucy let out a sigh. Taking a bath was never going to be quite the same again.

**"Hey, I've seen Naruto naked all the time..." **explained Kurama.

"Are you saying you're-"

**"No, I am not." **answered the fox.

"OK...I'm going to take a bubble bath shoulder-deep from now on..." said Lucy.

Immediately, she submerged herself up to her shoulders.

**"Meh, I'm still enjoying this." **said Kurama.

"I guess we're both happy then." answered Lucy.

A few minutes after Lucy had finished her bubble bath (and had quickly put on her towel to protect her modesty from Kurama), she suddenly heard knocking on her door.

"Hmm? Who is it?" asked Lucy.

Immediately, she put on an orange dress with a fox on it.

As it turned out, it was none other than her father.

"Oh, it's you." said the kunoichi.

"Come back to me, Lucy! You don't know how much I've missed you!" exclaimed Lucy's father.

"I'll say! You sent Phantom Lord to kidnap me!" bellowed Lucy.

"Please! You're all that I have left of your mother!" shouted the man.

"That's where all the problems began." noted the kunoichi.

"C'mon! Duke Sawarr Junelle is waiting for you!" exclaimed Jude Heartfilia.

"See?! That's why I left! You arranged me to be married to someone who was a gold digger and a pervert!" bellowed Lucy.

"A pervert?" asked Lucy's father.

"He spied me while I was in the shower!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

**"Deja vu." **murmured Kurama.

"Please! You've got to come back for me! I'm broke now! I spent the family fortune on alcoholic beverages!" bellowed Jude Heartfilia.

"So, you're an alcoholic now?" asked Lucy.

"I...guess..." nodded Lucy's father.

"I have to question the safety of living with you then." answered the kunoichi.

"C'mon! Can't you do this for me? I'm the one who helped bring you into this world! Your mother would want this!" asked Jude.

"Somehow, I'm not quite so sure. And just between you and me, I've already found someone else." spoke Lucy, thinking about Shikamaru.

"Fine! You won't have to marry Sawarr! Now come back to me!" exclaimed Lucy's father.

Lucy sighed. She was going to have to find a way to prevent her father from taking her back. Inevitably, he was going to summon another guild to capture her if she continued to refuse.

She was going to have to come up with a plan.

Suddenly, she remembered that she was Naruto's interdimensional partner and that she had his abilities to go with it, and she got an idea.

"Alright, fine. You win. But before you take me in, there's a few things that you should note. Thanks to the interdimensional portal I used, I happen to be a bit...different." answered Lucy.

"What do you mean?" asked Jude.

Suddenly, Lucy created some shadow clones of herself.

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy's father.

"If you take me back in, you're going to have a lot of mouths to feed, I can tell you that. You're going to have to feed every single one of them." answered Lucy.

Immediately, the shadow clones' stomachs began to grumble.

"We want food! We want food!" exclaimed the clones.

Jude began to feel rather nervous.

Shortly afterwards, Lucy ripped off her dress to reveal her pink tube top and shorts.

On her stomach was her jinchuriki mark.

"Of course, that's small potatoes to what I have living inside me now." answered the kunoichi.

"What?!" exclaimed Jude.

"You see, I happen to have a giant nine-tailed fox inside my stomach...if you don't treat me well, he's going to come out. And if he does, he's going to destroy everything you hold dear." explained Lucy.

Kurama began to laugh evilly.

Jude's skin turned pale.

"Lastly...well, I can't seem to think of a third thing to tell you..." said Lucy.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to try shapeshifting.

"Hmm? Is this one of Naruto's abilities?" thought the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she pressed her hands together to transform.

As it turned out, Lucy had just learned Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.

"There we are! Lastly..well, I can do this." explained the kunoichi.

Immediately, Jude Heartfilia began to scream.

Shortly afterwards, he passed out.

Lucy transformed back to normal shortly afterwards.

"Father? Father?" asked Lucy, waving her hand across her father's face.

As it turned out, he had been knocked out cold.

"Well, that seemed to have done the trick." answered the kunoichi.

**"Thank goodness." **spoke the nine-tailed fox.

Immediately, Lucy began to summon a swarm of carrier pigeons.

She then showed them where they could find her father's house.

The carrier pigeons then took Jude Heartfilia away.

**"Is he gone?" **asked Kurama.

"Yes, I think so." nodded Lucy.

**"Thank goodness!" **exclaimed the nine-tailed fox.

"We're actually agreeing on something again..." noted Lucy.

**"How very odd." **answered Kurama.

"I have to admit, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about this though...I couldn't help but shake the feeling that my father loves me deep down inside of him..." spoke the kunoichi.

**"You're probably better off without him." **answered Kurama.

"You're probably right...on the plus side, I think I'll finally be able to flirt with men effectively now..." noted Lucy.

**"Will you now?" **asked Kurama.

"Yes, I will. That Sexy Jutsu's going to work wonders." said the kunoichi.

**"It sure will." **nodded the nine-tailed fox.

"Well, back to my guild I go. They've most likely missed me." answered Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

"Father, I'm home!" exclaimed Hinata, knocking on the door to her house.

Hiashi Hyuga answered the door, and immediately gave his daughter a hug.

"There you are! Do you have any idea how much I missed you?!" exclaimed Hiashi.

"I missed you too, father." nodded Hinata.

"When I heard that you got sucked into an interdimensional portal, I was worried for your safety!" bellowed the man.

"I bet you were." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, Neji gave Hinata a hug as well. Apparently, he had noticed what was going on.

Even her little sister gave her a hug.

"You're starting to crush me..." said Hinata.

The trio decided it was best to try hugging her one at a time.

"Where have you been?" asked Hanabi.

"I got stranded all the way in another world...the world of magic to be precise." answered the kunoichi.

"The world of magic?" inquired Neji.

"Yes, that was the place...mind you, I'm not quite the same anymore after the incident..." noted Hinata.

"You aren't?" asked Hanabi.

"No, I am not...you'll find out in due time. But for now I want to get some rest..." said Hinata.

"We were about to bake you a cake, actually." explained Hiashi Hyuga.

"What? You were?" asked the kunoichi.

"We want to celebrate your return!" exclaimed Hinata's father.

"Oh, right...of course." nodded Hinata.

_Fifteen minutes later..._

"So, is the cake ready?" asked the fire dragonslayer.

"It sure is!" exclaimed Hiashi.

Sure enough, it was her favorite flavor...vanilla.

"What a delicious looking cake..." thought Hinata.

Suddenly, she noticed that the candles were unlit.

Immediately, Hiashi realized that he had a problem.

"Oh no! We forgot about the candles! Quickly, someone get a lighter!" exclaimed Hinata's father.

"Where is the lighter, anyway?" questioned Hinata.

Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Oh, that's right...I don't need one of these anymore..." thought the kunoichi.

"Don't worry! I'll take care of it!" exclaimed Hinata.

Setting her fingers on fire, she lit up the candles one by one.

"There! Crisis solved!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"How did you do that?" asked Hiashi.

Suddenly, he remembered about Hinata telling him that she wasn't quite the same after using that interdimensional portal.

"Er, did you somehow master a fire jutsu while you were gone?" inquired Hinata's father.

"Something like that." answered Hinata.

Immediately, Neji and Hanabi entered the dining room.

"Is the cake ready?" asked Neji.

"I can't wait!" exclaimed Hanabi.

Hinata began to wonder what she should wish for. Granted, the cake said "Welcome Back" rather than "Happy Birthday", but she felt that she should wish for something regardless.

"I wish I could see Natsu again, I suppose. He's really hot...in more ways than one." thought Hinata.

She then blew out the candles.

"Well, I guess we're done here." said Hiashi as he pulled out the candles. "Let's eat!"

Suddenly, Hinata swallowed the cake whole, causing her family members to gasp in surprise.

"Sorry! My enormous appetite flared up again!" exclaimed Hinata, wiping the frosting off her face.

"What?!" bellowed Neji.

"I've had a pretty big appetite since I used that interdimensional portal..." answered the kunoichi.

"You swallowed the cake whole!" bellowed Hiashi.

"I'm not quite sure how I did that myself." answered the kunoichi.

"I'm scared..." said Hanabi.

"Well, I guess you can run along now, I suppose. I bet your friends are waiting for your return." noted Hiashi.

"Right! I better go see Kiba and Shino! They must be worried about me!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she leapt her way out of the house.

_A few minutes later.._

"Kiba! Shino!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Hinata! You're back!" bellowed Kiba.

"Good to see you again." said Shino.

"Good to see you too." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

"So...how was your stay in the world of magic?" inquired the bug user.

"Pretty good. I even became a mage!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Really? That's neat." nodded Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"I'm finally home now...it feels so good to be back after so long." noted the kunoichi.

Then again, she had enjoyed her time at the world of magic as well.

"So...you mentioned something about being a mage...was there a particular type of magic you obtained?" inquired Shino.

"Well, you see..."

Hinata was suddenly interrupted by some rustling in the bushes.

"Do you hear something?" asked Kiba.

Suddenly, Takeshi jumped out of the bushes.

"Huh?" inquired Shino.

"I'm going to kill you!" screeched the psychopath.

"This can't be good." spoke Kiba.

Akamaru began to whimper.

Immediately, Takeshi pulled out a flamethrower.

"It's BBQ time!" bellowed the pyromaniac.

He turned on the flamethrower and began to swing it towards the trio.

"Run for it!" screamed Kiba.

"Don't let him roast my bugs!" warned Shino.

Unfortunately for the trio, Takeshi was rather quick.

"What a maniac...he wants to burn us all alive with his flamethrower..." thought Hinata. "Wait...a flamethrower..."

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Everyone, stay behind me!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"What are you doing?" asked Kiba.

"Are you sure about this, Hinata?" inquired Shino.

"I know what I'm doing! Trust me on this!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Alright then." nodded Kiba.

Immediately, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino hid behind Hinata.

"Hahaha! You've got nowhere to hide or run! Burn baby burn!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Takeshi set the flamethrower to full power, and an enormous stream of fire came out of the fiery weapon.

He began to laugh maniacally as the trio were covered with flames.

In the process, he left behind a cloud of smoke.

"Hahaha! I did it! I killed them! I am so evil!" exclaimed Takeshi.

However, when the smoke cleared...he immediately gasped in shock.

They had been completely unharmed!

"Wow...being a fire dragonslayer really has its perks." noted Hinata.

"How did you survive?!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Shortly afterwards, Hinata took the flamethrower from his hands.

"I don't think you'll be able to use this without any fuel, so..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she turned the flamethrower on and began to consume the flames.

In just a few minutes, the flamethrower ran out of fuel, and it was now useless to Takeshi.

She then hit him on the head with it, and knocked him out cold.

"Phew...hopefully he won't be bothering us for a while..." answered Hinata.

"How did you do that, Hinata?!" exclaimed Kiba.

"I'm impressed." said Shino.

"About my field of magic...you see, I happen to be a fire dragonslayer now..." explained the kunoichi.

"A fire dragonslayer?" asked Kiba.

"Yes, not only can I control fire, but I'm virtually fireproof...also, I can eat fire too." explained Hinata.

"Does this have anything to do with Natsu? I believe he was able to use the Byakugan like you could...and was pyrokinetic..." asked Shino curiously.

"I became a fire dragonslayer because of him, actually. I used the interdimensional portal at about the same time he did and we inherited each other's abilities." answered Hinata.

"That's really neat...I'm starting to want to use the interdimensional portal myself..." noted Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Mind you, it wasn't all good. I also happened to inherit his motion sickness...I'm afraid I won't be able to ride roller coasters with you two from now on." answered Hinata.

"That's too bad." answered Kiba.

"I never really liked riding them, anyway, to be honest. I'd rather have some peace and quiet." shrugged Shino.

At that very moment, Kurenai approached them.

"There you are! I was worried about you! I heard that there was a serial killer on the loose! I wanted to see if were OK..." said the jonin.

"The serial killer? I think we already took him out." said Kiba.

"Really? That's a relief..." answered Kurenai.

"We wouldn't have survived if it weren't for Hinata, though..." spoke Shino.

"Hinata?!" exclaimed the jonin.

"Good to see you again, sensei!" bellowed the fire dragonslayer.

Kurenai immediately gave Hinata a hug.

"I missed you too..." said the kunoichi.

"So, you saved their lives?" asked Kurenai.

"Yes, I did...to be honest, it was actually pretty easy. He used the worst possible weapon against me...a flamethrower." answered Hinata.

"Why was that so ineffective?" inquired the jonin.

"Well, thanks to the interdimensional portal I used to look for Naruto...I happen to be completely fireproof now. Not only that, I was able to eat the flames until he ran out of fuel." explained the kunoichi.

"That's amazing!" exclaimed the genjutsu specialist.

"We know! We saw it for ourselves!" bellowed Kiba.

"Ruff!" shouted Akamaru.

"I was going to get you a hazmat suit so that we could go firefighting sometime...but I guess you won't need it..." noted Kurenai.

"Yeah, she won't." nodded Shino.

"So, what should we do about him?" asked Kiba.

"Let's take him back to Tsunade's slave camp." explained Hinata.

_A few minutes later..._

"How exactly did he escape from the camp?" questioned Tsunade as she reshackled Takeshi's arms and legs.

One of the guards suddenly began to whistle.

"No matter...I'm going to keep a closer eye on him this time." noted the Sannin.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi.

"Of course you will, of course you will." answered Tsunade.

At that very moment, Sakura approached her.

"Ah, Sakura! You're back! So...how was your trip?" asked the Sannin.

"Pretty good...unfortunately, I became a stripper..." said Sakura.

"You became a stripper?" inquired Tsunade.

"Yes...I'm feeling the urge to take my clothes off as we speak..." answered the kunoichi.

"Why did you become a stripper?" asked the Sannin.

"I became the interdimensional partner of one." explained Sakura.

"I see..." nodded Tsunade.

"On the plus side, I inherited his ice magic..." spoke the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to form a snowball in her hands.

"Right...freeze Takeshi in case he tries to escape again, will you? He's been getting pretty aggressive." asked Tsunade.

"I'm going to kill you...and your apprentice too!" screamed Takeshi.

Sakura punched Takeshi in the nose.

"My nose! My precious nose!" screamed the psychopath as his nose began to bleed.

"I broke it, didn't I?" asked the kunoichi.

"Well, he deserved it." answered Tsunade.

"If you need me I'm going to be practicing my ice abilities..." said Sakura.

"Don't forget your shirt!" exclaimed the Sannin.

"Thank goodness I'm wearing this sarashi underneath my shirt..." noted the kunoichi as she put her shirt back on.

On the way there, she happened to see Kimimaro.

"Oh, hey there! How are you doing?" asked Sakura.

"Pretty good...the Konoha citizens are starting to accept me..." answered the bone ninja.

"That's a relief...I was starting to wonder if they were going to treat you an outcast just like they treated Naruto." noted the kunochi.

"Well, some of them are. But other than that I think things are going fine." spoke Kimimaro.

"Say, what happened to your teammates? I believe that you were part of the Sound Four...or Sound Five, were you not?" asked Sakura.

"I'm afraid they've all been wiped out." answered the bone ninja.

"Really? Who did this to them?" inquired the kunoichi.

"The worst person I have ever met." spoke Kimimaro.

"Who was it?" asked Sakura.

"It was a woman by the name of Chiyoye...she slaughtered an entire town just so that she could make herself powerful..." answered the bone ninja.

"What?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"She also drained me of my cursed seal..." spoke Kimimaro.

"Well, admittedly, that has made you a lot less violent..." answered Sakura.

"Yes...but it has also made her much more powerful. I'm starting to feel rather worried...I wonder if I should go back to the world of magic to try to stop her..." noted the bone ninja.

"Need any help? I could try heading back there too..." spoke the kunoichi.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to defeat her alone...I was lucky to have survived my encounter with her..." said Kimimaro.

"I bet you were." nodded Sakura.

"I have to wonder where she is now though...I bet she's slaughtering more people as we speak..." answered the bone ninja.

"That sounds pretty bad." agreed the medical ninja.

_Meanwhile..._

Chiyoye happily walked her way towards Mana City. After slaughtering an entire town, she decided she needed to move on to something bigger.

After all, simply draining the life from another town would be a bit too easy.

Unlike Elm Town, this particular city happened to be guarded.

Sure enough, two mages were standing in front of the city to make sure that no criminals made their way inside.

"Halt!" bellowed the first mage.

"Who goes there!" exclaimed the second mage.

Immediately, Chiyoye zapped them with lightning, causing them to jump out of the way.

In retaliation, they began to shoot blasts of magical energy at her.

Curious, she decided that it was time to test our her new cursed seal.

Her hair turned white as well as her skin, causing the two mages to gasp in shock.

"What-what is she?!" bellowed the first mage.

Unfortunately for the mages, the cursed seal greatly increased her speed as well as her strength.

She immediately leapt towards the two mages, and began to drain the life out of them, causing them to scream in pain as they perished.

She turned back to normal shortly afterwards.

"Well, so much for the guards." answered the mage.

She began to flashback to the days where she first realized that she was a wizard.

_Chiyoye's mother and Chiyoye's father heard knocking on their door._

_Immediately, Chiyoye's mother opened the door._

_Much to their surprise, their special guest happened to be a wizard._

_Sure enough, he happened to be wearing a wizard's hat. He was dressed in light purple robes and had a very long beard._

_"Greetings. My name is Professor Fumbledore. I'm here to talk to you about your child." explained the sorcerer._

_"Hmm? Is something wrong with her?" asked Chiyoye's mother._

_"No no no. Nothing like that. She just happens to be a wizard, that's all." answered the man._

_Curious, Chiyoye's father approached his wife to see what was happening._

_"Is there anything you want from her?" asked Chiyoye's mother._

_"Nothing much. I just want to see what her magic speciality is, that's all. Almost every wizard has one. I happen to specialize in life magic, myself." answered Professor Fumbledore._

_"I see..." nodded Chiyoye's father._

_"I'll give her back to you in a few days." explained the professor._

_Chiyoye's parents nodded, and they came back with their daughter a few minutes later._

_"Be safe now!" exclaimed Chiyoye's mother._

_To be honest, they had always felt that there was something special about their daughter...though they weren't quite sure what until now._

_As they did so, they failed to notice a wide smile creeping across Chiyoye's face._

"If he had known I was a serial killer even in my youth...he might have been more hesistant to take me in." thought Chiyoye.

Immediately, she entered the city, ready to look for some victims.

She had been feeling very powerful lately.

And yet, she still wanted more.

She would not rest until she became the most powerful mage there was.

Maybe she should try seeking omnipotence. Granted, that was most likely a dream rather than a reality, but she would love ascending into godhood.

"Where should I start looking?" asked Chiyoye.

_We now return to Sakura and Kimimaro._

"I hope that we can stop her..." said Sakura.

"The sooner someone stops her, the better. The more people she kills, the stronger she gets." explained Kimimaro.

"That sure sounds like the case..." nodded the kunoichi.

"Mind you, if someone fails to stop her, they don't just fail in their mission, they help Chiyoye with hers." answered Kimimaro.

"I see..." spoke Sakura.

"If you ever see her...don't let her touch you. If you do that, she's going to drain the life out of you...and you're going to die a horrible death." spoke the bone ninja.

Sakura began to shudder. Was one touch all it took for Chiyoye to kill her victims?

By the looks of it, that was the case.

Personally she was tempted to stay in her world and not go out and try to stop Chiyoye.

Then again, considering that there was a dragonrider on the loose killing everyone in sight in her world, she wondered if she was any safer here.

For now, she decided that she needed to work on her ice abilities. There sure seemed to be a lot that she could with it.

As for Kimimaro, he decided that he wanted to go train as well.

Alternatively, he could try going on a mission. There were a lot of them that he could handle.

"I could probably even go on a S-Rank Mission..." noted the former member of the Sound Five.

Then again, he had recovered from a terminal illness not too long ago, and wondered how far he should strain himself.

"I guess I'll settle for an A-Rank Mission..." said Kimimaro.

Those sure seemed to pay well.

_Meanwhile..._

On the way back from her visit to her friends (as well as a surprise visit from her sensei), Hinata suddenly remembered something.

"Uh-oh! I left my ninja outfit back at the world of magic!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she realized that she was going to have to dive through the interdimensional portal in order to get it back.

"Back to the interdimensional portal I go." said the kunoichi.

Immediately, she entered the interdimensional portal to go search for her ninja uniform.

"Back so soon?" inquired Makarov.

"I need to get my ninja outfit!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Do you know where you left it?" asked the guildmaster.

"I think I left it in a locker somewhere." said the kunoichi.

"You did?" asked Makarov.

"Yes...I need to get it back." spoke Hinata.

"Alright then..." nodded the guildmaster.

Immediately, she began to search for her ninja outfit.

However, much to her surprise, it wasn't there.

"Oh man...where could it have gone?" asked Hinata.

At that very moment, Erza approached her.

"Can you help me? I'm looking for my ninja outfit...I left it in a locker here...I need to get it back!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Didn't you take it off because you were sweaty?" asked Erza.

"Well yeah...but I was a mage rather than a ninja here..." noted the kunoichi.

"About that...you see, Natsu already took that outfit a few minutes ago..." answered the knight.

"He did?" asked Hinata.

"Yeah...he said that he wanted to have it since he was a ninja now...he always loved pretending to be a ninja when he was a kid..." noted Erza.

"That's cute...though admittedly not very helpful towards me." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"You should know where he lives, since you spent your time at his house during his absence." explained the knight.

"Right, of course!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she went to go see Natsu.

As she did so, Erza suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, that's right...I could have used my Requip magic to give her another ninja uniform...why did I forget that?" she thought.

_A few minutes later, at Natsu's house..._

"Don't I look great in this outfit, Happy? I'm the best ninja ever!" exclaimed Natsu.

"You sure are!" nodded Happy.

"Oddly enough this outfit reminds me of someone I just met...though I can't quite put my finger on it." explained the fire mage.

"Who could it possibly be?" inquired the Exceed.

"Well, I'm sure I'll find out eventually. I'm going to go take a shower so that I can stay clean." answered Natsu.

"Have fun!" exclaimed Happy.

Immediately, Natsu went to the bathroom and turned the shower on.

Shortly afterwards, Happy began to hear knocking on Natsu's door.

"Huh?" asked the Exceed.

Curious, Happy opened the door, and gasped in surprise.

It was none other than Hinata.

"Hinata! You came back!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Immediately, he gave Hinata a hug.

"It's nice to see you again too, Happy. I'm only here to get my ninja outfit back though..." spoke Hinata.

"Oh, you are?" asked Happy.

"Yeah...unfortunately, Natsu took it without realizing who it belonged to..." explained Hinata.

"Oh, did he now?" inquired the Exceed.

"Yeah...I need to get it back." explained the fire dragonslayer.

"OK, I'll go get him!" exclaimed Happy.

Immediately, Happy began to knock on the bathroom door.

"Huh? Do you need to go, Happy?" asked Natsu.

"There's someone here to see you!" exclaimed Happy.

"Oh, alright then." nodded the fire mage.

Immediately, he turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around his waist.

He then went to see Hinata a few minutes later.

"Ah! Good to see you again, Hinata! Is there anything I can help you with?" asked Natsu.

Hinata began to blush upon seeing Natsu wearing nothing but a towel.

"Oh, that...you see, you took my ninja outfit...I was wondering if I could have it back." answered Hinata.

"Huh? Sorry about that!" apologized Natsu.

"It's OK, you didn't know..." spoke the kunoichi.

"I'll go get it for you. Just wait one min-"

Suddenly, Natsu fell on top of Hinata, causing her face to turn red.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Whoops!" bellowed Natsu.

At that very moment, Happy came by and noticed what had happened. Or at least...what he thought had happened.

"Natsu's got a girlfriend!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Immediately, he began to take pictures of the incident using a conveniently-located camera.

"Fairy Tail is going to soak this up." said Happy as he left through a window.

"So sorry. Hold on." answered Natsu as he removed himself from Hinata.

A few minutes later, he handed Hinata the ninja uniform.

"Thank you. If you want I could go get you a uniform of your own." answered the kunoichi.

"Really? You mean it?" asked Natsu.

"They're pretty commonplace where I come from, so yes." nodded Hinata.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"I'll go get you one. I'll be back soon." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to leap away.

As Hinata did so, they both began to wonder the same question.

"Why did that incident feel like the best moment of my life?" they both thought.

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter! In the next chapter, there's going to be some more Fairy Tail shenanigans. Heh heh._

_See you!_


	29. Chapter 29: The Gypsy's Curse

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...Fairy Tail's going to suffer from a gypsy's curse! Oh, and there's going to be two more interdimensional partners..._

_Can you guess who they're going to be this time? They've appeared quite a few times in this story so far._

_I'll give you a hint, they're both leaders of their respective teams..._

**Chapter 29: The Gypsy's Curse**

Shikamaru stood outside the interdimensional portal, sighing. Already he was starting to miss Lucy.

"It just isn't the same..." thought the shadow ninja.

Curious, he wondered if he should jump into the interdimensional portal and go look for her. Besides, he was curious to what was on the other side.

"Then again, my teammates will probably wonder where I've gone..." he thought.

Immediately, he began to think of what to do.

Finally, he came to a decision.

"I guess I'll go through the interdimensional portal for a bit and then come back...that way nobody will notice I'm gone..." answered Shikamaru.

Immediately, he jumped through the portal.

However, unbeknownst to him, someone else wanted to do the same thing.

"I'll be gone for just a few minutes." Levy thought.

Not noticing Shikamaru, she jumped through the portal as well.

"Well, isn't this place rather interesting..." noted the shadow ninja.

Looking around, he discovered that he was in the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Of course, he was in their interdimensional portal chamber.

Shrugging, he decided to go look around.

Immediately, he noticed a book on the table that Levy had left behind in her curiousity to explore the world of ninja.

"What's this?" asked Shikamaru.

The book in question was Alice In Wonderland.

"I might have found another hobby that actually doesn't require energy..." noted the shadow ninja.

Shrugging, he sat down and began to read.

"Alice, why did you have to be so clumsy? I don't think I would end up falling through a rabbit hole like that..." noted Shikamaru.

Suddenly, he fell out of the chair.

"Then again, maybe I'm wrong." thought the shadow ninja as he helped himself to his feet.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey there, Salamander!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Hey there, Mirajane!" answered Natsu.

"Is is true that you have a girlfriend now?" asked the S-Class Mage.

"Huh?" asked the fire mage.

"Happy just handed us some pictures of you and your new special one..." said Mirajane.

"What are you talking about?" inquired Natsu.

Immediately, Mirajane handed Natsu one of the pictures Happy had taken.

"What the-" exclaimed the fire mage.

As it turned out, Happy had taken pictures of him and Hinata after he had fallen on top of her.

"Oh...darn it, Happy!" bellowed Natsu.

At that very moment, Hinata approached Natsu.

"Here's your ninja outfit!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Thanks...but we have a problem now." answered the fire mage.

"Huh?" asked Hinata.

Immediately, Natsu handed Hinata the pictures, causing her to blush.

"What's going on?" asked the kunoichi.

"Everyone thinks that we're a couple now..." answered the fire mage.

"But we're not...at least not yet." spoke Hinata.

"We're going to have to explain that to everyone in Fairy Tail..." answered Natsu.

"Oh boy..." spoke the kunoichi.

"Where should we start?" asked Natsu.

"I guess we could start with Gray...he seems to be soaking this up." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Darn it! Why can't I have a girlfriend?!" exclaimed Gray.

"Yoohoo! Over here!" bellowed Juvia, waving at Gray.

"Yes, Juvia?" asked the ice mage.

Suddenly, Natsu and Hinata approached him.

"Hey there, lovebirds! How are you doing? You're really lucky, flamethrower boy." answered Gray.

"Flamethrower boy?!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, he decided to call Gray "Frosty The Snowstripper" in retaliation...

...only for Hinata to beat him to the punch.

"Don't talk to him like that! He never did anything to you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Um, thanks?" asked Natsu curiously.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just jealous...I've been trying to get a girlfriend for years, and you got one so suddenly." noted Gray.

"Hey! Over here, Gray! Hello?" exclaimed Juvia.

Unfortunately, Gray did not hear her, causing her to frown.

"About that...we're not actually a couple..." answered Natsu.

"What? You're not?" asked the ice mage.

"It was an accident..." explained Hinata.

"Oh...that explains the surprised look on your faces..." noted Gray.

"Yeah...I was a bit clumsy today." spoke Natsu.

"Alright then, I'll go spread the word." said the ice mage.

"Thanks..." answered Hinata.

"If you need me I'm going to dress up as a ninja!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"See you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Shortly afterwards, she decided to head back home again.

"Back to Konoha I go." said Hinata as she entered the interdimensional portal.

"Where is Happy, anyway? I heard that he went to see a fortuneteller not too long ago...he said that he wanted to see if he really had nine lives...and if he was going to lose any of them anytime soon." thought Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hello? Are you the fortuneteller?" asked Happy as he entered the tent.

"Greetings..." said the fortuneteller.

As it turned out, this fortune teller was very old. She had wrinkles on her skin.

"Are you some sort of gypsy?" inquired the Exceed.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?" asked the gypsy.

"Just wondering...anyways, can you help me with something?" asked Happy curiously.

"Yes...you want your fortune told, do you not?" inquired the fortuneteller.

"Yes, I do." nodded the Exceed.

"Very well." answered the gypsy.

Immediately, she began to use magic to determine Happy's fortune.

"So, what do you see?" asked Happy.

"I see an enormous tower...at an island across the sea..." explained the gypsy.

"What? You do?" asked the Exceed.

"Yes, I do...I also see a cat lover in your future as well." continued the fortuneteller.

"Talk about foreshadowing. Anything else?" asked Happy.

"That's about it. I can't predict everything." explained the gypsy.

"Fair enough." answered the Exceed.

Curious, he began to look at the crystal ball.

"This is very interesting..." said Happy.

"Hey, be careful with that!" warned the gypsy.

Unfortunately, Happy wasn't, and the crystal ball shattered into pieces.

"Whoops!" bellowed the Exceed.

"How dare you!" exclaimed the fortuneteller.

"Sorry!" apologized Happy.

"For your insolence, I'm casting a curse on you!" bellowed the gypsy.

"A curse? Hmm, my guildmates aren't going to be too happy to hear that..." noted the Exceed.

"I'm casting the curse on them too! You must suffer for your actions!" exclaimed the fortuneteller.

"This is bad." noted Happy.

Immediately, the gypsy cast the spell on the Exceed.

"So...what does the curse do?" asked the cat.

"Well, it depends on person to person. But I designed the curse to be ironic...because I love irony. You'll all receive pamphlets explaining what curse you've been hit by and what they do." answered the gypsy.

"Please! Can't we talk about this?" inquired Happy.

"Relax! The curse isn't going to last forever! I'm not that cruel!" exclaimed the fortuneteller.

"Thank goodness...how long is the curse going to be, then?" asked the Exceed.

"About twenty-four hours." explained the old woman.

Happy sighed.

"I guess I'm going to have to tell my guildmates the bad news..." said the cat.

Immediately, he went to go alert his guildmates about what the gypsy had seen...and warn them about the curse.

"They're going to be pretty mad at me..." he thought.

_A few minutes later..._

Happy knocked on the door to Makarov's office.

Happy to have a guest, he allowed Happy right in.

He let out a sigh as he entered.

"Hey there, Happy! How did your visit to the fortuneteller go?" asked the guildmaster.

"Not so good. I got cursed, and so did my guildmates..." answered Happy.

"What?!" exclaimed Makarov.

"I accidentally broke her crystal ball and she got mad...now we're all going to suffer for it." said the Exceed.

Makarov sighed.

Immediately, he decided to alert Naruto Uzumaki. This concerned him and his friends.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

"Hello there, Naruto. I'm afraid that you've been affected by a curse." explained Makarov.

"A curse?" inquired the former jinchuriki.

"It's also affected your friends Hinata and Sakura, I believe. They do have the guild mark..." answered the guildmaster.

Naruto sighed. It looked like this concerned his two friends too.

Immediately, he went to go get them.

"What's going on, Naruto?" asked Hinata.

"We've been cursed." said Naruto.

"What?!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I think he'll explain more if we go visit him." spoke the genin.

Shrugging, Hinata and Sakura followed Naruto through the interdimensional portal.

However, on their way there, they encountered someone familiar.

"Levy? Is that you?" asked the genin curiously.

As it turned out, she had dozed off.

"Wake up!" exclaimed Naruto.

Suddenly, Levy woke up.

"Huh? I must have fallen asleep...I wonder why?" questioned the letter mage.

"I don't know...anyways, you need to head back to your guild. We've got a bad situation on our hands." answered Naruto.

"Oh...OK then." nodded Levy.

As she headed through the interdimensional portal, she began to yawn.

"Since when was she so sleepy?" asked Hinata.

"I don't know..." answered Sakura.

Shrugging, Naruto and his friends entered the interdimensional portal.

Much to their surprise, they found Shikamaru there.

"Hey there, Shikamaru!" exclaimed the genin.

"Is this a friend of yours?" asked Levy.

"Yes." nodded Hinata.

Sure enough, Shikamaru was reading Alice In Wonderland.

"Funny, he's reading my favorite book..." said the letter mage.

"Is he now?" asked Hinata.

Shikamaru put down the book, and suddenly noticed Naruto and his friends.

"Hey there, Naruto. Did you three come looking for me? I don't think I was gone for long..." answered the shadow ninja.

"We're here for a meeting...something bad has happened and Makarov wants to explain it to us." said the genin.

"OK then. I guess I'll be heading back home then." spoke Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Hinata gasped in surprise. Shikamaru had the Fairy Tail guild mark on his left shoulder!

"What?" asked the shadow ninja.

"I think you've become someone's interdimensional partner!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I have? Who is it?" asked Shikamaru.

"I don't know..." answered Hinata.

"Well, you can have your book back now." answered the shadow ninja.

"Thanks." spoke Levy.

Suddenly, much to her surprise, her shadow began to move.

"What the-" said the letter mage.

Immediately, her shadow picked up the book and handed it to Levy.

"Why has my shadow come to life?" asked the mage.

"I think I know who your interdimensional partner is, Shikamaru! It's Levy!" exclaimed Naruto.

"It is? Um, pleased to meet you." said Shikamaru.

"That explains why you've become so sleepy..." noted Hinata as she looked at Levy.

"And why you were reading her favorite book..." continued Sakura as she looked at Shikamaru.

"What does this mean?" asked Levy.

"Well, you should be able to use his shadow jutsu now...likewise, Shikamaru should be able to your script magic..." explained Hinata.

Curious, Shikamaru tried writing down the word fire.

Immediately, he ended up starting one.

"Oh boy." said the shadow ninja.

Thankfully, Hinata was able to swallow the fire.

"Be careful with your new gift, will you?" asked the kunoichi.

"Um, sure." answered Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Sakura realized what this meant for Shikamaru.

"I think you're going to want to attend the meeting, too...you're a member of Fairy Tail now..." noted the kunoichi.

"I am?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well, you have the guild mark." spoke Naruto.

"Oh, right..." answered the shadow ninja.

Immediately, he went to the meeting along with Makarov.

Much to Shikamaru's surprise, he found Lucy to be there.

"Shikamaru? Is that you?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I became a member of Fairy Tail...by accident." explained the shadow ninja.

"You did?" inquired the summoner mage.

"Yes, I did." nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, Shikamaru showed her the guild mark on his left shoulder blade.

"Did you become someone's interdimensional partner? I think I've seen that guild mark somewhere..." noted Lucy.

"I believe it was Levy McGarden." explained the shadow ninja.

"How ironic...she's my best friend in the world." said the kunoichi.

"I see..." nodded Shikamaru.

"Let's be quiet now, shall we? Makarov has something important to tell us." spoke Lucy.

Makarov immediately stood in front of the Fairy Tail audience. He had a frown on his face.

"I'm afraid that I've got very bad news for you all...we've been hit by a gypsy's curse!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"What?!" bellowed Fairy Tail in unison.

"In just a few moments now...we're going to be facing her wrath!" bellowed Makarov.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Fairy Tail in unison.

"Why did she curse us?" asked Gray.

"I broke her crystal ball..." explained Happy.

"You what?!" bellowed Natsu.

"I'm sorry!" apologized the Exceed.

"Here it comes now! I can feel it!" exclaimed Makarov.

Suddenly, a pamphlet appeared in Erza's hands.

She let out a sigh.

"I guess I'm the first one..." said the knight.

Curious, she read the pamphlet to see what the curse entailed.

"I've been hit by the Youth Curse...I'm sick of your guild and your foul tricks, so have fun being six." read Erza out loud.

Suddenly, the curse began to take effect. Erza became younger and younger.

When the curse was fully activated, Erza was now six years old.

"Well, I guess I'm reliving my life." said the six-year-old girl.

"Aren't you a cutie pie!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Um...thanks, I guess." answered Erza.

A few seconds later, a pamphlet appeared in Naruto's hand.

"Am I going to turn into a little boy?" asked the genin.

However, as he discovered, he had been hit by the Gender Bender curse instead.

"You and your guild make me hurl...so I'm going to turn you into a girl." read Naruto.

Suddenly, he transformed into a girl.

"Man, this is going to be so awkward when I need to use the restroom! Then again my voice actor was a woman to begin with." noted the genin.

"I bet it will. Should we call you Naruko for the time being?" nodded Erza.

"I guess." answered Naruko.

A pamphlet appeared in Hinata's hands next.

"What curse do I have?" asked the kunoichi.

As she discovered, she had been hit with the Fanservice Curse.

"The Fanservice Curse?" inquired Hinata.

Curious, she began to read out loud.

"You and your guild treated me like dirt, so have fun wearing a tube top and miniskirt." read Hinata.

Looking down, she discovered that she was now dressed rather immodestly.

"I'm a bit embarrased..." said the fire dragonslayer.

Curious, she noticed that Natsu was looking at her.

"What?" asked Hinata.

As it turned out, Gray had been hit by the same exact curse as Hinata was, though it affected him differently.

"What's this?" asked the ice mage as he read his pamphlet.

"As I've said before, your guild treated me like dirt...so for the next twenty-four hours, you can't wear a shirt." read Gray.

Sure enough, Gray's shirt disappeared.

"Oh well." answered the ice mage.

Immediately, Juvia began to squeal.

Cana had been hit with her curse next.

"What's this now?" asked the card mage.

Immediately, she began to read her pamphlet. She had been hit by the Sobriety Curse.

"I'm going to destroy everything you and your guild hold dear...say goodbye to liquor, whiskey, and beer." read Cana.

Suddenly, her whiskey bottle disappeared.

Tilting her head upward, she screamed at the sky.

Elfman had been hit with his curse next.

"What's this?" asked the beast mage as he read his pamphlet.

He had been hit by the Altitude Curse.

"Right now you may be towering tall, but once my magic does its job you will be very small." read Elfman.

Suddenly, he began to shrink.

"Not good." he thought.

When the curse had fully taken effect, he was now the size of a small puppy.

Mirajane picked him up shortly afterwards.

"I guess you really are my little brother now..." noted the S-Class Mage.

"Very funny." anwered Elfman.

Suddenly, she received her curse.

"Huh?" asked Mirajane as she read her pamphlet.

Incidentally, she had also been hit by the Altitude Curse...however, it was going to have the opposite effect.

"I think you are a filthy little pig, so I'm going to make you really big." read Mirajane.

Suddenly, she began to grow in size.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Mirajane.

Immediately, her head and torso crashed through the guild hall roof.

"I've become giant!" bellowed the S-Class Mage.

Fortunately, her dress had stayed with her during the transformation.

"Thank goodness..." answered Mirajane.

However, she had suffered some clothing damage. Her former strapped dress had become strapless.

She let out a sigh. This was a rental!

And to make matters worse, it looked like she was stuck. No matter how hard she pressed on the roof with her hands, she couldn't pull herself out of the crater.

"Darn it! I'm trapped!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Me too." answered Elfman. Unfortunately, he was still in Mirajane's hand when she began to grow, and he had no way of getting off the Fairy Tail guild roof.

"Wow...look at the size of those feet..." noted Lucy.

As it turned out, her shoes had been destroyed in the process, leaving her barefoot.

Suddenly, Lucy received her pamphlet.

"Huh?" asked the kunoichi.

She had also been hit with the Gender Bender curse.

"My Gender Bender curse is going to turn you into a boy. You should probably know that. Doy!" read Lucy.

Immediately, she transformed into a boy.

"As Naruto said...this is going to be really awkward when I need to use the restroom..." said Lucy.

"Should we start calling you Lucas?" asked Shikamaru.

"Maybe..." answered Lucas.

Gajeel received his pamphlet next.

"Let's see what I've got here...the Transvestite Curse? That doesn't sound good..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

He began to read the pamphlet.

"You're not going to enjoy this, I must digress. You're spending twenty-four hours in a dress." read Gajeel.

Suddenly, he found himself wearing a pink dress.

"Oh the humilation!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Sakura began to giggle.

Suddenly, she received her pamphlet.

"Oh, that's right. I'm cursed too." answered the kunoichi.

Curiously, she had been hit by the Genki Curse.

"The Genki Curse?" asked Sakura.

"For the next twenty-four hours, you're going to be full of life. And yet, you're still going to be in strife." read the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she began to feel very excited.

"Look at me everybody! I'm queen of the world!" exclaimed Sakura.

"You are?" asked Gajeel.

Immediately, she kissed the iron dragonslayer on the lips.

"That wasn't what I expected my first kiss to be like..." said the steel mage.

"Yeah, we've been there." nodded Lucas and Shikamaru in unision.

Sakura then ran out of the room.

Loke was hit with his curse next.

"What's this? The Banishing Curse?" asked the celestial spirit.

Curious, he read the description.

"It looks like you're going home. To the spirit world you roam." read the Celestial Spirit.

"Bye everybody!" he exclaimed as he disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke.

Natsu was hit by his curse next.

"What curse do I have?" asked the fire mage.

As it turned out, he had been affected by the Chipmunk Curse.

"Am I going to turn into a chipmunk?" asked Natsu as he read the pamphlet.

Fortunately, he was not.

"These curses are really making me rejoice. Enjoy having such a high voice." read the fire mage.

Suddenly, his voice began to sound very squeaky.

"Good grief! I sound like I swallowed helium!" exclaimed Natsu.

Hinata began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" asked the fire mage.

"Sorry, Natsu." apologized the kunoichi.

Juvia was hit with her curse next.

"What curse does Juvia have? Drip drop, drip drop." spoke the water mage.

She had been hit with the Restraining Curse.

"The Restraining Curse?" she asked curiously.

She began to read the curse description out loud.

"You're not going to have a good day. You can't come within five feet of Gray." read Juvia.

Suddenly, she was sent flying away from Gray.

"Juvia?" asked the ice mage.

Frantically, she tried to run towards Gray, only to be knocked backwards.

She then realized what was going on.

"Why?!" screamed Juvia, who was now in tears.

Levy was hit with her curse next. She had been hit with the Blindness Curse.

"What do we have here?" asked the letter mage as she pulled out her pamphlet.

"Your obsession of books makes me wonder if you're out of your mind. So, I'm going to make you go blind." read Levy.

Suddenly, everything became dark.

"Where did everyone go? Darn it...now I can't read my books." complained the letter mage.

Jet was hit with his curse next. He had been hit by the Slowness Curse.

"Huh?" asked Jet as he began to read the pamphlet out loud.

"Your super speed is getting on my nerves, you know. So, I'm going to make you take things slow." read the mage.

Suddenly, everything around him seemed...fast.

"Will you guys slow down?" asked Jet extremely slowly.

"What's up with your voice? It sounds messed up." spoke Droy.

Droy ended up getting cursed too, of course.

"What is my curse?" questioned the plant mage.

As it turned out, he had been hit by the Restraining Curse too.

"You're not going to like this curse, I bet. You have to stay five feet away from Jet." read Droy.

Much like Juvia before him, he was sent flying away from Jet.

He began to cry as Juvia placed her hand on his shoulder.

"So, whose left?" asked Naruko.

"Alzack and Bisca haven't been cursed yet, I believe." answered Lucas.

Sure enough, they received their curses.

"What do we have?" asked Alzack.

"Hmm?" inquired Bisca.

"You two lovebirds make me sick. So for this curse I'm going to make you stick." read Alzack.

Suddenly, the duo found themselves glued together.

"Uh-oh..." said Bisca.

Even Shikamaru was not spared from the curse.

"What a drag..." said the shadow ninja.

Sighing, he began to read his curse out loud. He had been hit by the Underpants Curse.

"I see London, I see France. You're wearing ladies' underpants! I know, I should have come up with a rhyme more original...but it's not easy making so many rhymes." read Shikamaru.

Sure enough, he found himself wearing ladies' underwear.

"Well, I hope nobody notices..." said the shadow ninja.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucas, his cheeks turning red.

At that very moment, Kimimaro entered the hallway.

"What's going on? I saw you three entering the interdimensional portal with frowns on your faces." said Kimimaro.

"We fell victim to a gypsy's curse." explained Hinata.

Suddenly, a pamphlet appeared in Kimimaro's hands.

He had been hit by the Aging Curse.

"What's this?" asked Kimimaro.

"Breaking my crystal ball was really cold. So, I'm going to make you old." read the bone ninja.

Sure enough, he began to become very old indeed.

"What's going on, fellers?" asked the now elderly Kimimaro.

Now, all that was left was Makarov and Happy.

Makarov was hit by his curse first. Apparently, the gypsy had saved Happy for last just so he could realize what he had brought upon his guild.

"What is my curse?" asked Makarov.

He had been hit by the Intoxication Curse.

"You treated my crystal ball like it was junk. Now I'm going to make you really drunk." read Makarov.

All of a sudden, Makarov was intoxicated.

"Look at you all! Prancing around in your underpants! I think I'll do so too!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

Immediately, he began to pull a Gray Fullbuster, causing everyone else to scream in horror.

"Alright then! It's time to do the hokey pokey!" exclaimed Makarov.

Shortly afterwards, he began to do so.

"Why couldn't I have been hit by that curse?" complained Cana.

"I guess I'm finally getting my curse now..." spoke Happy.

The curse pamphlet appeared in his hand.

"L-let's see what she cursed me with..." answered the Exceed.

Inevitably, she wasn't going to be merciful.

"You broke my Crystal Ball, Happy. You made me very unhappy. I'm going to take away your favorite dish. For the next twenty-four hours, you will not be able to eat fish." read Happy.

Sure enough, the fish that was in the Exceed's hand disappeared.

"Nooooo!" bellowed the Exceed.

Shortly afterwards, he began to hear the gypsy's evil laugh.

"I'm so sorry, everyone..." said Happy.

_A few hours later..._

"This is a disaster..." said Erza.

"I know..." nodded Naruko.

"I can't believe that the gypsy turned me into a child again..." spoke the knight.

"Yeah...I can't believe she turned me into a girl!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Should we try to hunt her down to see if she'll change us back?" asked Erza.

"We could do that, but she's probably gone into hiding..." noted Naruko.

"You're right. We're probably going to have a hard time searching for her." acknowledged the mage.

"To think that she was powerful enough to curse the entire guild..." spoke the genin.

"I don't want to get on her bad side." answered Erza.

"Happy did that, and look how he ended up!" exclaimed Naruko.

"So, are you enjoying life as a girl?" asked the knight.

"Well, I do admit that I've got a nice pair of melons...I still miss being a boy though." noted the kunoichi.

"At least you have a pair. Mine have vanished off the face of Fiore!" exclaimed Erza.

"How sad." nodded Naruko.

"I can't wait for the twenty-four hours to be up so that I can become nineteen again..." spoke the knight.

"Me too. These twenty-four hours are going to be the worst hours of our life." noted Naruko.

"You're probably right, Naruko." answered Erza.

"I wonder how our guildmates are doing. They're probably not doing any better. They must be suffering from the gypsy's curse as we speak." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"Some of them were luckier than others, I suppose. Gray didn't seem to mind his." acknowledged the six-year-old.

"Still, I'm feeling sorry for everyone. Why did that gypsy have to be so vengeful?" noted Naruko.

"May Mavis Vermillion have pity on us all." nodded Erza.

"Don't forget the ten-tailed beast." said the kunoichi.

"Right, I don't think we can forget him either..." answered the knight.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata sighed. Ever since she had been hit with the fanservice curse, people simply would not stop staring at her.

"Am I really that attractive?" questioned the kunoichi as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Unfortunately, there were still twenty-three hours left until the curse wore off. She was going to be stuck being dressed like that for a while.

She let out a sigh.

"Your curse is making you suffer too, huh?" asked Natsu.

"It sure is." nodded Hinata.

"Darn that gypsy..." said the fire mage.

Immediately, some of the guild mages began to laugh at him.

"Leave him alone! He's been cursed! Give him a break!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Thanks..." said Natsu.

"I wonder if I'm going to end up in the Dragon Magazine..." noted the kunoichi.

"They're going to have a hard time taking a full-body picture of Mirajane." acknowledged the fire mage.

"I bet they are. Her upper half crashed through the roof!" exclaimed Hinata.

"She's the tallest mage in our guild by far!" bellowed Natsu.

"I know..." said Mirajane in a rather booming voice.

"Hey there, Mirajane." spoke Hinata.

"Hey..." answered the S-Class Mage.

"Are you still stuck up there?" asked Natsu.

"Yes, I am. I can't get my ribs free..." spoke Mirajane.

"I'm stuck up here too!" exclaimed Elfman in an even squeakier voice than Natsu.

"Should we pay her a visit?" asked Hinata.

"Sure...but how do we do that?" inquired Natsu.

"Well, since we're ninja, we should be able to leap up there..." acknowledged the fire dragonslayer.

"Oh, right." nodded the fire mage.

Immediately, the duo went outside and leapt up to the roof where Mirajane and Elfman were.

"Hi there!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Hi, Mirajane!" greeted Natsu.

"Hi, Elfman." said Hinata.

"How'd you two get up here?" inquired Elfman.

"We leapt like kangaroos." explained the kunoichi.

"Ah, I see." nodded Mirajane.

Once again, she tried to free herself.

"Well, I left a crack in the roof this time..." noted the S-Class Mage.

Why did her waist have to be wedged in the roof so tightly?

"You might not want to struggle so much. You might make the roof collapse..." spoke Natsu.

"I guess I really am stuck up here then..." acknowledged Mirajane.

"Don't worry! You'll have this action figure to keep you company! He looks just like your brother!" exclaimed the fire mage, holding out Elfman in front of her.

"That's because he is my brother." answered the S-Class Mage.

"Huh? Oh, that's right. Elfman got shrunk." noted Hinata.

Immediately, Natsu handed Elfman back to his sister.

"I guess I'll just loiter here then." said Mirajane.

She subsquently sat down, causing the meeting room to shake.

"Careful now!" exclaimed Hinata.

"See you!" bellowed Natsu.

Immediately, the duo jumped off the roof.

"I have to admit, there sure is a nice view up here..." noted Mirajane.

"There sure is." nodded Elfman.

_Meanwhile..._

"Honey, what's the matter?" asked Gildarts Clive.

"Alcohol...withdrawal...it's driving me...crazy." said Cana.

As it turned out, she had curled herself into a ball and was shaking herself back and forth.

"C'mon! Surely there's something else you can drink! I've got Kool-Aid right here!" exclaimed Cana's father.

Immediately, Cana began to drink the Kool-Aid. Incidentally, it was cherry-flavored.

Suddenly, they began to hear something.

"Huh?" asked Cana.

"What was that?" inquired Gildarts.

"Oh yeah!" bellowed Kool-Aid Man, bursting through the wall.

"Hey! You're killing our deposit!" bellowed the crash mage.

The Kool-Aid Man slowly began to walk away.

"It's just not the same..." complained Cana.

"I'm sure that the curse will wear off eventually...twenty-four hours, right?" asked Cana's father.

"Why aren't you cursed?" inquired the alcoholic.

"I developed an immunity to gypsy curses a long time ago." noted the S-Class Mage.

"Wow..." answered Cana.

"I'm just that good." said Gildarts.

"I wish I had that immunity..." spoke the alcoholic.

"I'm sure you'll get it eventually." answered Cana's father.

"I hope." spoke Cana.

Immediately, she began to drink some more Kool-Aid.

"Hmm, this one happens to be blueberry..." noted the alcoholic mage.

"I've got a lot of different flavors..." acknowledged Gildarts.

_Meanwhile..._

Happy was feeling depressed. Thanks to the gypsy curse, he could not eat fish. Every time he tried to eat one, it completely disappeared.

"I'm starving..." complained the Exceed.

Apparently, he was going to have to find something else to do.

Shrugging, he decided to head to the meeting hall where the curse ran its course.

Oddly enough, Makarov was still there doing the hokey pokey.

"You put your right foot out...that's what it's all about..." murmured the drunken man.

Suddenly, he noticed Mirajane's bare feet a few feet away from him.

"Hmm?" asked Happy.

Curious, he pulled out a feather and began to tickle them.

Immediately, Mirajane began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Elfman.

"Someone's tickling my feet!" exclaimed Mirajane.

Unfortunately, the roof was beginning to shake.

"Hmm, something tells me I might want to stop...but this is too much fun!" exclaimed Happy.

He resumed tickling Mirajane's feet.

"Ohhohohoho! Ahhahahaha!" laughed Mirajane.

"It's good to see you laugh...but at this rate..." spoke Elfman.

More cracks were beginning to appear on the roof.

"I can't stop now!" exclaimed Happy as he continued tickling Mirajane.

"Hahahahahaha!" laughed the S-Class Mage.

"Oh no..." murmured Elfman.

At that very moment, the roof Mirajane had burst through collapsed.

"I may have...not thought things through..." noted Happy.

"It's true, you didn't." nodded Elfman.

"At least I'm free now." noted Mirajane.

"Am I going to have to pay for the damages?" asked the Exceed.

"We'll go see our insurance provider.." said Elfman.

Immediately, Elfman and Mirajane headed towards the city.

As they did so, they couldn't help but shake the feeling that they were forgetting something, though they weren't quite sure what.

"Bye!" exclaimed the Exceed.

_Meanwhile..._

Due to her newfound energy, Sakura was bouncing off the walls...literally.

"Look at me go!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"You sure are fast..." noted Shikamaru.

"It's true, she is." spoke Lucas.

"I'm the fastest ninja alive!" bellowed Sakura.

"Good for you." said Shikamaru.

"I'm sorry that you're wearing ladies' underwear..." acknowledged the summoner ninja.

"Well, at least it's comfortable." noted the shadow ninja.

"That's good." agreed Lucas.

"Woohoo!" squealed Sakura as she continued to bounce off the walls.

"She's going to feel pretty exhausted once the curse wears off, isn't she?" inquired Lucas.

"It looks that way." nodded Shikamaru.

At that very moment, Sakura noticed a chocolate bar.

"Chocolate? Chocolate?! Chocolate!" screamed Sakura at the top of her lungs.

Lucas covered his ears.

Immediately, she picked up the chocolate bar and put it in her mouth.

"Om nom nom nom!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I was going to eat that." complained Shikamaru.

Immediately, Sakura went to go look for more chocolate.

Unfortunately, Gajeel happened to be eating one.

"This chocolate tastes great...it gets my mind off being forced into a dress..." spoke Gajeel.

Suddenly, Sakura took Gajeel's chocolate bar and began to eat it.

"Delicious!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

She then began to squeal.

"Hey!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

A few seconds later, Sakura ran away.

"Buh-bye!" shouted the teenage girl as she did so.

Gajeel sighed. Why did Sakura have to turn so genki?

He was starting to wish that she would return to her old self.

He began to sigh.

"I better go hide my chocolate bars." he noted.

_Meanwhile..._

Juvia was very unhappy. Because of the curse, she couldn't come within five feet of Gray.

Then again, he did seem a bit uncomfortable when she began to enter his body earlier.

"This isn't fair..." said the water mage.

On the plus side, she did get to see him shirtless.

"Oh, right...this isn't all bad." she noted.

Sure enough, Gray was eating an ice cream cone.

However, she noticed that there were several fangirls with him.

"Wow, Gray! You are so hot without your shirt on!" exclaimed one of the fangirls.

"I wish you would stay like this all the time!" bellowed another fangirl.

"Thanks. I'll be like this until tomorrow." said Gray.

The water inside Juvia's body began to boil.

"Can I get an autograph?" asked yet another fangirl.

"Yes, you can." nodded Gray.

Immediately, he gave the fangirl his autograph.

"Enough!" bellowed Juvia, scalding the fangirls from a distance.

"Hey! Take it easy!" demanded Gray.

Immediately, the fangirls ran away, and Juvia settled down.

"Sorry about that, Gray." spoke Juvia.

"Why is she obsessed with me?" thought Gray.

Admittedly, he was quite fond of Juvia himself, though he didn't really see why she kept stalking him all the time.

She even wanted to enter his body using Sakon and Ukon's kekkei genkai...talk about awkward.

"I bet she isn't happy about being forced to stay away from me..." noted the ice mage.

At least the curse was going to wear off soon, right? There was only about twenty hours left to go...

Then again, that probably felt like eternity to Juvia.

"Maybe I should go look for a cure..." noted Gray.

But how exactly was he supposed to cure a gypsy's curse? Maybe there was someone in the guild that knew how.

"Maybe I should go visit the local witchdoctor..." answered the ice mage.

Then again, he wasn't really complaining about his curse himself.

Nonetheless, he decided that he needed to help his friends.

"Off to the witchdoctor I go." spoke Gray.

Fortunately, there was a witchdoctor hut not too far from where he was standing.

"Well, speak of a devil slayer." said the ice mage.

Immediately, he entered the hut where the witchdoctor was waiting.

"Can I help you?" inquired the witchdoctor.

"I've been cursed by a gypsy...and so have my guild." explained Gray.

"Oh my...that's serious." answered the doctor.

"I've been cursed to not wear a shirt..." spoke the ice mage.

"I see." spoke the magician.

"Can you help us out? The gypsy did say that the curse was going to wear off in twenty-four hours...but I don't think my guild is going to be able to wait too long." answered Gray.

The witchdoctor immediately asked what curses had been inflicted upon his guildmates.

"I want to start with Juvia first...she seems really upset about hers." spoke Gray.

Immediately, the witchdoctor told Gray that in order to break the curse early, Juvia needed to accept Gray's personal boundaries.

"Go figure." spoke the ice mage.

He then went to go tell Juvia the good news.

_Meanwhile..._

Juvia sighed. Now that she thought of it, maybe she had gotten too obsessed with Gray for her own good. She had decorated her room with posters of him...without his shirt on.

Then again, he usually didn't have his shirt on.

"Maybe Juvia should try restraining herself a bit more..." answered the water mage.

Granted, Gray did seem to like her in return, considering what he promised Kenichi for what he did to her friends.

"Alright...from now on, Juvia's going to be more respectful for Gray's privacy. If he wants to just be friends, then so be it." answered Juvia.

Suddenly, she felt a weight lifted from her shoulders.

"Why does Juvia suddenly feel so better?" inquired the water mage.

Shrugging, she decided to leave her room.

Sure enough, Gray was nearby.

"I found out how to cure y-"

Suddenly, she crashed into the ice mage.

"Sorry!" apologized Juvia.

Gray gasped in surprise.

"You were able to come within five feet of me!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Juvia was?!" bellowed Juvia.

"You must have be able to cure yourself...thank goodness." said Gray.

"How did Juvia did it?" inquired the water mage.

"It says here that you could have cured yourself if you learned to respect my personal boundaries..." noted the ice mage.

"Funny, Juvia just did that..." answered Juvia.

Gray let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, Juvia would not stalk him for now on.

"Alright. From now on, I'm not going to enter your body!" exclaimed the water mage.

"You can enter my body if you want to...just don't do it without my permission." answered the ice mage.

"Does Juvia have your permission?" inquired Juvia.

"You've had a bad day...so yes." nodded Gray.

Immediately, Juvia began to enter Gray's body.

"You know, part of me actually enjoys this." thought the ice mage.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, father...I'm home again." spoke Hinata.

Hiashi entered the door.

"Good to see you again, my beloved d-"

Suddenly, he gasped in surprise.

"What the-" exclaimed Hinata's father.

"I got hit with a gypsy's curse...now I'm stuck wearing revealing outfits." explained Hinata.

"That's unfortunate! You shouldn't dress like that!" bellowed Hiashi Hyuga.

"But I caught you wearing a speedo last week." answered the kunoichi.

Hinata's father sweatdropped.

"How long is the curse going to be?" asked Hiashi.

"About twenty-four h-"

Suddenly, Hinata found herself dressed modestly again.

"Never mind...how did I get cured so quickly?" inquired the kunoichi.

Maybe she was resistant to curses? Makarov did mention about her having an excessive amount of goodness in her body...so maybe her purity allowed her to resist dark magic.

Hiashi Hyuga let out a sigh of relief.

"Maybe I should try curing Natsu..." said Hinata.

"Natsu?" asked Hinata's father.

"He's the one I inherited my fire dragonslayer magic from..." explained the kunoichi.

"I see..." answered Hiashi Hyuga.

"He got cursed to sound like a chipmunk..." spoke Hinata.

"That's unfortunate." acknowledged the leader of the Hyuga clan.

"I'm going to go tell him the good news." said the kunoichi.

"Hurry on back!" exclaimed Hinata's father.

Immediately, Hinata went to go search for the interdimensional portal.

Thankfully, it was still in the same place.

"Here I go!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

_Fairy Tail has been cursed! Oh no! Thankfully, they're working on counteracting it..._

_In the next chapter, everyone's going to be free! Hooray! But unfortunately the gypsy is going to get away. Dang it._


	30. Chapter 30: End Of The Curse

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, well, we're going to see the end of the curse. Hooray! That's what you want, right?_

_You want our heroes to be free of their curses, right? Right?_

**Chapter 30: End Of The Curse**

Hinata immediately approached Natsu to tell him the good news.

"Hey there, Natsu! Just want to let you know I'm free of the curse now." said Hinata.

"That's good...my voice is as squeaky as ever." noted the fire mage.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Hinata.

"Not only that, but my throat is starting to hurt..." spoke the fire mage.

"Is there anything I can do to make it better?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Well, I could use some fire right now..." said Natsu.

Immediately, Hinata handed Natsu a fireball.

"Thanks." spoke the fire mage.

He immediately consumed the fireball.

"That's better." said Natsu.

Hinata gasped in surprise.

"What?" asked the fire mage.

"Your voice isn't squeaky anymore!" exclaimed Hinata.

"What? It isn't? Thank goodness!" bellowed Natsu.

"So, what do you want to do now?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I want to go see my father...my foster father, that is." answered the fire mage.

"Oh, right. I bet you miss him." noted Hinata.

"Do I ever!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, he went to go visit his foster father.

"See you later!" shouted Hinata.

_About half an hour later..._

"Father, I'm home!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Good to see you again, Natsu." spoke Igneel.

"Why did you leave?" inquired the fire mage.

"I'm sorry...I'm a rather busy dragon these days. I didn't have much time to spend with you." explained the fire dragon.

"I see." nodded Natsu.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to try to see that this doesn't happen again..." spoke Igneel.

"That's a relief." acknowledged the fire mage.

"By the way, there was a teenage girl about your age not too long ago. She mentioned something about inheriting your fire dragonslayer magic." said the fire dragon.

"Did she happen to have long black hair?" inquired Natsu.

"She did. Why do you ask?" asked Igneel.

"I think that was Hinata..." said the fire mage.

"Ah, I see. Did you inherit anything from her in return?" inquired the fire dragon.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I inherited her Byakugan." answered the fire mage.

"Her Byakugan?" questioned Igneel.

"I have enhanced eyesight now...I can see things for miles. I actually really like it." said Natsu.

"You can?" inquired the fire dragon.

"Yes, I can." nodded the fire mage.

Immediately, Natsu activated the Byakugan.

"It sure is useful." noted the fire dragonslayer.

"I bet it is. I wonder if anyone has tried to steal it in the past." questioned Igneel.

Somehow, Natsu got the feeling that that was true. Was there a dojutsu bandit on the loose? If so, the Hyuga Clan may be in danger.

"Personally I'd like to ask her some questions about it..." noted the fire dragonslayer.

"Like...what?" inquired the fire dragon.

"I haven't decided yet." said the fire dragonslayer.

"Alright then...anyways, would you like to do some more training? You always were such a good student." noted Igneel.

"I wonder if I should bring Hinata here...she'd probably appreciate it." acknowledged the fire dragonslayer.

"I suppose she would." nodded the fire dragon.

"Oddly enough there was a rumor that we were a couple not too long ago..." noted Natsu.

"Well, she does happen to be a fire dragonslayer like you are now." acknowledged Igneel.

"She sure is. I want to spar with her! I bet it would be intense!" exclaimed the fire dragonslayer.

"You want to spar with her?" asked the fire dragon.

"Don't worry! I'm not going to hurt her much. She's my friend!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Oh. Now I get it. You always did enjoy fighting." spoke Igneel.

"I'll do that once we're free of the gypsy's curse." said the fire dragonslayer.

"Gypsy's curse?" inquired the fire dragon.

"My best friend in the world Happy made a gypsy mad at him...so she cursed him and my guild." explained Natsu.

"Do you want me to hunt her down so that she can reverse this?" asked Igneel.

"I don't think she's worth it...she's just a bitter old woman that's never going to forgive us no matter how hard we try." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"Fair enough." answered the fire dragon.

"Good to see you again! I'm going to head back to my guild to see how my guildmates are doing...they aren't too happy about the curse." acknowledged Natsu.

"Good to see you're concerned about them." spoke Igneel.

"See you!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Goodbye, my son. I'll try not to be gone so long this time, though unfortunately I can't make any promises." answered the fire dragon.

Natsu immediately left Igneel in his volcanic cave, waving goodbye as he did so.

"I'm so happy to see my foster father again." thought the fire mage.

Personally he wondered if he should throw a party.

Oddly enough, he got the feeling that Hinata's father had thrown a party for her not too long ago.

"What a coincidence." thought Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

"It feels so awkward being a girl..." said Naruko.

"And it feels so awkward being a boy..." nodded Lucas.

When were they going to be free of the transgender curse?

There had to be a way to free themselves.

At that very moment, Gray approached them.

"Hey there! Can you help us? We're in quite a pickle here! And I prefer cucumbers over pickles." asked the genin.

"Yes, we are. We're in a really bad situation." nodded Lucas.

"I know how to cure you!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"You do?" inquired the current jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox.

"Yes, I do. Naruto, in order to free yourself of the curse, you need to do something masculine." explained Gray.

"Something masculine? OK..." answered the female ninja.

Immediately, Naruko began to sing "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt".

Shortly afterwards, she began to transform back into normal.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Now it's my turn." said Lucas.

Immediately, he began to sing "I'm A Barbie Girl".

He began to transform back into normal as well.

"That's a relief!" exclaimed Lucy.

"It sure is." nodded the genin.

"By the way, I managed to inherit your Sexy Jutsu, Naruto." said the teenage girl.

"You did? Can you show it to me?" inquired Naruto.

"Um, sure." nodded the teenage girl.

Immediately, she used the Sexy Jutsu in front of the genin.

"Wow! You're even better at this than I am!" exclaimed the ninja.

"Really? I do?" asked Lucy.

"Uh-huh!" nodded the genin.

**"This is the best day ever." **said Kurama.

Immediately, she transformed back to normal.

"Did you inherit anything else from me?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, I found this in my stuff." said Naruto.

"Oh, that's my whip. Heh heh." answered the summoner.

"Do you have a spare?" asked the genin.

"As a matter of fact, I do...I should use it whenever I end up in combat." noted Lucy as she pulled out a whip.

"Right, of course!" nodded Naruto.

"Then again I have inherited your Rasengan." acknowledged the teenage girl.

"Oh right...you have." nodded the genin.

"So, how's life as interdimensional partners?" asked Gray.

"Pretty good, pretty good." said Lucy.

"Now that I think of it...aren't you Sakura's interdimensional partner?" inquired Naruto.

"Huh? Oh that's right, I am." nodded the ice mage.

"What did you inherit from her again?" asked the genin.

Suddenly, one of Fairy Tail's mages bumped into him.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" bellowed Gray.

"Sorry!" apologized one of the mages.

"Oh that's right...you inherited her short temper." answered Naruto.

"I believe I also inherited her super strength." nodded the ice mage.

Immediately, he picked up Naruto and raised him above his head.

"Can you put me down?" asked the genin curiously.

"Huh? Of course." nodded Gray.

Immediately, he put Naruto down and set him on the floor.

"So, are you still cursed?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes...I still can't wear a shirt...not like I care." answered the ice mage.

"Right..." nodded Naruto.

"It feels good to be free of ours." acknowledged Lucy.

"Yes, it does...but what about our friends?" asked the genin.

"They might be able to cure themselves...they might not. It depends on what they do." answered the ice mage.

_Meanwhile in the Celestial Spirit World..._

"I have to admit, it feels nice to be back home..." noted Loke.

However, there was one thing he was worried about.

"Loke! I missed you!" bellowed Loke's son.

"Huh?" asked the Celestial Spirit.

"You've been gone for so long!" exclaimed the little boy.

Immediately, he jumped into Loke's arms.

"Uh-oh..." thought Loke.

A few minutes later, Loke's wife revealed herself.

"There you are, Loke! Do you have any idea how worried I was?" inquired Loke's wife.

"Oh dear..." murmured the celestial spirit.

He was then approached by his mother.

"Lokekins! Why did you leave the celestial world for so long without calling?" asked Loke's mother.

"I must have been away longer than I thought." noted Loke.

Immediately, she began to kiss Loke many, many times.

"Oh god..." thought the celestial spirit.

"Hey there, son! It's good to see you back!" exclaimed Loke's father.

Immediately, he began to hug Loke so tightly he was unable to breathe.

"You're...choking...me..." murmured the bespectacled spirit.

Finally, Loke's daughter paid him a visit.

"I'm so happy to see you again, papa!" exclaimed Loke's daughter.

Immediately, she began to hug Loke tightly on the leg.

"Well, compared to everyone else that isn't so bad..." noted the celestial spirit.

"Welcome home!" exclaimed Loke's family.

He began to sigh. He really needed to visit home more.

"I'm going to have to put that on my schedule..." said the celestial spirit.

_At the Fairy Tail guild hall..._

Sakura was still bouncing off the walls.

"Woohoo! Yay!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

The more Sakura did so, the more unnerved Gajeel became.

"This just isn't right..." said the iron dragonslayer.

Eventually, Sakura jumped in front of Gajeel.

"Wow! Look at you! You are so awesome!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Finally, Gajeel couldn't take it anymore.

Suddenly, he placed his hands on Sakura's shoulders.

"Please! Stop this! I can't take it anymore! Please!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

As he did so, a tear fell from his eye onto Sakura's massive forehead.

Oddly enough, this actually did the trick.

"Gajeel?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Sakura?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Ugh...my head..." murmured Sakura.

As it turned out, she now had a headache.

Immediately, she summoned an icepack to soothe her aching head.

"What happened?" asked the kunoichi.

"You got cursed into being a genki girl..." said Gajeel.

"That explains a lot." nodded the teenage girl.

"The curse also made me wear a woman's dress." spoke the iron dragonslayer.

"Huh. That dress actually looks good on you." acknowledged Sakura.

"You think so?" inquired Gajeel.

"Uh-huh!" nodded the kunoichi.

"Huh." answered the iron dragonslayer.

"How are we going to free you of your curse?" questioned the medical ninja.

"I don't know." spoke Gajeel.

"Ah well. I'm sure you'll get freed eventually." noted Sakura.

"Right, of course." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

He had just sixteen hours to go. He could live through it...right?

_Meanwhile at Oak Town..._

Mirajane and Elfman went to collect their insurance policy. However, they suddenly remembered something important.

"Oh, that's right...I happen to be a giant at the moment..." acknowledged the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, the citizens began to panic.

"Run for cover!" bellowed one of the citizens.

Oddly enough, some of them were staring at her instead. Apparently, Mirajane was even more attractive while she was giant.

"Go figure...I still want to change back though." noted Mirajane as she noticed her new admirers.

At that very moment, the military arrived.

"What seems to be the problem?" inquired one of the soldiers.

Immediately, one of the citizens pointed to Mirajane.

"Good lord!" bellowed the soldier.

"Um, hi?" asked Mirajane.

She was starting to wonder if adventuring into the town was such a good idea.

"Easy...I don't mean any trouble." said the teenage girl.

Suddenly, they noticed Elfman inside her hand.

"She's got a voodoo doll!" exclaimed one of the soldiers.

Immediately, they began to open fire on Mirajane.

However, due to her immense size, the bullets did little more than tickle her, causing her to fall down on the floor and start laughing.

"Oh my gosh! Stop! That tickles! Hahahahaha!" laughed Mirajane.

"Here we go again." answered Elfman.

Eventually, the soldiers ran out of bullets, causing her to pant for breath.

"Why am I getting tickled so much today?" asked the S-Class Mage.

"Beats me." shrugged Elfman.

"We need backup!" exclaimed one of the soldiers.

However, at that very moment, a giant lizard began attacking the city.

"Noooo!" screamed one of the citizens.

Realizing that the citizens were in danger, Mirajane hit the lizard with a darkness spell.

It sent the giant lizard flying.

"Wow..." answered the S-Class Mage.

Curious, the citizens began to wonder if Mirajane was as dangerous to them as she looked.

Suddenly, one of them recognized her.

"Isn't that Mirajane? The S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail? How'd you get so big?" inquired one of the citizens.

"It's a long story." answered Mirajane.

"It sure is!" exclaimed Elfman.

"Elfman? How'd you get so small?" inquired said citizen.

"We got hit by a curse." explained the S-Class candidate.

"A curse? Well, we know a doctor that can cure you." said the citizen.

"Alright then." nodded Mirajane.

_A few minutes later..._

"Alright, this is going to hurt...but only for a moment." answered the doctor.

Immediately, he injected the serum into Mirajane's foot, causing her to laugh.

"Why are my feet so ticklish?" inquired the S-Class Mage.

She then began to turn back to normal.

"Thank goodness..." said Mirajane.

"Can you change me back too?" inquired Elfman.

The doctor injected Elfman with a growth serum, causing him to return to his normal size.

"Thank goodness...I was worried that my sister was going to squish me. She was my big sister...in more ways than one." said the man.

"She sure was." nodded the doctor.

"Thank goodness...now I can collect our guild insurance policy." spoke Mirajane.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a No Shoes, No Service sign nearby.

"Oh, right...do you have any shoes? Mine broke..." said the S-Class Mage.

"Funny, I was starting to get the feeling that you were a free spirit or something..." noted the doctor.

"Yeah...that's not how I roll. I have several pairs of shoes back home actually." spoke Mirajane.

"Do you now?" asked the doctor as he put some shoes on Mirajane's feet.

"There...hopefully I won't get tickled so much now..." said the teenage girl.

Immediately, she went to go collect the insurance policy.

"What happened?" asked the insurance salesman as he signed the form.

"I turned giant and broke through the guild roof...and then Happy made it collapse." said Mirajane.

"You turned giant?" inquired the salesman.

"It's true, I did. My little brother shrunk massively." nodded the S-Class mage.

"Did you get cursed or something?" asked the man.

"It's true, we did." acknowledged Mirajane.

"Who was it?" inquired the insurance salesman.

"It was a gypsy..." said the teenage girl.

"Careful now, they're pretty vengeful." noted the salesman as Mirajane left his office.

"I know..." nodded Mirajane.

"So, are we going to get the insurance money? Or do they think we committed insurance fraud?" inquired Elfman.

"Insurance fraud?" questioned the S-Class Mage.

"Yes, I know..." nodded her brother.

"There wouldn't happen to be an insurance for gypsy curses, would there? I think we should invest in that sometime." noted Mirajane.

"Yes, we should." nodded Elfman.

Immediately, they headed back to their guild.

_Meanwhile..._

"You know...maybe I have been drinking too much lately." noted Cana as she drank some more Kool-Aid.

"It's true, you do drink a lot. I'm personally impressed how strong your liver is...it's not nearly as strong as mine." acknowledged Gildarts.

"Really? It isn't?" inquired Cana.

"It's true, it's not. Granted, I can drink a lot of alcohol myself, though I don't usually drink much." explained Cana's father.

"I might actually surpass you one day father." noted Cana.

"Wanna bet?" asked Gildarts.

"Alright, from now on I'm going to only drink alcohol five times a day..." said the alcoholic.

Suddenly, she felt that something had been lifted from her.

"Hmm?" asked Cana.'

Curious, she found a bottle of alcohol not far from where she was sitting.

Intrigued, she put in her hand...and it didn't disappear.

"Is the curse gone?" questioned the card mage.

Apparently, it was.

"Yes!" cheered Cana.

Immediately, she began to wolf down the alcohol.

"Now that was refreshing!" exclaimed the mage.

"It appears that deciding to not drink alcohol as much freed you of the curse..." noted Gildarts.

"I know...funny how that worked." acknowledged Cana.

"I heard that gypsy's curses actually work like that...they can both help you and hurt you." said Gildarts.

"I guess." nodded the card mage.

Shrugging, she decided to try some more of the Kool-Aid.

"Oh yeah..." said Cana.

"Oh yeah!" bellowed the Kool-Aid Man, crashing through the wall.

"I thought crashing through walls was supposed to be my job..." questioned Gildarts.

The Kool-Aid Man slowly walked away.

"Is he gone?" asked Cana.

"Yes." nodded Gildarts.

"That's a shame...I was hoping that he was going to give me more Kool-Aid..." questioned Cana.

_A few hours later..._

"We're back!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Why are you suddenly so small?" asked Natsu.

"I got cured..." answered the S-Class Mage.

"So did I!" exclaimed Elfman.

Natsu let out a sigh of relief.

"Is there anyone else that hasn't been cured yet?" inquired the fire mage.

"I'm not sure..." questioned Mirajane.

"I hope that you can get cured soon..." said Natsu.

"How long does everyone have left to go?" inquired Elfman.

"About twelve hours..." spoke the fire mage.

"Wait...didn't you have a squeaky voice earlier?" questioned the animal mage.

"Huh? Oh, that's right. Hinata cured me." answered Natsu.

"That was nice of her." nodded Mirajane.

"I should give her a thank-you note." said the fire mage.

"Right, you can get onto that." spoke the S-Class Mage.

Natsu nodded.

Immediately, he began to write the thank-you note.

"I'll send it to her now." said the fire mage as he put the thank-you note in the mailbox.

Sure enough, it was sent to Hinata a few minutes later.

"Hmm?" inquired Hinata.

Dear Hinata,

Thank you for freeing me from that horrible curse! My voice sounded absolutely ridiculous! Let me know if you need anything.

From Natsu Dragneel.

"Aww, how sweet." said the kunoichi.

"Is he your boyfriend?" inquired Kiba.

"Ruff?" asked Akamaru.

"What? No, he isn't! I already went over this earlier..." spoke Hinata.

"Oh." answered Shino.

"If I had a boyfriend, I would tell you." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"Right..." nodded Kiba.

"He is a friend of mine though. I will admit that." said Hinata.

"Fair enough." acknowledged Shino.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"I think I should write him a You're Welcome Note." spoke Hinata.

Immediately, she pulled out a piece of paper and sent it to Natsu in return using a sending scroll.

"Alright then." said the fire dragonslayer.

Sure enough, Natsu received Hinata's You're Welcome letter in return.

Dear Natsu,

Don't mention it! I've been helping other people for years. In fact, that's why I became a ninja. Well that, and my father sent me off to the ninja academy.

From Hinata.

"That's nice." said Natsu.

"Is she your girlfriend?" inquired Mirajane.

"What? No, she isn't! I thought I already explained this..." said the fire mage.

"Oh..." answered Elfman.

"Some people just jump to conclusions..." spoke Natsu.

"Right..." nodded the S-Class Mage.

At that very moment, Happy entered the room.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Mirajane.

"Fish...withdrawal..." said the Exceed.

"Uh-oh..." answered Natsu.

Happy collapsed on the floor.

"We might need to take him to the hospital." noted Mirajane.

"How many times have we been at the hospital lately?" questioned the fire mage.

"Beats me...I don't think we've been there for a while." acknowledged Elfman.

"Wasn't that back when we fought against the Sound Four?" inquired the S-Class Mage.

"I heard that they were later found dead...I wonder what happened? I heard that their life force had been drained from their bodies..." asked the beast mage.

"I think Chiyoye happened." answered Mirajane.

"Oh right...I feel sorry for them." said Elfman.

Natsu immediately picked up Happy and took him to the vet.

Fortunately, it wasn't very far away from the guild hall.

"Thank goodness for that." said the fire mage.

"Do you want to put him down? I can use this to put him to sleep." asked the veterinarian, pulling out a needle with euthanasia inside.

"What? No no no no!" exclaimed the fire mage.

The veterinarian put the needle away.

"Oh alright then...what are you here for?" asked the vet.

"It's my best friend, Happy...he's suffering from fish withdrawal..." said Natsu.

"Fish withdrawal?" asked the veterinarian.

"Yeah...he's suffering from a gypsy's curse that's preventing him from eating fish..." spoke the fire mage.

"I see. You think making him eat something will make him feel better?" inquired the vet.

"I think so, yes." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

Immediately, she pulled out some catnip.

"You think he would enjoy this?" asked the animal doctor.

Sure enough, there was an Exceed Approved logo on it, along with a picture of an Exceed's face.

"Yes, I think he would." nodded Natsu.

Immediately, the veterinarian stuffed the catnip in Happy's mouth, causing him to wake up.

"Where am I?" asked the Exceed.

Suddenly, he noticed the veterinarian.

"Oh my god! Don't kill me! I'm too young to die! I don't need to be euthanized!" exclaimed Happy.

"Don't worry, Happy! She's not here to euthanize you!" shouted Natsu.

"Oh, thank goodness." acknowledged the Exceed.

"She is here to give you food though." answered the fire mage.

Immediately, Happy began to eat the catnip.

"This isn't good as fish, but it will do for now." said the blue cat.

"That's a relief." nodded Natsu.

Immediately, he paid the veterinarian some jewels.

"Thank you for helping me with my Exceed." said the fire mage.

"You're welcome." answered the vet.

Natsu then headed back to the Fairy Tail guild along with Happy.

_Two hours later..._

"So, are you still wearing ladies' underwear?" asked Lucy.

"I'm afraid so...it's a good thing Ino and Choji aren't here or they would be laughing at me for sure." noted Shikamaru.

"Right, of course..." nodded the jinchuriki.

"And to think all I wanted to do was to research this world..." answered the shadow ninja.

Lucy immediately handed Shikamaru a Fiore history book.

"Hmm? Thanks." answered the shadow ninja.

Immediately, he began to read the book.

"Let's see now..." said Shikamaru, flipping through the pages.

"So...Fiore is a monarchy?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Lucy.

"Interesting..." answered the shadow ninja.

"Oddly enough our king happens to enjoy wearing a pumpkin on his head...due to the fact that it is magical he can use it to make facial expressions..." said the teenage girl.

"Can he now?" asked Shikamaru.

"It's true, he can." nodded Lucy.

"I wish I had a costume like that..." said the shadow ninja.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a book on gypsy curses nearby.

"Huh?" inquired the kunoichi.

Curious, she began to look it over.

"Well, I think this is just what we're looking for." said the teenage girl.

Sure enough, it had instructions on how to cure every single curse.

Curious, she decided to look up how to cure Levy.

"Let's see now..." said the teenage girl.

According to the book, she could cure the Blindness Curse...by hitting Levy with a flash grenade.

"A flash grenade?" questioned Lucy.

Shrugging, she decided that it was worth a shot.

"Do you have a flash grenade, Shikamaru?" inquired the kunoichi.

Oddly enough, Shikamaru actually had one on him.

Sure enough, Levy came into the room.

"Where is everyone? I can't find you!" exclaimed Levy.

Shikamaru tossed the flash grenade at Levy.

Immediately, she was able to see again.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the letter mage, covering her eyes.

"I suppose that's going to take some time getting used to." acknowledged Lucy.

"Yes..." nodded Levy.

"Is there a cure for my curse?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Let's see now..." said Lucy.

As it turned out, there was.

"In order to free yourself from the curse...you need to kiss a girl on the lips." spoke the kunoichi.

Shikamaru sweatdropped.

Lucy sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll do it, since we already kissed once..." noted the summoner.

"Fair enough." nodded the shadow ninja.

"You already kissed once?" inquired Levy.

"It was an accident that time." explained Lucy.

"Ah." nodded the letter mage.

Immediately, Lucy kissed Shikamaru on the lips, causing the ladies' underwear to disappear.

This was quickly followed by his briefs reappearing.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief.

"I actually enjoyed that." they both thought.

"Should we tell everyone else about this?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I don't really see a need to." answered Lucy.

Suddenly, she remembered that Levy had witnessed this.

"Are you going to tell anyone else?" inquired the summoner.

"I can keep a secret." answered the letter mage.

"Maybe we should have removed my curse, then removed hers." noted Shikamaru.

"Huh? Oh yeah...that's right. She got cursed with blindness." acknowledged Lucy.

"I think we should try curing Jet and Droy next..." said Levy.

"Right, those are your teammates...you know, you remind me a lot like myself." acknowledged the shadow ninja.

"It's true, we have many similarities." nodded the letter mage.

"I'm a bit scared..." noted Shikamaru.

"I wonder what would happen if your teammates met mine?" inquired Levy.

"I wonder." answered the shadow ninja.

Levy began to scratch her head.

"Well, I guess we're going to cure them next." answered Lucy.

"I'll go with you." said the letter mage.

"You're a good friend of mine, so sure." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, they went to search for Jet and Droy...along with Levy's shadow.

"Hmm? My shadow is coming to life again..." noted the letter mage.

"That's Shikamaru's shadowbending abilities in a nutshell...though I don't ever recall him being able to bend his own." questioned Lucy.

Levy shrugged.

"I guess being an interdimensional partner can be a bit unpredictable..." noted the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"Yes, it can. I'm not sure which of Naruto's abilities I'm going to inherit next." answered Lucy.

"What was the latest?" inquired Levy.

"His Sexy Jutsu." spoke the kunoichi.

"His Sexy Jutsu?" asked the bookworm.

"It allows me to transform into a half-naked woman...I think I'll use it to flirt with boys." said Lucy.

"You're a lucky girl." answered Levy.

"I suppose I am. I actually used it to drive away my father." explained the kunoichi.

"Your father?" inquired the bookworm.

"Yes, my father. He wanted to take me back so that I could get married to this boy by the name of Suwarr. I hardly even know the guy." spoke Lucy.

"Sorry to hear that." nodded Levy.

"Hopefully after that incident he'll leave me alone...for a while." said the kunoichi.

**"The longer, the better." **answered Kurama.

"Yes, of course." nodded Lucy.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Levy.

"I'm talking to the nine-tailed fox...he lives inside me now." explained the kunoichi.

"Oh, right. The nine-tailed fox. Didn't Naruto tell us about it?" inquired the letter mage.

"Well, it's no longer his responsibility. He has my spirit keys now and I have his nine-tailed fox. It seems like a fair tradeoff." answered Lucy.

"Right..." nodded Levy.

Immediately, they went to go search for the remaining guild mates that were still suffering from a curse.

_Two hours later..._

Erza was trying to grab a cake from the kitchen counter.

However, there was a small problem.

"Can't...reach...the...kitchen...counter." said Erza.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that she was now a child, she was no longer able to reach the cake.

"So tantalizing..." thought the knight.

Suddenly, Naruto approached her.

"Hey there, Erza! Why do you look so down?" asked the genin.

"I can't reach this cake..." said Erza.

"Oh, really? Alright then. Let me help." answered Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto picked up the cake and handed it to Erza.

"Thanks." said the S-Class Mage as she began eating.

"You're welcome." answered the genin.

"This is my favorite flavor..." spoke Erza.

"Your favorite flavor is chocolate?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes." nodded the knight.

"That's good to know..." answered the genin.

Immediately, she began to wipe off her face.

"So, just four more hours until you can be free..." said the genin.

"Yeah, just four more hours." answered Erza.

"So, how does it feel to be six again?" inquired Naruto.

"It brings back bad memories..." said the girl.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

At that very moment, Lucy and Levy burst in.

"Can we help you?" inquired Erza.

"We're here to turn you back to normal." said Lucy.

"Thank goodness. Now I can finally reach the kitchen counter..." spoke the knight.

"The kitchen counter?" questioned Levy.

According to the curse, in order for Erza to be free from the curse, she needed to...eat some cake.

"How ironic. I just ate some cake right now." said the child.

Suddenly, she began to transform into normal.

"The irony." said Erza.

"Yes! Thank goodness!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Now that I think of it...didn't the curse turn you into a girl?" inquired the knight.

"I managed to cure myself." answered the genin.

"I see." nodded Erza.

"So did I." spoke Lucy.

"So, just four more hours until everyone is free?" asked Levy.

"Yes." answered the knight.

"Thank goodness." nodded Naruto.

"I'm going to go look for more cake." said Erza as she went to search for more of her favorite food.

"See you!" exclaimed the genin.

"Thank goodness Naruto was there for me..." thought Erza.

_One hour later..._

Sakura and Gajeel were both in the basement, trying to figure how to free Gajeel from the curse.

Granted, there was only three hours left before the curse was going to end, but Sakura decided that she wanted to help him anyway.

"How are we going to get you out of that dress?" inquired Sakura.

"I don't know..." answered Gajeel.

"There's got to be a way somehow..." noted the kunoichi.

Curious, she began to think of something that she could try.

"Hmm..." thought Sakura.

"Gajeel, how exactly did you release me from the curse?"

"I grabbed onto you and begged you not to jump off the walls..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

"Hmm..." answered the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Sakura had an idea.

"Maybe we should try making you do something unfeminine..." she noted.

"Like...what?" inquired Gajeel.

"Try punching me in the face." answered Sakura.

"What?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"It doesn't have to be hard..." said the kunoichi.

"OK..." answered Gajeel.

Immediately, he punched Sakura in the face, gently.

Shortly afterwards, his dress disappeared.

"I'm free!" cheered the iron dragonslayer.

"Good for you." said Sakura.

Immediately, Gajeel began to eat some gears.

"That's better." spoke the iron dragonslayer.

"Thank goodness..." answered Sakura.

Suddenly, she began to take her shirt off. Once again, Gray's stripping habit was starting to kick in.

Of course, Gajeel immediately noticed.

"Should I tell her...or not?" thought the iron dragonslayer.

"Why does it suddenly feel so cool?" inquired Sakura.

"That's because you took your shirt off." explained Gajeel.

"Thanks for the warning!" exclaimed the kunoichi as she put her shirt back on.

Curious, she noticed that Gajeel now seemed unhappy about something.

"What?" inquired Sakura.

"Nothing." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Suddenly, she noticed Alzack and Bisca had also been affected by the curse. They in fact had been glued together.

"Can we help you two?" asked the kunoichi.

"No, we're fine." answered Alzack.

"OK..." answered Sakura.

Now that she thought of it, Gray hadn't complained about his curse either. Then again, he was the one that she had inherited her stripping habit from.

"Sakura, you're taking off your pants." said Gajeel.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Frantically, she put them back on.

"I've got to pay more attention to what I'm doing." noted Sakura.

"Yeah..." nodded the iron dragonslayer.

"Imagine if I went for training with Lady Tsunade and I suddenly started taking my clothes off in front of her..." spoke Sakura.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Gajeel.

_Two hours later..._

On the second floor of the Fairy Tail guild Droy and Jet were still dealing with their curses.

"I miss you so much, Jet..." answered Droy.

"But I'm only five feet away from you." spoke Jet in an extremely slow voice.

At that very moment, Lucy, Levy, and Gray arrived.

"I know how to cure you!" exclaimed Lucy and Gray in unison.

Lucy and Gray looked at each other in confusion.

"You managed to find a cure too?! How'd you do it?!" they exclaimed in unison.

"I found a witchdoctor..." explained Gray.

"I found a book for gypsy's curses." said Lucy.

"Can we focus on freeing Jet and Droy from their curse now?" asked Levy.

"Right, of course. It says here that in order to free Jet, we need to give him some coffee." explained Lucy.

"And it says here that in order to free Droy, we need him to be ten feet away from Jet." said Gray.

"Ten feet away?!" exclaimed Droy.

"Oh dear. He's not too happy about that, is he?" inquired Levy.

"C'mon! You can do it!" exclaimed Lucy.

Reluctantly, Droy stepped ten feet away from Jet.

Shortly afterwards, the curse was lifted and he could be near Jet again.

"Yes! Yes!" cheered the chubby mage.

Immediately, he went up to Jet.

"Congratulations..." said the mage extremely slowly.

"Here is some coffee." spoke Levy as she handed some to Jet.

Drinking the coffee, Jet was transformed back into normal.

"Thank you, Levy. Now I can go fast!" exclaimed Jet.

"Gotta go fast!" bellowed Droy.

Immediately, Jet began to run across the room.

"Yeah, way to go!" exclaimed the plant mage.

"Good to see that you two are happy again." acknowledged Levy.

"We sure are!" exclaimed Droy.

"I got to drink some coffee!" cheered Jet.

"So, is that everyone?" inquired Lucy.

"Makarov, Loke, and myself are still cursed..." explained Gray.

"I believe that Loke's curse banished him to the celestial spirit world..." explained Levy.

"Oh...can you bring him back?" inquired the stripper.

"Sorry, but I'm not the one whose made the contract with him anymore. Naruto is." answered Lucy.

"Oh, right..." answered Gray.

"I hope that he's having a good time back home...he'll be able to come back in just one hour..." said the kunoichi.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing him again." noted the ice mage.

"I guess we'll just wait one hour and watch the remaining curses wear off. It won't be long now." noted Levy.

"It's true, it won't." nodded Lucy.

_One hour later..._

Loke reappeared in a burst of yellow smoke where he was earlier.

"Phew!" exclaimed the celestial spirit.

As it turned out, his glasses had fallen off, his hair was rather messy, his clothes were a mess, and he was covered with kiss marks.

"Again, I really need to go home more." noted Loke.

Suddenly, he noticed Makarov in his underwear.

"What the heck?! What are you doing in your underpants?!" bellowed the celestial spirit.

"Huh?" asked Makarov.

Curious, he looked down, and noticed that he was in his underwear.

"I got drunk again, didn't I?" asked the guildmaster.

"Yes, you did." nodded Loke.

"Man..." answered Makarov as he put on his clothes again.

"Next time don't make me see you in your underwear..." said the Celestial Spirit.

"Right, of course...hey, did you hear about the gypsy's curse?" inquired the guild master.

"Yes, I did. I ended up being sent back home because of it...and wouldn't you know it, my entire family missed me." spoke Loke.

"How long have you been gone?" asked Makarov.

"I don't remember..." answered the Celestial Spirit.

Makarov immediately put his clothes on.

"Thank the Celestial Spirit King..." said Loke.

Shortly afterwards, Kimimaro entered the room.

"Ugh...my back hurts." said the teenage boy.

"That's because you got turned into an old man, much like myself I believe." answered Makarov.

"You look rather young to me." noted Kimimaro.

"That's because I used a jutsu that Tsunade gave me." said the guildmaster.

"Oh, that's right..." nodded the bone ninja.

At that very moment, Alzack and Bisca came in.

"We're not glued together anymore..." answered Alzack.

"I'm actually a bit disappointed." nodded Bisca.

Gray came into the room as well. He was now wearing a shirt.

"It just isn't the same..." said the ice mage.

"So, are we all cured?" inquired Loke.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Makarov.

At that very moment, Happy came in eating a fish.

"I'm sorry! I'll try not to break a crystal ball again, I swear!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"I hope not." answered the guildmaster.

"Why are gypsies so vengeful?" inquired Loke.

"Beats me." answered Happy.

"I don't want to visit a gypsy anytime soon." spoke Makarov.

"Where is the gypsy that cursed us, anyway?" questioned Kimimaro.

_Meanwhile..._

The gypsy let out a sigh. Now that her crystal ball had been destroyed, how was she going to get more customers?

She wondered what she was going to do.

She began to sigh.

"I guess I'll go gambling..." said the gypsy.

She heard that was where people were going to make money these days. The odds were fantastic.

"Let's see how much money I can make." she thought.

Personally, she just hoped that she didn't become addicted to it. She was there to win money, not lose it.

_We now return to the Fairy Tail guild..._

Naruto and Lucy were both relieved by the turn of events. Everyone was finally cured, and nobody was going to go insane.

"Thank goodness." said the genin.

Suddenly, Sakura approached the duo.

"Can we help you?" asked Lucy.

"I almost forgot something! It's almost time for the Chunin Exams!" exclaimed Sakura.

"The Chunin Exams?" inquired Naruto curiously.

"You know, the exams we went on in order to become chunin? Too bad Orochimaru went and spoiled it for us." noted the kunoichi.

"It's true, he did." nodded the genin.

"Do you want to try becoming a chunin again? They're every four months now." said Sakura.

"Every four months?" asked Naruto.

"Again, we've gotten a lot of ninja here lately." noted the kunoichi.

"Um, sure...but won't I need two buddies to go with me?" inquired the genin.

"Huh...oh yeah...the rules say that you need to be in group of three. Of course, since I'm already a chunin and Sasuke's unfortunately no longer with us...you're going to need to find someone else." noted Sakura.

"Who's going with me then?" asked Naruto.

Lucy raised her hand.

"I'll go with him!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Huh? You will? I appreciate it!" bellowed the genin.

"You're welcome...I'm considered a genin at Konoha myself despite my skill...so I suppose this would be a good opportunity for both of us." noted Lucy.

"We're still going to need a third person though." answered Naruto.

At that very moment, Kimimaro stopped by.

"Well, speak of the devil!" exclaimed the genin.

"Do you want to help us, Kimimaro? We're signing up for the Chunin Exams." said Lucy.

"Sure. Why not." answered the bone ninja.

"Thanks! Together we're going to pass this exam with flying colors!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I suppose we will." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, the trio went through the interdimensional portal to head to Konoha.

Sure enough, there were several ninja awaiting to sign up for the exams.

After waiting in line for a few minutes, Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro signed up for the exams.

"So when do the exams start?" inquired the genin.

"Tomorrow, I believe." answered Lucy.

"Yes, of course." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, the trio began to get ready.

_This is a twist, isn't it? Naruto's going to participate in the Chunin Exams again! Don't worry. This time there isn't going to be a maniac interrupting it. This time, Naruto's going to get to become a chunin. Sorry if you're a Naruto purist who wants him to stay a genin forever...but that's not how things are going to work in this fanfic._

_You do want him to become Hokage, don't you?_

_Of course, Lucy and Kimimaro are going to get to become chunin too. That's right...all three of them are going to pass the chunin exams. They're going to have a pretty big advantage considering how powerful they are._

_But since I don't want things to be too easy for them, I'm going to bring back some "old friends"._

_Who are those old friends, you ask? You'll find out._


	31. Chapter 31: The Chunin Exams

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...well, in case you haven't figured it out yet...Naruto and his friends are going to be participating in the Chunin Exams! Well, two of his friends. Granted, one of them was his enemy at one point...but he's a forgiving fellow._

_As before, the first part is going to be a written exam...and there's going to be a secret test of character. Mind you, it's always different every time._

**Chapter 31: The Chunin Exams**

Tsunade stood outside the school where the Chunin Exams were going to take place. The written part, anyway. The second part was the Forest Of Death, which she knew like the back of her hand.

Of course, the Chunin Exams were how she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru managed to become chunin. Unfortunately, one of them would return to the Forest Of Death later to bite people in the neck and give them his cursed seal of evil.

He was a bad dude.

"Ouch..." murmured the Sannin as she began rubbing the back of her neck. She hadn't experienced it firsthand, but it sure sounded horribly unpleasant.

What kind of psychopath would she turn into if she got infected with the cursed seal?

At that very moment, Lucy and Kimimaro approached her along with Naruto.

"Greetings, Naruto. Are you finally going to try to pass the Chunin Exams again? Mind you, I'm pretty sure you would have passed if it weren't for Orochimaru..." questioned Tsunade.

"Yes, I am!" nodded Naruto.

"By the way, it's good to see you back again. I see that you brought your interdimensional partner with you...wait, isn't that Kimimaro?" inquired the Sannin.

"He's not going to be causing any more trouble. Really, I promise." said the genin.

"Alright then...just don't kill any more people and I'll be willing to give you another chance." answered Tsunade, noticing the mark of his peace on his arm.

"Yes, of course!" nodded Kimimaro.

It was good to see that Orochimaru's minions were leaving his side. More often than not, people felt that they should do something other than assist a certain snake ninja in his crazy plans.

However, she also got the feeling that something terrible had happened to four (or five) of them...though she wasn't quite sure what.

"Alright then...the exams are right this way." said Tsunade.

Immediately, the trio entered the room and sat on three desks.

Oddly enough, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi happened to be there as well.

"How's your class going?" inquired Naruto.

"Pretty good. My substitute teacher was pretty nice...my mentor Ebisu should be back today..." said Konohamaru.

"So that's why you were taking lessons from that female jonin..." noted the genin.

"Yeah...she mastered three elemental jutsus..." nodded the apprentice.

"Wow..." said Naruto.

Suddenly, someone blew a spitball at Konohamaru.

"Agh!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

As it turned out, Momoo and two of his friends were there as well. Even while they were at class, they still wanted to torment Konohamaru.

"We're going to pulverize you in the exams!" exclaimed Momoo.

"Oh no..." said Naruto's apprentice. Something told him that this exam wasn't going to be fun.

Then again, going into a forest that was seemingly designed by the Ten-Tailed Beast itself to be as deadly as possible, maybe the Chunin Exams weren't his idea of fun to begin with.

Once again, the proctor was Ibiki Morino.

"The rules for this are going to be rather simple. You just need to answer ten questions to the best of your ability and be on with it. After thirty minutes, there's going to be a secret question." said the jonin.

"What's with the chunin standing in the chairs?" asked Udon.

"Oh, that...you see, if they catch you cheating, they're going to kick you out of here. I suggest you don't try it...it's easier to catch than you might think. Believe me, I've caught people doing it no less than a dozen times." spoke Ibiki.

"At least...not unless you happen to have a jutsu that allows you to cheat..." thought the jonin.

"But this test is so hard! And I don't see what they have to do with being a ninja!" complained Konohamaru.

"Just do the best you can." answered the man.

"Fine..." answered the genin.

_A few minutes later..._

Lucy was having a surprisingly easy time answering the questions. Granted, she had thought that they were going to be hard at first, but she turned out to be wrong.

"Who is the Fifth Hokage? That's an easy question..." noted Tsunade as she began to write down the answer.

Due to the fact that Naruto was now Lucy's interdimensional partner, he was now having a much easier time answering the questions than he was before.

"Thank goodness...last time I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to pass because I couldn't answer any of the questions." noted the genin.

As for Kimimaro, he was able to answer some...others he didn't have the answer to.

"Who was the First Hokage? How am I supposed to know the answer for that? I haven't been here for too long." noted the bone ninja.

Konohamaru unfortunately was not able to answer any of the questions, much like Naruto before him. In fact, he could not even answer the question asking who the Third Hokage was...which he should know.

"My head hurts..." said the genin, clutching his head.

"Mine too..." nodded Udon, moaning in pain.

"Ugh..." murmured Moegi. How long was this test going to be?

"This test is making your head hurt? Good! You're not going to be able to pass! But I'd love to see you try!" exclaimed Momoo.

"But you're not able to answer any of the questions e-"

"Shut up!" bellowed the leader of The Sorority to his subordinate.

As it turned out, many of the students had fallen asleep. Apparently, this class was already starting to bore them.

Then again, maybe they weren't as excited about becoming chunin than they probably should have been.

"Sheesh...I think Shikamaru would feel right at home here..." noted Naruto.

"I bet he would." nodded Lucy.

As she did so, she began to think about him.

"Oh, Shikamaru, look at your perfect body..." thought the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she remembered that she needed to focus on the exam.

"Oh, right...can't daydream now, can I?" asked Lucy.

Suddenly, one of the chunin threw a kunai at Momoo's test.

"Huh?" inquired Momoo.

As it turned out, he had been caught looking at Lucy's test answers.

"Momoo!" bellowed the kunoichi, taking the test paper away from his eyesight.

"Shame on him." thought Naruto.

"Momoo, you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!" bellowed Ibiki.

Immediately, one of the chunin opened the door for Momoo and his friends.

Throwing a temper tantrum, he left the building along with his two teammates. He was going to have to try again in four months.

"This isn't fair! I deserved to be a chunin more than anyone else here!" exclaimed the school bully.

"Somehow, I don't think that is true." answered Konohamaru.

"He doesn't like failing exams, does he?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, neither do I." noted Naruto. He was rather disappointed when he found out that he couldn't become a chunin because Orochimaru ruined the exams and killed the Third Hokage.

"Doesn't he know that's the oldest trick in the book?" thought Ibiki. Personally he was hoping that he would be a bit smarter than that.

Konohamaru then began to laugh. After the way he had treated him earlier, he almost felt like throwing a party.

Maybe he could invite his teammates?

"Well, it looks like he isn't going to become chunin. Cheaters never prosper." noted Naruto.

"It's true, he's not. And yes, they don't." answered Lucy.

"Thank goodness we didn't have to cheat, huh?" asked the genin.

"Please keep your voices down." said Ibiki.

"Sorry!" apologized Naruto.

_Around thirty minutes later..._

"Alright, I think you've had enough time to answer the questions. Now it's time for you to do as I say." spoke Ibiki.

"What is it?" inquired the genin.

"I want you all to say "Tsunade is a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and her butt smells and she likes to kiss her own butt!" Understood? Do you read me loud and clear?" asked Ibiki.

"What?!" bellowed Naruto and Lucy in unison.

"You want us to say that?!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

"You want us to insult the Fifth Hokage?!" bellowed Udon.

"You want us to insult our great leader?!" screamed Moegi.

"Huh?" asked Kimimaro.

Konohamaru sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to say something like that. His grandfather was once Hokage, after all.

"Well, we tried. I guess we'll just have to try again in four months." said the genin as he left the classroom along with Udon and Moegi.

"You're right...we can always try again..." nodded Udon.

"I look forward to it." agreed Moegi.

Much to Konohamaru's surprise, he found Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro to have done the same thing.

"Huh? You gave up on the exam too?" inquired Naruto's apprentice.

"Considering that she once saved my life, I don't think I can say that about her. I do call her Grandma regularly, don't I?" said Naruto.

"How can I say that about her? She took me in after I got stranded in Naruto's world. She even let me go out on missions. That's how I managed to bond with Shikamaru..." answered Lucy.

"Considering that she was willing to give me a second chance after everything I've done...I don't think I can say that about her, either." explained Kimimaro.

Suddenly, Kakashi and Ebisu approached their pupils.

"Can we help you?" inquired Naruto.

"Just wanted to let you know that you managed to pass the first part of the exam." said Ebisu.

"Yes!" cheered Konohamaru.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Udon.

"Hooray!" shouted Moegi.

"Wait, how did we do it?" asked Naruto's apprentice.

"I take it this was another secret test of character?" inquired the genin.

"Yes, it was." nodded Kakashi.

"Right, of course. A real ninja wouldn't say that about the Fifth Hokage, right?" asked Lucy.

"No, they would not." answered Ebisu.

"So, the Forest Of Death is next, right?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes. You remember, correctly." nodded Kakashi.

"Alright then. Let's go, shall we?" asked the genin.

"Right..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, the six went to the Forest Of Death. Once again, Anko Mitarashi happened to be there.

"Um..." murmured Naruto.

"Hey there, everybody! Ready to have nightmares for the rest of your life? This forest isn't for babies, kids!" inquired Anko.

Konohamaru began to shiver.

"For the next one hundred and twenty hours...you're going to be in a forest...of death! Prepare to die!" exclaimed the jonin.

Udon began to scream.

"Mind you, you already did sign a contract that indicated that you would be risking life and limb, did you not? We're not responsible for you getting horribly slaughtered." asked Anko.

Moegi began to cower in fear.

"Yes, we did. That contract specifically said that we were going to risk getting ourselves brutally killed...and that the animals would love eating our flesh." nodded Naruto.

"Good! Go out there and get yourself killed! I'm looking forward to it!" exclaimed Anko.

"She doesn't mean that...right?" asked Lucy.

"I hope not. Then again, she doesn't usually mean the things that she says. She just likes scaring people." answered the genin.

"It's true, I do...it's so much fun." answered Anko.

"Are you a horror movie fan?" asked Naruto.

"I sure am!" exclaimed the jonin.

"You were Orochimaru's apprentice, were you not?" inquired Kimimaro.

"Yes, I was...why do you ask?" inquired Anko.

"Well, so was I..." answered the bone ninja.

"What a coincidence..." said the jonin.

"So, what scroll are we going to get this time?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, since you're such a hero, you get to have the Scroll Of Heaven." answered Anko.

"How ironic." answered the genin. Somehow, he got the feeling that when he died he wasn't going to Hell.

He wondered if Hinata was going to have a special place in Heaven considering how incorruptible she was.

"Hmm..." thought Naruto.

Immediately, she handed Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro the Scroll Of Heaven.

As she did so, she noticed how similar Naruto and Lucy looked.

She then jumped to conclusions.

"You didn't tell me you had a twin sister, Naruto!" exclaimed Anko.

Immediately, she began to stare at Lucy.

"We're not related! I'm an only child!" bellowed Naruto.

"Me too..." nodded Lucy.

"You are? What a coincidence..." noted the genin. Then again, he had heard that his father was still alive...which is more than he could say for his.

"Yeah..." answered the jinchuriki. Again, she was starting to wonder why she and Naruto looked the same.

Was it some twist of fate?

"If you're not brother and sister, then why do you have the same mark on your palms?" inquired the jonin.

Immediately, she held out both of their right hands.

"We're interdimensional partners...it's a long story involving two worlds..." answered Lucy.

"Alright then...I was just wondering. Go out and get yourself killed!" exclaimed Anko.

"Right, of course. Whatever makes you happy. We'll come back to you as ghosts. And then we're going to haunt your house. Oooooo." said the genin.

Anko began to giggle. She actually enjoyed Naruto's sense of humor. Maybe she should get a genin team of her own some day.

"Make sure to call the Ghostbusters if that happens." suggests Lucy.

Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro immediately entered the forest along with Team Ebisu.

"So, what do we need to do?" asked the kunoichi.

"We need to find somebody with a Scroll Of Earth...and try not to get ourselves killed while we're at it." answered the genin.

"Right, of course." nodded Kimimaro. It wouldn't do them much good if they got killed trying to make their way to the central tower.

Suddenly, they were attacked by a bear.

"Oh dear...here comes one of those ferocious animals..." noted the genin.

Naruto sighed. Why were they so many vicious animals in the Forest Of Death? He was starting to wonder if it had been tainted by some evil force.

Considering that Orochimaru liked hanging out in this forest, maybe it was in fact tainted by some evil force. It wouldn't surprise him, that was for sure.

Disturbingly, the bear's claws happened to be covered with blood. Had it already ran into another ninja before he and his friends had got there?

If so, he was feeling sorry for them. Hopefully they were going to have a nice afterlife...or find a good doctor.

Fortunately, they were able to defeat the bear without getting injured, though they were still traumatized nonetheless. Naruto hurled a Rasengan at the bear's face, causing him to pass out.

"Huh, I actually didn't suffer clothing damage this time..." answered Naruto. Apparently, he got lucky.

"You can say that again..." spoke Lucy, who had gone from being in her ninja outfit to being in her pink tube top and miniskirt.

"Oh dear...do you want to go clothes shopping when we're done? Maybe we could get you some spare outfits." spoke the genin.

"That does sound tempting." answered Lucy. Why didn't she ever think of that? Maybe Naruto was just as smart as she was...

...he just tended to be more ditzy.

Unfortunately, Naruto's fortune was short-lived. Not long after the incident, Naruto found his shirt being torn off by a tiger, who began chewing on it in his mouth.

"This is the second time a cat has ripped off my shirt..." noted Naruto.

"It has?" inquired Lucy.

"Don't worry about it too much. I go shirtless all the time." answered Kimimaro.

"It's true, you do. You must have a lot of fangirls..." spoke the genin.

"Yes, I do." nodded the bone ninja.

**"Why can't I have fangirls?" **inquired Kurama.

A few minutes later, they noticed that that there was a team of ninja knocked out on the floor.

Apparently, they had opened their scroll before they were supposed to.

"That wasn't very smart, was it?" inquired Lucy.

"It's true. You're not supposed to open the scroll before you reach the central tower. Otherwise you get knocked out." said Naruto.

Immediately, Kimimaro closed the scroll.

He then gasped in surprise.

"What is it?" inquired the genin.

"This is the Scroll Of Earth..." said the bone ninja.

"Well, isn't this fortunate for us?" inquired Naruto.

"They also have a Scroll Of Heaven...shame that they opened a scroll when they did...otherwise they might have won." noted Lucy.

"Yeah...I feel sorry for them. They were so close." noted the genin.

"At least we shouldn't have a problem getting to the central tower now..." answered Kimimaro.

"But we might get ambushed..." questioned Lucy.

"Good point. I guess we should stay alert." noted Naruto.

As it turned out, they did get ambushed...but it wasn't who they were expecting.

"Konohamaru? Is that you?" inquired the genin.

Incidentally, he had the Scroll Of Earth.

"Naruto?" asked Konohamaru.

"Are you looking for a scroll?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah..." nodded Naruto's apprentice.

"OK then." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he handed Konohamaru the Scroll Of Heaven.

"Thanks for helping me with the Chunin Exams...but what about you?" inquired the apprentice.

"We had a spare, so we decided that you should have it." answered Lucy.

"Oh...do you want to team up? I think we'll have a lot easier time that way if we work together." asked Konohamaru.

"Sure, why not. We both have our scrolls, so I think everyone's happy." nodded Naruto.

"What happened to your shirt?" asked Udon.

"It got ripped off...again..." explained Naruto.

Curious, he noticed that Moegi was staring at his torso when he said that.

"What happened to your ninja uniform?" asked Konohamaru.

"It got ripped off. Lousy clothing damage..." answered Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Udon was staring at her torso when he asked that...though admittedly she had her jinchuriki mark on her abdomen.

Together, they headed towards the central tower.

Using the two pair of scrolls, they summoned Kakashi and Ebisu respectively.

"You finished the test rather quickly. It only took you six hours." noted the jonin.

Suddenly, the duo noticed each other.

"Hmm?" inquired Ebisu.

"We decided to make an alliance with Konohamaru since we had a spare Heaven scroll..." explained Naruto.

"You sure got lucky then." acknowledged Kakashi.

"It's true, we did." nodded the genin.

"What happened to your shirt?" asked Ebisu.

"It got ripped off...yet again." answered Naruto.

Ebisu immediately handed Naruto a new shirt.

"Thank you." said the genin.

Granted, the shirt happened to be pink...but real men wore pink.

"What happened to your ninja uniform?" inquired Kakashi.

"That got ripped off too..." said Lucy.

Kakashi immediately handed Lucy another ninja uniform.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

**"Aw, man!" **complained Kurama.

"Well, I guess we'll wait for everyone else." said Kimimaro.

"How long is it going to be?" questioned Naruto.

Immediately, Kakashi handed Naruto a summoning scroll.

"You can use this to come from between the central tower and outside the Forest Of Death. Make sure to come back within five days." said the jonin.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"It's a good thing we anticipated the possibility of ninja finishing the test early." noted Ebisu.

"It's true, it was." nodded Kakashi.

Immediately, the trio used the summoning scroll to warp themselves out from the Forest Of Death.

"You got the scrolls? Already?" asked Anko.

"Yes, we did." answered Naruto.

"Congratulations! You three are monsters!" exclaimed the jonin.

"Um...I guess." spoke Lucy.

"I look forward to seeing you at the preliminaries!" shouted Anko.

"Yeah..." nodded Kimimaro.

Immediately, they went to go tell their friends the good news.

In this case, it was Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji.

Speaking of Shikamaru, he was showing off his new letter magic to his friends.

"How are you doing that?" asked Ino.

"I used an interdimensional portal..." explained Shikamaru.

"An interdimensional portal?" inquired Choji.

"Yes, I did." nodded the shadow ninja.

"You mean like the one Sakura used?" questioned the psychic kunoichi.

"Yes." nodded Shikamaru.

"Huh. All of a sudden I want to use an interdimensional portal too...I wonder what abilities I get." answered Choji.

"Mind you, it's not all good. When Hinata ended up using the interdimensional portal, she ended up inheriting Natsu's motion sickness. Likewise, when Sakura used the interdimensional portal, she ended up becoming a stripper like Gray." explained Shikamaru.

"She became a stripper?" inquired Ino.

"She has a habit of taking off her clothes in public now." answered the shadow ninja.

"Wow..." answered the kunoichi.

"I also inherited Lucy's tendency to suffer clothing damage." said Naruto.

Shikamaru turned around.

"Hey there, Naruto. Sorry to hear that..." answered the shadow ninja.

"I also inherited Naruto's bloodthirsty nine-tailed fox...though that's not all bad." spoke Lucy.

**"You don't say?" **inquired the nine-tailed fox.

"Yeah...I believe you already mentioned that." noted Shikamaru.

"I'm a bit more hesistant to use that portal now..." answered Choji.

"Me too..." nodded Ino.

"It might be beneficial, it might not." noted Shikamaru.

"That's true." nodded Lucy.

"Oddly enough I don't have an interdimensional partnet yet..." noted Kimimaro.

"You probably don't need one..." answered Shikamaru.

"Maybe not." answered the bone ninja.

Still, Ino and Choji were rather curious what was on the other side of the interdimensional portal.

"We'll...see you later." said Ino.

"We're...not going to do much." answered Choji.

"I don't usually do much either, so go ahead." answered Shikamaru.

Shortly afterwards, he began to read a book.

"What are you reading?" asked Lucy.

"I'm reading a book about the Chunin Exams...they've been around since the ninja village began." said the shadow ninja.

"How ironic, we're working on our Chunin Exams right now..." noted Lucy.

"Huh? Oh yeah...the chunin exams are today." noted Shikamaru.

"I hope that I'll get to become a chunin this time!" exclaimed Naruto.

"So will I." nodded Kimimaro.

"Good luck then." answered Shikamaru.

"Who should we visit next?" inquired Naruto.

"Hinata, perhaps?" asked Lucy.

Naruto nodded.

Sure enough, she was with Kiba and Shino. She was in fact lifting a tree out of the ground, much to her surprise.

"You didn't tell us you were this strong, Hinata." inquired Shino.

"That's because I'm a dragonslayer now." answered Hinata.

"Oh...I guess you could give Sakura a run for her ryo then." noted Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Yes, I could." nodded the kunoichi.

"Hey, Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Huh? Hi, Naruto!" bellowed Hinata.

"So, are you showing your dragonslayer abilities to your friends? I know that Shikamaru is showing his..." answered the genin.

"Yeah...I actually showed them to my jonin teacher...she was rather impresesd." noted Hinata.

"You sure have gotten a lot stronger..." acknowledged Naruto.

"Yes, I have." nodded the kunoichi.

"You think you're the strongest member of your team now?" inquired the genin.

"I just might be...I haven't actually sparred with any of them yet though." noted Hinata.

"Oh, right..." nodded the genin.

"So, what have you been up to?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Oh, I signed up for the Chunin Exams." answered Naruto.

"The Chunin Exams?" inquired Hinata.

"I wanted to see if I could become a chunin this time. Orochimaru ruined everything." noted the genin.

"Yes, he did." nodded the kunoichi. She began to pout. It wasn't fair for everyone that worked so hard to get to the preliminaries in the first place.

"Hopefully the Hokage isn't going to get assassinated this time and everything's going to be happy." answered Hinata.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Yeah...Konohamaru signed up for the exams too. He's in the preliminaries along with me." answered Naruto.

"Is he now?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yeah...now we're waiting for everyone else to show up...or lose horribly." said the genin.

"I see." nodded Hinata.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do until then." noted Naruto.

"That is a stumper." nodded the female dragonslayer.

"I'll see you later!" exclaimed the genin.

Immediately, Naruto left along with Lucy and Kimimaro.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, you can manipulate shadows now?" asked Droy curiously.

"Yes, I can. I'm giving the name of our team a whole new meaning." nodded Levy.

"It's true you are." acknowledged the plant ninja.

"I wish I could do that." answered Jet.

"I got that ability after I used that interdimensional portal...someone else came and I inherited his abilities." said the letter mage.

"All of a sudden I want to use the interdimensional portal too..." spoke Jet.

"Do you now? Mind you, I also inherited being a slacker from him...nowadays I'm having trouble staying awake." answered Levy.

Immediately, she began to yawn.

"Sorry to hear that..." said Jet.

"Oddly enough, I can actually do something with my shadow that he could not..." noted the kunoichi.

"You can?" asked Droy.

Suddenly, Levy's shadow began to move around on its own.

"It's like having a friend that never goes away. Heh heh. Then again, it is kind of creepy." answered the letter mage.

"You mean like us? We always hang around with each other..." asked Jet.

"Yeah, kind of like you two..." explained Levy.

Immediately, Levy's shadow handed her a book.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the letter mage.

Levy's shadow immediately waved at her.

"I might want to test out these new shadow abilities of mine...they sound like they'll come in handy when we next go on a mission." answered the letter mage.

"We haven't done one in a while, haven't we?" inquired Jet.

"Well, we ended up being clobbered the last time we went on a mission...and the time before that." answered Droy.

"It's true, we did...we did manage to destroy that Jupiter Cannon though." pointed out Levy.

"Oh, right." nodded Jet.

"Thank goodness our guild didn't get blown up..." noted the letter mage.

"Yeah..." agreed Droy.

"I'll see you two later." answered Levy.

Immediately, she left the guild hall.

"Alright then...you want to try out the interdimensional portal?" inquired Jet.

"I'm with you!" exclaimed Droy.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is the interdimensional portal?" inquired Ino.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Choji.

Sure enough, the interdimensional portal was in sight. In fact, they were standing a few feet away from it.

Suddenly, Jet and Droy stepped out of it.

"Hmm?" inquired Choji.

Strangely enough, the duo reminded them of themselves.

Immediately, they went to explore their surroundings.

Shrugging, Ino and Choji decided that they wanted to enter the interdimensional portal as well.

"Ladies' first?" inquired Choji.

"Alright." nodded Ino.

Immediately, she entered the interdimensional portal right before Choji.

Sure enough, they began to notice their surroundings.

"So, this is the world of magic, huh?" inquired Ino.

"It sure is a nifty place." noted Choji.

Immediately, they stepped outside so that they could admire their surroundings.

"This does remind me a bit like home..." answered the psychic kunoichi.

"Well, it's not quite the same." acknowledged the chubby ninja.

"That's true." nodded Ino.

All of a sudden, they began to notice Fairy Tail guild marks appearing on their bodies.

"Huh?" inquired Choji.

Oddly enough, they both had a guild mark in the exact same position.

"How very odd." noted Ino.

"You think we're becoming someone's interdimensional partner?" asked Choji.

"Oh right...that's part of the reason we decided to come here, wasn't it?" inquired the kunoichi.

"That's right...we wanted to try out being an interdimensional partner for ourselves." noted the chubby ninja.

"Yeah...heh heh." answered Ino.

"I wonder what we got?" inquired Choji.

Suddenly, he noticed that somebody had left a picnic backet on a table nearby.

"I wonder who left that there?" asked the chubby ninja.

"You think anybody wants it?" inquired Ino.

"Probably not. I don't see anybody. I suppose we could go check what's inside." answered Choji.

"Should I go get it or do you want to get it?" inquired Ino.

"It's your choice." answered the teenage boy.

"I'll go get it then. I don't want you to work out too much. You need your weight for your jutsu!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I'm so glad you understand me..." answered Choji, rubbing his stomach.

Suddenly, Ino ran towards the picnic basket at lightning-speed. She then ran towards Choji a few seconds later.

"Alright, here's the picnic basket!" exclaimed the kunoichi as she handed it to Choji.

Choji gasped in surprise.

"Huh?" asked Ino.

"How'd you get there and back so fast?!" bellowed the chubby teenager.

Ino had ran so fast, she had left behind a trail of smoke...which disappeared before Choji could point it out to her.

"I don't know..." answered the now speedy kunoichi.

"You're an interdimensional partner, alright." noted Choji.

"But whose yours?" inquired Ino.

Suddenly, a plant began sprouting from Choji's hand.

"Well, I certainly have a green thumb now..." acknowledged the chubby teenager.

"Wow, you sure do." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, they decided to head back to the world of ninja. Their brief stay was an eventful one, and they wanted to go back home before too long.

They were going to have quite a story to tell their sensei.

_At the world of ninja..._

"You know, I can't help but shake the feeling that someone used the interdimensional portal when we did." answered Jet.

"What makes you say that?" inquired Droy.

"Well, I feel a bit...different." noted the speedy ninja.

"Really?" asked the plant mage.

Suddenly, Droy began to swell up like a balloon.

"Droy! You're swelling up!" exclaimed Jet.

"Huh? What is that gum I ate a few minutes ago? I heard that some packs were tainted..." noted the plant mage.

Curious, he decided to see if there was something he could do.

Thankfully, he could turn himself back to normal.

"What was that all about?" inquired Droy.

"I don't know..." answered Jet.

Suddenly, Jet felt the urge to put his hands together.

"Huh?" thought the speedy mage.

Curious, he did so, and he ended up entering Droy's body.

"So this is like inside Droy's body...why has he gotten so fat?" inquired Jet.

"I heard that!" bellowed Droy.

Jet left Droy's body a few seconds later.

"Whoa..." answered the teenage boy.

"How were you able to do that?" inquired Droy.

"I don't know...I put my hands together and I found myself in your body." spoke Jet.

"Did you now? It was a rather weird experience..." answered the plant mage.

"Yes, it was. Imagine if I tried that with Levy." noted the speedy mage.

Jet and Droy's cheeks turned red.

"Right...well, I guess we're going to have a story to tell Levy when we get back home." answered the speedy mage.

"We sure will!" exclaimed the plant mage.

Immediately, the duo entered the interdimensional portal so that they could go back home.

_A few minutes later..._

Choji and Ino were rather satisfied to how their trip to the world of magic had turned out.

"I feel like a superhero now..." noted the Akimichi ninja.

"I feel like a superheroine." agreed Ino.

"I wonder if anyone got access to our abilities? I believe that the interdimensional portal works both ways." acknowledged Choji.

"Yes, it does." nodded the psychic kunoichi.

"So, what do you want to do now?" inquired the Akimichi clan member.

"Maybe go for a jog?" suggested Ino.

"Maybe..." answered Choji.

Suddenly, she noticed that there were several missions available for pizza delivery.

"Pizza...delivery..." thought the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

Immediately, she began to sign up for the missions.

"You sure you should be accepting so many missions at once? And why did that lightbulb suddenly appear on top of your head?" inquired Choji.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to handle every single one of them. As for the lightbulb...I'll use it to light up my house." answered Ino.

"You think you can bring a pizza for me? I'm hungry." asked the Akimichi ninja.

"Of course I can! Don't worry about it!" nodded the Yamanaka ninja.

"Thanks." answered Choji.

She became back about fifteen minutes later.

"Wow! You really completed those missions rather quickly." noted the chubby ninja.

"That's because I have super speed now..." answered Ino.

"Oh, right." nodded Choji.

Sure enough, Ino now had a pizza of her own.

"Do you want to dig in?" inquired the Akimichi ninja.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ino.

Immediately, the duo began to eat the pizza.

_Meanwhile..._

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. He somehow got the feeling that Levy was no longer the only interdimensional partner among her team in Fairy Tail.

"Hmm..." thought the ninja.

Curious, he decided that he wanted to go investigate.

Immediately, he entered the interdimensional portal.

Sure enough, Erza was there waiting for him.

"Don't we have a lot of visitors these days..." noted the knight.

"I'm looking for Levy." said Shikamaru.

"Hmm?" inquired Erza.

"She's my interdimensional partner." spoke the shadow ninja.

"Alright then." nodded the knight.

Sure enough, Levy was nearby.

"Can I help you?" asked the kunoichi.

"I can't help but shake the feeling that your teammates have become interdimensional partners too..." said Shikamaru.

"Oh, really? They did seem eager to use that interdimensional portal..." noted Levy.

Immediately, she began to fall asleep.

"Deja vu..." murmured Shikamaru.

Gently, he shook Levy awake, trying not to fall asleep himself.

"What? Oh, sorry." apologized the letter mage.

At that very moment, Jet and Droy came by.

"Are you back from your trip?" asked Levy.

"Yes, we are." nodded the speedy mage.

"However, we're not quite the same..." answered the plant mage.

"My suspicions have been confirmed." said the shadow ninja.

"Do you have any new powers?" inquired Levy.

"I think so, yeah." nodded Jet.

"Me too." acknowledged Droy.

"Would you care to explain them to me?" asked the letter mage.

"Well, I can transfer my mind to others now..." explained the member of Team Shadow Gear.

Shikamaru gasped in shock.

"I can expand my body like a balloon and turn myself into a wrecking ball..." spoke Droy.

Shikamaru gasped in shock once again.

"Is something the matter?" inquired Levy.

"Those are the abilities of my teammates..." spoke Shikamaru.

"So, your teammates are the interdimensional partners of mine now? What a coincidence..." answered the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

"I know..." nodded the Nara clan member.

"You think you should go talk to them?" asked Levy.

"Yes." answered Shikamaru.

Immediately, he went through the interdimensional portal to go visit Choji and Ino.

"I wonder whose going to become an interdimensional partner next?" inquired Levy.

Jet and Droy shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as ours." answered Jet.

_A few minutes later..._

"Hey, Ino and Choji! I've got something to tell you!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Curious, he noticed that they were sharing a pizza together.

"How sweet..." thought the shadow ninja.

"Yeah?" asked Ino.

"I think that you and Choji are interdimensional partners now..." said the shadow ninja.

"Really? That's what we thought. We're not sure who they are though." answered the Akimichi clan member.

"Well, you know how I'm Levy's interdimensional partner now?" inquired Shikamaru.

"I believe that you mentioned that to us...why do you ask?" asked Ino.

"I think that you're the interdimensional partners of her teammates..." said the shadow ninja.

"Oh...that explains it." answered Choji.

"So, which one of you is Jet's interdimensional partner and which of you is Droy's?" questioned Shikamaru.

"Well, I've been awfully fast lately..." spoke Ino.

"And I've been able to grow plants from my hands..." answered Choji.

"Well then...Ino, you're Jet's interdimensional partner, and Choji, you're Droy's interdimensional partner..." explained Shikamaru.

"Interesting...maybe we should go visit them..." noted the psychic kunoichi.

"Right...we'll do that once we finish this pizza." answered the chubby teenager.

Immediately, he grew a vine from his palm and held it in front of Ino's mouth so that she could eat it.

"Thank you, Choji!" exclaimed Ino as she began to bite down on it.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds to your own devices now." said Shikamaru as he left to go tell his sensei the news.

He was going to want to hear about this.

"That was one tasty pizza." answered Choji.

"Should we go get some more? This new pizza delivery job is mine is paying pretty well..." noted Ino.

"Are you the employee of the month yet?" asked the chubby teenager.

"Yes, I am." nodded the kunoichi.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Choji.

Immediately, he and Ino began to make out.

_A few more minutes later..._

"Greetings, Shikamaru! How are you doing?" inquired Asuma.

"Well, I used the interdimensional portal fairly recently...and so did my teammates." said Shikamaru.

"Did you now?" asked the jonin.

"Due to its magic, my teammates and I have new tricks up our sleeves." explained the Naru clan member.

Immediately, he began to write down the word "Ice".

Shortly afterwards, the word "Ice" appeared...which of course was made from ice.

"Very interesting..." answered Asuma.

"I should probably keep a writing utensil with me at all times from now on." noted Shikamaru.

"I would imagine so..." nodded the jonin.

"My teammates were affected by the interdimensional portal too...Ino is now super-fast...and Choji now has control over plants..." said Shikamaru.

"So, you're a lot stronger than before?" inquired Asuma.

"We sure are. I'll have to adapt our battle plan accordingly." noted the shadow ninja.

"Right, of course. I wonder if I should use the interdimensional portal myself..." acknowledged the jonin.

"Well, it is rather tempting..." spoke Shikamaru.

"Maybe some other time. I've got another date with Kurenai." noted Asuma.

"Yes, of course." nodded the shadow ninja.

Asuma Sarutobi immediately left to go on his date with Kurenai.

"Is Team Guy going to start becoming interdimensional partners next? I can't help but shake the feeling that they're going to want to use that portal too..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

To think that it had been about two months ago that this had started.

"Are there more than two worlds out there? I'm pretty eager to know how many worlds there are." noted the shadow ninja.

_Meanwhile..._

Might Guy had a rather important announcement to make for Team Guy.

"Is there something you wish to tell us?" asked Rock Lee.

"You're going to be overseeing the Chunin Exams preliminaries." said Might Guy.

"We are?" asked Tenten.

"I figured you would be ideal for the job..." spoke the jonin.

"Yes, of course." nodded Neji.

"You think you can handle it?" inquired Might Guy.

"Yes, we can." answered the Hyuga clan member.

"Alright then! I'll be seeing you there!" exclaimed the jonin.

Immediately, the three of them headed towards the Forest Of Death.

"You sure we can get through it safely?" inquired Rock Lee.

"We already did this a long time ago...we didn't get hurt too much." noted Neji.

"It's true, we didn't." acknowledged Tenten.

Immediately, the trio went through the Forest Of Death and towards the Central Tower.

"Is this it?" asked Rock Lee.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Neji.

Sure enough, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were waiting inside. They were bored out of their minds.

"I can't believe we're going to have to wait here so long..." noted Konohamaru.

"Yeah..." nodded Udon.

"We did get through the exam rather quickly." acknowledged Moegi.

"How'd you get here so fast?" inquired Rock Lee.

"We made an alliance with Naruto." explained Konohamaru.

"That makes sense." nodded Neji.

"Wasn't he the guy that beat you up during the Chunin Exams finals?" inquired Tenten.

"It's true, he was. And yet, I owe him for it." noted the Hyuga clan member.

"Weird." acknowledged Rock Lee.

"Just four more days...just four more days...I can wait that long...right?" inquired Konohamaru.

"We probably can't..." answered Udon.

Moegi sighed.

"Just try not think about the exams too much. Try to relax." spoke the martial artist.

"Right, of course." nodded Konohamaru.

Immediately, he took a deep breath.

"You think we can do this?" asked Udon.

"If you believe in yourself, yes." answered Tenten.

Moegi began to smile.

"Right...just four more days...four more days..." said Konohamaru.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, I'd have to say I enjoyed that." noted Anko. It was always so much fun to scare little children.

Suddenly, she noticed what appeared to be a group of people dressed as pirates entering the forest.

They were lead by what appeared to be a man dressed as a pirate captain, oddly enough.

"Hey there! Are you here for the Chunin Exams?" inquired Anko.

"Yarr! I sure am! Let me through, ye landlubber!" exclaimed the man dressed as a pirate captain.

"Alright then. Go on ahead." answered the jonin, handing the captain the Scroll Of Earth since he had called her a landlubber.

Immediately, he entered the forest along with the pirate cosplayers.

"Why were they dressed like that? I don't think it's time for Halloween yet...which is a shame since that is my favorite holiday." noted Anko.

Shortly afterwards, he noticed a man carrying a kunai.

"Hey there! Can I help you?" asked the jonin.

"I'm going to kill in there!" exclaimed the man.

Immediately, he pointed to the Forest Of Death.

"Aren't you a little psychopath! I applaud you! You're giving the Forest Of Death a whole new meaning!" exclaimed Anko.

The man with the kunai began to smile.

"Alright then, you're free to go. Have fun trying to become a chunin!" cheered the jonin.

Since she thought that he was an angel (due to the strange way her mind worked), she handed the man the Scroll Of Heaven.

Shortly afterwards, she noticed a green interdimensional portal.

"Huh? Is this one of the interdimensional portals everyone's talking about?" inquired Anko.

As it turned out, yes it was.

"Finally, now I can get my revenge on those meddlings kids." said a man as he stepped out of the interdimensional portal.

Oddly enough, Anko noticed that he appeared to have two snow golems with him.

This made her rather confused. Wouldn't they melt out in the sun?

"Are you here for the Chunin Exams?" asked the jonin.

"Hmm? I...guess...I'm kind of new here." answered the man.

"Welcome to Konoha!" exclaimed Anko.

Immediately, she handed the mysterious man a Scroll Of Heaven, unaware as to what he wanted to do to Naruto and his friends.

"Since you remind me of the Grinch...who I find to be angelic...you can have this." answered the jonin.

"Um, thanks." answered the man from the other world.

Immediately, he entered the forest along with his snow golems.

"Aren't we have a diverse set of chunin seekers these days...one of them's from another world! How about that!" exclaimed Anko.

Shrugging, she decided to simply welcome the chunin seekers as they came.

_So, is this a good opportunity to end the chapter? Personally I think so._

_In the next chapter, Naruto and his friends are going to be facing some of their old adversaries...try to guess which ones._

_You should probably know already._


	32. Chapter 32: Vengeance

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, some of the villains that Naruto and Lucy have encountered in the past are going to return...and guess what? They want revenge!_

_Thankfully, Kimimaro is going to be able to help them out, along with Team Guy. Isn't that nice?_

**Chapter 32: Vengeance**

After waiting for about four days, Naruto and Lucy were both rather excited.

"Isn't this great? We're finally going to get to become chunin!" exclaimed the genin.

"Aren't we going to have to pass the preliminaries first?" inquired Lucy.

"Oh, right...heh heh heh. Of course." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto pulled out his summoning scroll.

"Right...where is Kimimaro?" inquired the boy.

"Over here." answered the bone ninja.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Naruto pulled out the summoning scroll and was transported to the tower.

Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be many people there.

"So...what happened to everyone else?" asked the genin.

"We actually don't have a lot of competitors this year..." explained Kakashi.

"Oh..." answered Naruto.

Suddenly, he noticed that Team Guy was up in the balcony with them.

"Huh?" asked the genin.

"They're here to oversee the exams...Might Guy thought this would be a good experience for them..." noted Kakashi.

"Oh...I was wondering if they were here for the exams too..." answered Naruto.

"They already passed their exams a long time ago." explained the jonin.

"Alright then." nodded the genin.

Team Guy waved at Naruto.

"So, who am I going to be facing for the preliminaries?" questioned the genin.

"Let's find out." answered Kakashi.

Immediately, the random ninja generator began to scramble.

"Come on, come on." said Naruto.

He couldn't wait to find out.

However, as it turned out, he wasn't going to.

Suddenly, someone busted down one of the doors to the tower.

"What the-" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yarrr!" bellowed a certain pirate captain.

"Oh no! It's Captain Bloodbeard!" screamed Lucy.

"That's right, lass! I'm here for my revenge!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Revenge? That doesn't sound good..." noted Kimimaro.

"First Orochimaru, now this?!" exclaimed Kakashi.

Suddenly, one of the pirates stabbed him in the back while he wasn't watching.

"Coward..." murmured the jonin as he passed out. How could he have been defeated so easily? He thought he was stronger than that.

Then again, the pirate hadn't exactly fought fair.

Konohamaru passed out as well. He was very frightened of the situation, and it was simply too much for him to handle.

Likewise, Udon and Moegi did the same.

"Oh no! Sensei Kakashi!" exclaimed Naruto.

Shortly afterwards, the pirates began to swing their swords at Lucy.

Fortunately, she happened to be pretty good at dodging enemy attacks. In retaliation, she summoned a pixie.

"Hey, listen! Hey, listen!" exclaimed the pixie.

"Aah!" bellowed one of the pirates.

"Make it stop!" screamed another pirate.

"That should keep them busy for a while..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, the trio jumped off the balcony so that they would have more room to fight the pirates with.

"There sure are a lot of them, aren't they?" inquired Kimimaro.

"Why are they after you?" asked Naruto.

"I got them arrested..." explained Lucy.

"I see..." answered the genin.

Immediately, the pirates began to attack the trio with their swords.

Fortunately, Team Guy were ready to help.

Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee began to attack the pirates, punching, kicking, and tossing kunai at them.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the pirates.

"I guess I should enter the frey meself, me thinks." noted Captain Bloodbeard.

Immediately, the pirate captain jumped down.

Unfortunately, he happened to have some new tricks up his sleeves since their previous encounter.

He shot bubbles at the trio, hoping to encase them inside.

In Naruto's case, he ended up being trapped.

"Not again! Let me out of here!" bellowed the genin. This brought back bad memories.

Already, his face was starting to turn blue.

Fortunately, it was Lucy to the rescue.

Naruto immediately gave Lucy a hug.

"Thank you..." said the genin.

"You're welcome, Naruto." answered Lucy.

**"Darn it! I was hoping that he would die!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Be nice to Naruto, nine-tailed fox." said the teenage girl.

"Are ye two brother and sister?" inquired the pirate captain.

"How many times are people going to ask us that..." answered Naruto.

"No, we're not. We are interdimensional partners, though." explained Lucy.

Suddenly, another door to the tower opened.

"Who is it now?" asked the genin.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed a certain psycho.

"Oh no...not him too." answered Lucy.

"Who is this time?" inquired Naruto.

"It's Takeshi...he's a psycho I encountered on my first day of being in the world of ninja..." explained the kunoichi.

"Oh." answered the genin.

Immediately, Takeshi jumped down the balcony to where the trio were fighting.

Suddenly, he noticed the invading pirates.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked the psychopath.

"State yer side, landlubber!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"I'm here to kill them!" bellowed Takeshi, pointing to the trio.

"I guess we're on the same side then, landlubber." said the captain.

"Yay!" cheered the psycho.

Immediately, Captain Bloodbeard handed Takeshi a pirate's hat so that he could be a honourary pirate.

"Oh no...they're making an alliance!" exclaimed Naruto.

"This isn't good." answered Lucy.

Pulling out a small machine gun, Takeshi began to shoot at Naruto and Lucy, who leapt out of the way.

This was then followed by Captain Bloodbeard sending a miniature tidal wave towards Kimimaro.

Thankfully, he was able to block it.

Fortunately, Tenten was able to pin Takeshi to the wall using six kunai.

"Ouch, ow, oof, aah, ooh, and eek!" exclaimed the psychopath.

"That should keep him busy." said Tenten.

Unfortunately, Takeshi was slowly making his way free.

"I might want to cut down the horde of pirates while he's occupied..." noted the ninja archer.

Likewise, Neji was attacking Captain Bloodbeard, who was swinging his sword to keep him away.

"Get away from me, landlubber! Or I'll make ye walk the plank!" exclaimed the captain.

"But there isn't a plank here..." answered Neji.

Captain Bloodbeard sweatdropped.

Suddenly, two snow golems crashed through the wall.

"Uh-oh, more trouble!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Who is this time?" asked Lucy.

"I have a pretty good idea." answered the genin, suddenly remembering his mission back at Icevale.

As it turned out, it was Ebemener Scourge.

"Hey there! Are you here to kill Naruto and Lucy?" inquired Takeshi.

"How do you know our names?" asked Naruto.

"I read the first chapter of the fanfic!" exclaimed the psychopath.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"I'm here to kill the blonde-haired boy...why do you ask?" inquired Ebemener Scourge.

"Yay! We're on the same side!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Captain Bloodbeard nodded.

Shrugging, he decided to make an alliance with the duo. The more the merrier, right?

"Man...our rogues gallery really have it out for us today." noted Lucy.

"They sure do..." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, the snow golems began to attack Naruto and Lucy.

This time, it was Rock Lee and Kimimaro's turn to be heroes.

"Wait...weren't you the guy I squared off against about two and a half years ago?" inquired Rock Lee.

"Yes...but I'm not working with Orochimaru anymore." explained Kimimaro.

"I worked with the guy that once shattered my arm and leg for that battle...so fair enough." answered the martial artist.

Kimimaro shrugged. It was surprising how many people were leaving the side of darkness these days.

Then again, that wasn't a bad thing.

Unfortunately, Ebemener Scourge had a few new tricks up his sleeve too.

One of the snow golems tossed a snowball at Naruto and Lucy, who leapt out of the way.

Unfortunately, evil snowmen began to come out of the snowball.

"My evil minions are making minions of their own! I'm a grandparent!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge.

"That's not good." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the evil snowmen began to attack them, trying to claw their eyes out.

Suddenly, Takeshi pulled out a grenade launcher.

"I'm going to blow you up!" bellowed the psychopath.

Immediately, he began to launch several grenades at Naruto and Kimimaro.

"Thanks for warning us!" exclaimed Naruto.

Tenten tossed a paper bomb at Takeshi, ironically enough. What better way to fight a foe than to make them taste their own medicine?

"Wah!" bellowed the psychopath.

Tenten then summoned an iron wall to help protect herself and Naruto from the psychopath.

"So...we attack the trio two against one then?" inquired Naruto.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded Tenten.

Fortunately for Kimimaro and Rock Lee, they were able to defeat the snowmen somewhat easily.

However, Ebemener Scourge was about to summon another golem.

"This time I'm going to be summoning an Earth Golem!" exclaimed the former mayor of Icevale.

Immediately, an Earth Golem emerged from the ground.

"This isn't good...he's getting reinforcements!" exclaimed Rock Lee.

The Earth Golem tossed a boulder at the duo, who were forced to leap out of the way.

The boulder shattered, and plant creatures began to emerge from it.

"Uh-oh..." answered Rock Lee.

"I made this golem out of dirt I found in the forest south of here..." explained Ebemener Scourge.

"That explains it, I guess." answered Kimimaro.

Immediately, he slashed one of the snow golems, causing a gash to appear on its chest.

It tried to punch him in retaliation, but Kimimaro sliced its arm off too.

However, more snowmen were appearing out of the snow golem's severed arm.

"I might want to aim for the head..." noted the bone ninja.

As for Captain Bloodbeard, realizing that Neji's eyes were his source of strength, he summoned his pet parrot to go for the eye.

"Patchy, hit him in his eyes! He can't use his Byakugan if he's gone blind, the landlubber!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"Why do you keep calling me landlubber?" inquired Neji.

Immediately, Patchy began to attack Neji.

He tried hitting him with his Gentle Fist, but unfortunately Patchy was rather agile. In fact, he had become much faster than his last encounter with Lucy and her friends.

"Darn it! Why won't you hold still?" inquired Neji.

Suddenly, Lucy tossed a Rasengan at the captain.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Apparently, he didn't want such a nasty attack to hit him.

In retaliation, he lunged at Lucy with his sword.

"Get away from me!" bellowed Lucy, pulling out her whip.

Immediately, she began to strike Captain Bloodbeard with it.

"Ouch! That stings, lass!" bellowed the captain.

"Yes, I know." answered Lucy.

In retaliation, Captain Bloodbeard began to pull out a gun.

A blunderbuss, to be precise.

"I'm going to shoot ye now, lassie!" bellowed the captain.

"Uh-oh..." thought Lucy.

Immediately, he began to open fire at Lucy, who was forced to duck for cover.

"That's one powerful gun." noted the kunoichi.

"I wish I had that gun." complained Takeshi.

At that very moment, several pirates began to attack her, preventing her from helping Neji at the moment.

Speaking of Takeshi, he was trying to find a way to get past Tenten's iron barrier...unaware that he could simply walk around it.

"I know! I'll smash it with a sledgehammer!" exclaimed the psychopath.

Immediately, he began to smash the iron wall with a sledgehammer.

"I wonder why he gives us a warning before he tries to kill us..." noted Naruto.

Tenten shrugged.

"Well, it does make things a lot easier for us." acknowledged the genin.

"I guess we shouldn't dwell on it then." answered Tenten.

From behind the iron barrier, the kunoichi tossed a paper bomb at Takeshi, causing him to fall down.

"Oof!" bellowed the psychopath.

In retaliation, he pulled out a rocket launcher.

"Die! Die! Die!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Immediately, he began to shoot at the iron barrier.

"Something tells me this isn't going to hold forever." answered Naruto.

"No, it's not...we need to fight back." spoke Tenten.

"Yes, of course." nodded the genin.

Kimimaro slashed the head off of one of the snow golems.

Though this lead to more evil snowmen being spawned, this caused the snow golem to collapse completely.

"Darn it! Well, I guess I'll just have to summon another golem now..." answered Ebemener Scourge.

Suddenly, Rock Lee punched the former mayor of Icevale in the nose.

"Ouch! How dare you!" exclaimed Ebemener.

In retaliation, he hit Rock Lee on the head with a cane.

"Ow!" bellowed the martial artist.

He then began to summon a water golem.

"Let's see you punch and kick this!" exclaimed Ebemener.

Unfortunately, Rock Lee wasn't able to use taijutsu to attack the water golem effectively, as it was made of...well, water.

Suddenly, the water golem grabbed onto Rock Lee's head and began to drown him.

"Agh! Let go!" exclaimed the martial artist.

"This is almost too easy now..." said Ebemener Scourge.

Suddenly, Kimimaro grabbed onto Rock Lee, freeing him from the water golem's grip.

"Thanks..." said Rock Lee, wiping off his face.

"You're welcome." answered Kimimaro.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro's sword slashes weren't having much of an effect on the water golem either.

"Maybe I need to try something else..." answered the bone ninja.

"Give it up! You will never defeat my water golem!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge.

"We'll just see about that..." said Kimimaro.

Immediately, he began to summon a Tyrannosaurus.

A rather thirsty Tyrannosaurus.

Suddenly, he began to drink up the water golem.

"What-no no no no!" bellowed Ebemener Scourge.

It then tried to eat Ebemener Scourge next.

Unfortunately, he summoned a magic barrier to defend himself.

"Thank goodness I flipped through a few pages of my spellbook..." noted the sorceror.

"So close..." murmured Kimimaro.

This was then followed by Ebemener Scourge casting a polymorph spell, turning the Tyrannosaurus Rex into a chicken.

"Bawk bawk bawk bawk!" exclaimed the chickenfied Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Kimimaro let out a sigh.

"At least it took care of the water golem..." answered the bone ninja as he dismissed his polymorphed summon.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey there, Hinata!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Hi there, Natsu!" answered Hinata.

"Is this a friend of yours?" asked Kiba.

"This is my interdimensional partner!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Oh...so that's where you got your fire powers from..." explained Shino.

Hinata nodded.

"Yeah...it was an accident, really..." answered Natsu.

"Yes, it was." agreed the kunoichi.

"An accident?" inquired Shino.

"Well, when I used the interdimensional portal...I wasn't aware that someone else was going to use it, too..." explained Natsu.

"Yeah..." nodded Hinata. Likewise, she wasn't aware that doing so was going to make her inherit Natsu's fire magic.

"Interesting..." noted the bug user.

"Should we try using the interdimensional portal?" questioned Kiba.

"Maybe...mind you, you don't know what powers you're going to get..." noted Hinata.

"It's true...also, you might also inherit someone's weakness...I appear to have inherited Hinata's initial lack of self-confidence..." noted Natsu.

"Yes, we know..." nodded Kiba.

"Really? You seem fairly confident right now..." acknowledged Hinata.

"Well, Shino did say that it was going to wear off eventually..." spoke the fire mage.

"Oh yeah...you also mentioned something about inheriting Natsu's motion sickness..." noted Kiba.

"Yes, I did." answered the fire mage.

"It's something that's been plaguing dragonslayers for years, unfortunately. Hinata's the latest victim." explained Natsu.

"Yes..." nodded Hinata.

"That's unfortunate..." answered Kiba.

"Oddly enough it doesn't seem to take effect when I leap around like a kangaroo..." noted the fire mage.

"That's a relief." said Shino.

"Yeah...life surely wouldn't be the same if I couldn't do that..." answered Hinata.

"So, how do you think Naruto and Lucy are doing in the Chunin Exams? We already passed ours over a year ago..." noted Shino.

"I would imagine that they're doing fine." answered Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Well, we can always hope." noted Hinata.

"You think someone's going to interrupt the Chunin Exams again?" questioned Shino.

"Probably." nodded the female dragonslayer.

"Why do people keep doing that? Just look at what happened the last time there was an exam..." said Kiba.

_Two ninja were standing in the ninja arena, ready to try to send their opponent to the hospital._

_Unfortunately, their battle was interrupted by something._

_Suddenly, a man wearing a cowboy hat entered the arena._

_"Who are you?" inquired one of the ninja._

_"I'm Buck Horace, Texas Ranger! The man whose going to burn this place to the ground!" exclaimed Buck._

_Immediately, he roundhouse kicked one of the ninja, causing him to be vaporized._

_"Aah!" screamed another ninja._

_He leapt out of the arena...but unfortunately Buck Horace leapt thousands of feet into the air in order to chase him._

_He roundhouse kicked one of the ninja, and vaporized him too._

_"Mwahahaha!" exclaimed Buck Horace._

_"Oh dear..." murmured one of the audience members._

_This was going to be a very bad day._

"Did they manage to take him down?" asked Natsu.

"Yes...but it took six jonin." answered Kiba.

"Six jonin?!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"And a grizzly bear." answered Hinata.

"A grizzly bear?!" bellowed Natsu.

"Yes, a grizzly bear. I'm not sure why he wanted to help us...but we should probably thank him." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Yeah..." nodded Shino.

"Sheesh." murmured the fire dragonslayer.

"They say that they locked him away at a maximum security prison...where only the worst of ninja end up going." noted Kiba.

"Wow." answered Natsu.

"I don't think we want to go there." said Shino.

"It's true, we don't." nodded Hinata.

"Well, it was nice talking to you guys!" exclaimed Natsu.

Immediately, he began to head back to the interdimensional portal.

"Good to see you again, Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she waved him goodbye.

"Good to see you again too, Hinata!" bellowed Natsu.

Hinata smiled.

Natsu jumped through the interdimensional portal, leaving Hinata and the rest of Team 8 alone.

"You think we'll see him again?" asked Kiba.

"I hope so. He's my buddy!" exclaimed Hinata.

"I'm looking forward to seeing him too...even if he is a fire mage that could burn my bugs." answered Shino.

"Well, I suppose I'll pay him a visit in the future if I want to talk to him." answered the kunoichi.

"Sounds good." nodded the bug user.

"So...what do you want to do?" inquired Hinata.

"Go watch the Chunin Exam finals, I suppose." answered Kiba.

"But those aren't in a month..." pointed out Shino.

"Oh, right...of course." nodded the dog user.

"I guess we're going to have to play the waiting game then..." noted Hinata.

Akamaru frowned.

"Yes, I know...it's a long wait." answered the fire dragonslayer.

_Meanwhile..._

Realizing that he could simply go over the barrier rather than try to destroy it, Takeshi elected to use a rocket launcher to send him flying into the sky.

"Whee!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Of course, he ended up hurting himself in the process. But at least he would be able to attack Naruto and Tenten now.

"Uh-oh!" bellowed Tenten.

And to make matters worse, he landed on Naruto's head.

"Ouch! My head!" exclaimed the genin, falling on the floor.

Immediately, he began to rub his head.

Takeshi then pulled out a kunai.

"I'm going to stab you!" exclaimed the lunatic.

Frantically, Naruto tried to avoid getting stabbed.

However, Takeshi ended up getting backstabbed himself.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the ninja.

Unfortunately, he was smart and was wearing a ninja vest to help protect himself from kunai.

In retaliation, he pulled out a paper bomb and tossed it at Tenten.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Fortunately, the paper bomb didn't hurt her too much. She was rather lucky.

In retaliation, she pulled out another scroll.

This time, she summoned a large flame dragon.

"Alright! It's barbecue time!" exclaimed Naruto.

Realizing that he was in danger, Takeshi decided it was best to keep his distance.

He jumped up onto the balcony so that he could avoid the flame dragon.

He then pulled out a sniper rifle.

"Boom! Headshot!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Immediately, he aimed the crosshair at Naruto's head.

"Uh-oh!" bellowed Naruto.

Frantically, he began trying to avoid being shot.

At that very moment, the flame dragon exploded, knocking Takeshi off his feet.

"Oof!" bellowed the psychopathic man.

However, he was quickly able to help himself to his feet.

At that very moment, Tenten had prepared another scroll.

"Let's see how he likes this." spoke the kunoichi.

Immediately, several kunai began to rain on top of Takeshi, who began trying to avoid them.

"Aah!" exclaimed the psychopath, covering his head.

."Looks like we're winning..." noted Naruto.

"I could use a little help here..." answered Takeshi.

At that very moment, Ebemener Scourge's remaining snow golem began to stomp towards Naruto and Tenten.

"Well, maybe not anymore." noted the genin.

The snow golem let out a roar, knocking Naruto and Tenten off their feet.

This was then followed by the golem trying to crush them underneath its foot.

Immediately, Naruto and Tenten rolled out of the way.

Takeshi then hopped on top of the snow golem. Apparently, he wanted to use it as a mount.

"Yes! Attack!" exclaimed the deranged man.

Immediately, the snow golem began to create a snowball.

"Got any more scrolls?" inquired Naruto.

Tenten pulled out a scroll and began using it to chain up the golem.

"Hey! Let him go!" demanded Takeshi.

Unfortunately, it appeared that it wasn't going to hold the snow golem for long, as it was very strong.

"I guess we're going to have to hit him with everything we've got." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he pulled out a summoner key.

"Where did you get that, Naruto?" inquired Tenten.

"From a very nice girl." answered the genin.

"Was it Hinata?" asked the kunoichi.

"Good guess, but no." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned Scorpio.

"Hey there! Can you whip us a sandstorm for us?" asked the genin.

"Yes!" nodded the scorpion man.

Immediately, a sandstorm blinded Takeshi and his snow golem, the latter of which had managed to break free from his restraints.

Naruto then followed by firing a Rasengan at the snow golem, causing it to melt.

"Nooooo!" exclaimed Takeshi.

"Well, that takes care of it..." answered the genin.

Unfortunately, evil snowmen began to form out of the snow golem's melted body.

"Yes!" cheered the psychopath.

Tenten sighed. Things couldn't be that easy, now could it?

Meanwhile, Neji was still fighting against Patchy.

"Pretty bird, pretty bird!" exclaimed the parrot.

"Shut up!" bellowed Neji.

Immediately, he punched Patchy in the face, causing him to fall on the floor.

"Finally! I'm covered with scrapes here..." noted the jonin.

"Oh dear...his mate isn't going to be happy you did that..." answered Captain Bloodbeard.

"Huh?" inquired Neji.

Taking off his hat, he revealed another parrot underneath.

"Her name's Peaches! Get him, Peaches!" exclaimed the captain.

Unfortunately, Peaches was even more aggressive than her mate...though this may have had to do with the fact that he had punched out her mate earlier.

"Not again!" exclaimed Neji.

As if one ferocious parrot wasn't bad enough.

"Hahaha!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

Meanwhile, Lucy was dealing with Bloodbeard's pirate crew.

"How many pirates are in this crew?" questioned Lucy as she continued fighting off the pirates.

"Quite a few, actually." answered one of the pirates.

"Well, that isn't exactly good news for me..." noted Lucy as she began to whip the pirates into submission.

**"Remind me not to sail the seven seas..." **murmured Kurama.

"Why would you need a boat? You're huge!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"And yet, apparently I'm small enough to fit inside your abdomen..." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Yeah...I'm not quite sure how the seal works." noted the kunoichi.

Speaking of foxes, she had summoned some of them of her own.

"Why don't you make some friends?" inquired Lucy.

**"I don't need friends...though admittedly I do appreciate the thought." **spoke Kurama.

"Ah well..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, the foxes began to attack the pirates.

"Avast!" exclaimed one of the pirates.

Once again, they found themselves being attacked by animals.

Curious, Lucy decided to see if she could summon a big one. She remembered that she had signed a contract with Gamabunta...

...but that was her trump card. She didn't want to play it now.

She decided to see if she could summon another giant creature.

As it turned out, she could do so. She ended up summoning a giant bee.

She was a bit surprised at the occurrence.

"Um, hi there? What's your name." inquired the kunoichi.

"Vespa." answered the giant bee.

"Pleased to meet you." noted Lucy.

"What do you need help with?" asked Vespa.

"I need you to attack these pirates...they're bloodthirsty." explained the kunoichi.

Immediately, the queen bee began to shoot beeswax at the pirates.

"Aaugh!" bellowed one of the pirates.

"Let us go!" exclaimed another pirate.

Unfortunately, summoning a bee that big was making her feel a little woozy. The bigger the summon, the more chakra she needed.

Also, she needed to sacrifice more blood inside her body.

"Thanks for the help." said Lucy.

"Do you need anything else?" inquired Vespa.

Curious, she noticed that some of the pirates were helping their friends break free.

"You wouldn't happen to be able to summon more bees, could you?" asked the kunoichi.

Vespa laid an egg.

"Thank you." answered Lucy.

The egg hatched, releasing a swarm of bug larva.

"Well, hopefully I should be less outnumbered now..." noted the kunoichi.

Suddenly, one of the foxes began to scratch themselves. The bee larva wanted to rest in their fur.

"No no no no. They're our friends. Don't infest their bodies." ordered Lucy.

The bee larva immediately left the foxes.

"Would you mind if I rode on your back for a while? I'm a little exhausted after summoning a creature that big..." asked the kunoichi.

Sure enough, she was starting to yawn.

Vespa nodded.

Lucy immediately hopped on the giant bee's back.

"Let's tell them to buzz off, shall we?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Was the pun intended?" asked Vespa.

"Heh heh...I didn't notice it." answered Lucy.

After the snow golem had gone off to help Takeshi (as he was getting pulverized), Kimimaro decided to deal with the earth golem, since it was still attacking them at the moment.

He began to slash and cut the earth golem. Though admittedly swords weren't the best weapon against the earth golem, slash marks were appearing on it nonetheless.

This was followed by Kimimaro pulling out one of his bones and using it as a drill.

"Hopefully this will make taking down the earth golem easier..." noted the bone ninja.

Unfortunately, the earth golem punched Kimimaro away, causing him to hit his head against a wall.

He began to rub the back of his head.

"OK...this golem might be tough..." noted Kimimaro.

At that very moment, Rock Lee decided to open one of his gates.

"Here comes the Gate Of Opening." said Rock Lee.

Immediately, he roundhouse kicked the Earth Golem.

Of course, if he was a normal human being, he would likely end up shattering his leg again.

But since Rock Lee had activated his first gate, he could now use all his muscle strength, and he actually managed to knock the earth golem down.

Ebemener Scourge was not amused. He had just seen his remaining snow golem get melted by Naruto's Rasengan.

"No more games! Kill!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge.

Immediately, the coal golem launched a fireball at Rock Lee, burning him.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot!" bellowed the martial artist.

"Funny...that's what my fangirls typically say to me." noted Kimimaro.

In retaliation, Kimimaro drilled into the earth golem, causing it to crumble into dust.

Of course, the plant creatures summoned by the creature still remained. They began to sting Kimimaro with some sharp thorns.

Thankfully, they didn't hurt much, though they stung nonetheless.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Kimimaro.

"Persistent, aren't you?" inquired the mayor.

Immediately, he launched a polymorph spell at Kimimaro, hoping that would turn him into a chipmunk.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the stronger the target was, the more resistant they were to the spell. Kimimaro was only turned into a chipmunk for five seconds.

"Darn it! I guess I'm going to have to be faster next time..." noted Ebemener Scourge.

"Why do I feel like eating an acorn?" questioned Kimimaro. His memories were actually rather fuzzy of the event.

"You got turned into a squirrel..." explained Rock Lee.

"It was a chipmunk, actually." answered Ebemener Scourge.

Rock Lee shrugged.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he wasn't able to attack the coal golem at the moment, since it was blazing hot.

So, he decided to attack the plant creatures instead.

However, they started to tangle him up in vines.

"Let go!" exclaimed Rock Lee.

Eventually, he was unable to break his way free.

So, he decided to activate his second gate.

This time, it was the Gate Of Healing.

With two of his gates now opened, he was now able to break free from the plant creatures' grip.

He then finished them off with some more of his martial arts.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." said the martial artist.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, you're the ones that happen to be our interdimensional partners?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yes...we decided to pay you a visit." answered Levy.

"Well, that was nice of you." replied Ino.

"So, which one of you inherited my super speed?" asked Jet.

"I did!" exclaimed the psychic kunoichi.

"Are you enjoying it?" asked the speed mage.

"Yes, I am. I can actually use to rival Sakura's super strength now..." noted Ino.

"I thought you two were friends..." said Choji.

"We still are, we still are...we just like to duel every once in a while." answered the Yamanaka clan member.

"Oh, that makes sense." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

"I duel with Droy all the time..." answered Jet.

"We're the best of bros!" exclaimed Droy.

"You mean like Choji and I?" inquired Shikamaru.

"The resemblances to us are uncanny..." noted Levy.

"Yes, I know...we were like this before we used the interdimensional portal..." acknowledged the shadow ninja.

"How very odd." agreed the bookworm.

"This is a bit confusing..." noted Droy.

"Well, I suppose everyone in the world of magic might have a double somewhere." acknowledged Levy.

"That would make sense..." nodded Shikamaru.

"Personally Lucy reminds me of Sakura..." noted Ino.

"Yeah..." acknowledged the shadow ninja.

"Does she happen to be rather smart too?" inquired Levy.

"Yes, she's pretty smart. I don't think I could ever beat her in a Konoha trivia challenge..." answered Ino.

"Hmm..." noted the bookworm.

"Then again, she's also pretty aggressive...I heard that she once tossed Naruto off a building..." spoke Choji.

"That's terrible." answered Droy.

"Don't worry, he survived...albeit with a few broken bones." noted Shikamaru.

"I feel sorry for Naruto..." said Jet.

"Me too..." nodded Ino.

"Maybe Sakura should sign up for some anger management classes." spoke the shadow ninja.

"Agreed." nodded Levy.

"Then again she does seem to be rather relaxed now..." noted Shikamaru.

"That's because she's Gray's interdimensional partner now." explained the letter mage.

"Oh, right..." answered the Nara clan member. Gray was always laid back, wasn't he?

"So, are you researching our world again?" inquired Shikamaru.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I wanted to figure out who your leader was..." answered Levy.

"It's Tsunade...one of the Legendary Sannin." explained the shadow ninja.

"The Legendary Sannin? Interesting..." noted the letter mage.

"Yes, that's her." answered Shikamaru.

"Who are the other two?" questioned Levy.

"Well, there's Jiraiya and...Orochimaru." said the shadow ninja.

"Jiraiya and Orochimaru?" inquired the letter mage.

"We don't usually talk about the latter much...he's a maniac." explained Shikamaru.

"I see..." nodded Levy.

"Of course nowadays, we seem to be dealing with a man whose an even bigger threat than he is...still, I don't think we want to cross paths with him." answered the shadow ninja.

"You're right...I bet he's up to something horrible as we speak. Maybe even another attack on Konoha." noted Choji.

_Meanwhile..._

Orochimaru was currently sleeping.

"Zzz..." murmured the snake ninja.

As it turned out, he was dreaming about him and Kabuto.

"There you are!" exclaimed Orochimaru.

This particular dream involved making out with Kabuto.

"Oh, Kabuto...you're such a good kisser..." said the snake ninja.

Suddenly, he woke up with a start.

Shortly afterwards, he began to scream.

"I've got to stop spending so much time with Kabuto!" exclaimed Orochimaru.

"Master, is something the matter?" asked Kabuto from a distance.

"No no no! I'm alright!" bellowed the snake ninja.

Kabuto immediately left.

Orochimaru let out a sigh of relief.

"Maybe I'll go hang out with Medusa Gorgon instead. She looks lovely...and we share the same interests." noted the snake ninja.

He decided that he was going to do so now.

_We now return to Ino-Shika-Cho and Team Shadow Gear..._

"Well, thanks for the information. I think I'll call it a day." said Levy.

"Glad that we could help!" exclaimed Choji.

"See you later!" bellowed Ino.

Levy, Droy, and Jet immediately entered the interdimensional portal.

"It was nice meeting our interdimensional partners." noted Choji.

"Yes, it was." nodded Ino.

"Well, I suppose I'm looking forward to seeing them again." agreed Shikamaru.

Immediately, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru went to go on another mission.

They were all looking forward to it.

_Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail guild hall..._

"Hey there, Gray? Can I ask you a question?" inquired Juvia.

"Sure, why not." answered the ice mage.

"Do you want to hang out sometime? Juvia would be looking forward to it." said the water mage.

"Are you asking me on a date?" asked Gray.

"We can go on a date...if you want to." spoke Juvia.

"Well, you haven't been stalking me lately...so sure." answered the ice mage.

"Yes!" cheered Juvia.

"What did you have in mind?" inquired Gray.

"Just a fancy place called The Nautilus." asked the water mage.

"Funny...that does sound like a place you would want to go to." acknowledged the ice mage.

"I actually got a reservation there!" exclaimed Juvia.

"You did? You must really have prepared firsthand..." answered Gray.

"Juvia sure did!" exclaimed the water mage.

"Why do you keep talking in third-person?" asked the ice mage.

"I'll stop." answered Juvia.

"I didn't say that was a bad thing...I was just curious." spoke Gray.

"I can stop talking that way. It's not a big deal." spoke the water mage.

"I was just wondering!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"I guess I just like the sound of my own name..." answered Juvia.

Gray shrugged.

"Maybe Gray should start doing that from now on..." noted the ice mage.

"There's no pressure!" exclaimed the water mage.

"But Gray likes the sound of his own name..." answered Gray.

Juvia shrugged.

"So...how far is the restaurant from our current location?" inquired the ice mage.

"Just a few miles." answered the water mage.

"Really? That's not too far from here." noted Gray.

"Yes, I know." nodded Juvia.

Immediately, the duo set out to The Nautilus.

Oddly, Erza happened to be the waitress.

"Why are you the waitress?" inquired Gray.

"I'm doing a low-rank mission..." explained Erza.

"But you're an S-Class Mage..." answered Juvia.

"Well, there aren't any S-Class Missions at the moment...besides, I look great in this outfit!" exclaimed the knight.

Sure enough, Erza was wearing a rather attractive-looking waitress uniform that showed off her legs.

"Well, I will admit that you have a point there..." said Gray.

The water inside Juvia's body began to boil.

"But I still think Juvia is prettier!" exclaimed the ice mage.

The water inside Juvia settled.

"So, you're on a date with Juvia? I should have seen that coming considering how close she is to you..." noted Erza.

"Yeah...it was only a matter of time." nodded the devil slayer.

"I'll say. So, what would you like?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Something cold, I suppose...maybe a drink with ice?" asked Gray.

"Juvia would like some water..." answered Juvia.

"I'll be back in a jiffy." said Erza.

"You know...part me is actually enjoying this. Juvia's a lot easier to deal with now that she's stopped stalking me." thought Gray.

"Yes! I'm finally on a date with Gray! This is the best day of my life! Let's hope that we don't have to break up..." thought Juvia.

_Back at the Central Tower..._

Takeshi pulled out a flamethrower and swung it at Tenten and Naruto, hoping to cook them.

"Burn baby burn!" exclaimed the psycho.

Unfortunately, Tenten did end up getting burned. She wasn't cut out for close-ranged combat, it seemed.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Thankfully, the burns weren't life-threatening.

This was then followed by Takeshi punching Tenten in the face.

"Ow..." murmured Tenten, rubbing her face. He sure packed a mean punch.

"I don't want to burn." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned Aquarius to attack Takeshi and hopefully put his flamethrower. It was worth a shot as any.

Then again, Aquarius usually wasn't in the mood to help him.

"Can you help me?" asked the genin.

"Why should I?" inquired Aquarius.

Suddenly, Takeshi walked up to the Celestial Spirit.

"Huh?" asked the water spirit.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed the psychopath.

Immediately, he tried to stab Aquarius with a kunai.

This did not do him any favors. At all.

"That's it! It's go time!" exclaimed the Celestial Spirit.

Immediately, she began to whip up her speciality...an enormous tidal wave.

"Uh-oh!" bellowed Takeshi.

Aquarius hit Takeshi with a tidal wave, causing him to scream.

"Help!" exclaimed the psycho.

He was caught in the tidal wave, sending him flying.

He hit his head on the wall...and was knocked out cold.

"Phew...what a fight." noted Tenten.

"Yeah...it was a doozy." nodded Naruto.

"But at least we managed to prevail." said the kunoichi.

"Yes, we did." agreed the genin.

Suddenly, Aquarius and Scorpius began to make out with each other.

"Huh? Are you two lovers?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes, we are." answered Aquarius.

"Aww...how sweet." spoke the genin.

"And if you excuse us we're going to have some alone time." said the water Celestial Spirit.

Immediately, Aquarius and Scorpius vanished in a burst of yellow smoke.

"I guess we'll be seeing them later." answered Naruto.

"I guess so." nodded Tenten.

Meanwhile, Lucy had successfully managed to defeat Captain Bloodbeard's jolly crew.

Now all that was left was the captain himself...as well as his remaining parrot.

Immediately, Lucy hit Peaches with her whip, knocking her out cold.

Neji let out a sigh of relief. Who would have thought that he would be attacked by two parrots on the same day?

"Uh-oh." answered Captain Bloodbeard.

Getting even with the pirate captain for all the injuries he and his parrots had inflicted upon him.

Letting out a war cry, Neji went up to Captain Bloodbeard and started hitting him with his Gentle Fist technique.

"Yarrr!" exclaimed the pirate captain as he experienced the power of Neji's fists first-hand.

He unfortunately could not withstand such a vicious assault, and he passed out on the ground.

"Did we take him down?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, we did." nodded Neji.

Sure enough, he was unconscious. Neji's Gentle Fist had done its job well. He wasn't going to get back up any time soon.

"Well, alright then...I guess we should take him back to our prison camp..." noted the kunoichi.

"That sounds like a plan." nodded Neji.

Rock Lee hit Ebemener Scourge's coal golem after activating his Gate Of Life, causing his skin to turn red in the process.

This caused it to shatter instantly.

Unfortunately, Ebemener Scourge has run out of magic to summon golems with.

"This isn't good..." answered the former mayor of Icevale.

He then found himself being hit by Rock Lee's martial arts, knocking him out cold.

With Ebemener's defeat, his remaining evil snowmen melted.

Rock Lee deactivated his gates a few minutes later. Wouldn't want to destroy his own body now.

"Phew...I'm glad that it's finally over..." answered the martial artist.

"Yes, it is." nodded Kimimaro.

Konohamaru suddenly woke up from his slumber.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

"What happened?" inquired the genin.

"You passed out during an invasion..." said the kunoichi.

"Oh...is the invasion over?" asked Konohamaru.

"I believe so, yes." answered Lucy.

Konohamaru let out a sigh of relief.

At that very moment, Kakashi woke up as well.

"You thought you could take me down that easily? I'll cut you up with my Lightning Blade and-"

Suddenly, he noticed that all the pirates were defeated.

"Oh. Never mind, then." answered Kakashi.

"Thank goodness everyone's OK..." said Lucy.

"Yes, we are." answered Naruto.

"It was nice working with you." said Rock Lee, shaking Naruto's hand.

"Wait...what happened to everyone else?" inquired Lucy.

"I guess they fleed once they realized how hairy things have gotten...I don't blame them." answered Kimimaro.

"So, are the Chunin Exams cancelled?" asked Naruto.

"Not necessarily...whose left?" inquired Kakashi.

Udon, Moegi, and Konohamaru raised their hands.

Likewise, Lucy, Naruto, and Kimimaro raised their hands as well.

Three ninja who had stuck around to witness the action raised their hands. It was a rather impressive fight, and they had in fact been betting money on it.

"I guess you're our nine finalists then." answered Kakashi.

Immediately, the nine began to cheer.

"Right...normally we would be hosting the finals after a month...but due to the attack we're going to have to cut the exams short." answered Kakashi.

As such, the finals were going to be tomorrow.

"I can't wait!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, he left along with Lucy and Kimimaro.

Likewise, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi did the same.

A few minutes later, jonin arrived to take the criminals away.

"Sheesh...who would have thought that we were going to get attacked here?" asked Kakashi.

At least Naruto and his friends were able to mop up the attackers without suffering any casualties.

Still, he got the feeling that their problems weren't over and that another attack was underway.

"I guess I'll have to be more careful this time..." noted Kakashi.

This time, he was going to look behind him.

_Were you expecting this? Captain Bloodbeard, Takeshi, and Ebemener Scourge all attacked our heroes._

_I'm afraid things aren't over for them though. In the next chapter, they're going to get attacked by their female adversaries...along with a certain vampire._

_Can you guess who they are? They've already appeared once before in the fanfic...then again, you can probably figure it out by process of elimination. Captain Bloodbeard, Takeshi, and Ebemener Scourge won't be coming back for a while._


	33. Chapter 33: Ladies' Night

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, more of our heroes' rogues gallery are going to return...can you guess who they are?_

_Oh, and the Chunin Exam finals are going to take place! Hooray!_

**Chapter 33: Ladies' Night**

Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro headed to the Chunin Exams arena. Oddly enough, it happened to be as sandy as ever.

"It looks like we didn't have to play the waiting game this time." noted the genin.

"It's true, we didn't." answered Lucy.

"Isn't that just dandy." noted Kimimaro.

Sure enough, the Chunin Exam finals were about to take place.

However, they noticed that hardly anybody seemed to be present.

"Hmm?" inquired Naruto.

As it turned out, most of Konoha's residents had decided to watch the exams on TV...in case Orochimaru tried attacking the village again.

However, the Sand Siblings were brave enough to show up nonetheless.

"Hey there! Where is everybody?" asked the genin.

"They decided to watch the exams on TV...bad things always happen during the Chunin Exams these days..." explained Temari.

"It's true...we got attacked by no less than three psychopaths during our preliminaries..." answered Naruto.

"You think it's going to happen again?" asked Lucy.

"Probably." nodded Gaara.

Naruto sighed. At least he would be ready if they showed up.

"So...whose going to be facing who?" asked Kimimaro.

Curious, he noticed that there was a vs. bracket indicating who was going to battle who.

As it turned out, he was up against...

...Lucy Heartfilia.

"What were the chances of that?" asked the genin.

"I know." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Naruto and Lucy jumped into the arena.

"So, how long does this fight need to be?" inquired the genin.

"You don't need to beat each other up...you just need to show off your skill." said Temari.

"Oh right...I know how to do that then." answered Naruto.

Incidentally, he wanted to test our the new summoner key he found in his bag. It had the crest of the maiden on it.

"So...are you ready?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I am." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, he pulled out his Maiden Key.

"Let's give this a shot!" exclaimed the genin.

Sure enough, Virgo appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Greetings, Mistress Lucy Heartfilia. How may I serve you today?" asked Virgo.

Suddenly, she noticed that Lucy wasn't her summoner anymore, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"Mistress Lucy Heartfilia?" inquired the maid.

Curious, she noticed that she happened to be standing there without her summoner key.

"This is confusing..." said Virgo.

Suddenly, Naruto shook her hand.

"Huh?" asked the maiden.

"Greetings! My name's Naruto Uzumaki! Pleased to meet you! I'm your new master!" exclaimed the genin.

"Greetings...Master Naruto Uzumaki. How may I...serve you today?" inquired the maiden curiously.

"Yes, I know. This is a new experience for me too. Interdimensional magic and all that..." answered the genin.

"It's true...I used an interdimensional portal...he inherited my keys and I inherited his fox. It's complicated." said Lucy.

"Alright then..." spoke Virgo.

"So...are you some sort of maid?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes. I can change my appearance however you like." answered the maiden.

"Really? Sweet!" exclaimed the genin.

"You're not going to make her take her clothes off, are you?" inquired Lucy.

"No no no. That's going too far. I just want her to wear a Santa dress, that's all!" exclaimed Naruto.

"A Santa Dress?" asked Lucy.

"Your wish is my command." answered Virgo.

Immediately, she changed into a Santa dress.

"It's like Christmas morning!" cheered the genin.

Sure enough, Virgo was now wearing a Santa's hat and black boots, as well as a red dress trimmed with fur.

"So, how do I look, master?" inquired the maiden.

"You look awesome!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Really? Are you just saying that?" asked Virgo.

"You look like a star! Believe it!" bellowed the genin.

"Alright then." said the maiden, smiling.

"You sure are having fun with Virgo, aren't you, Naruto?" asked Lucy.

"I sure am!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I hope you don't mind if I try summoning something of my own then." answered the kunoichi genin.

Immediately, she summoned Gamabunta in retaliation.

Curious, he noticed that both Naruto and Lucy were in the arena, and was wondering which of them summoned him.

"Er, which one of you summoned me?" asked Gamabunta.

"I did!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Alright then." answered the toad.

"This is a really interesting match..." noted Temari.

"I didn't know that Naruto had keys that he could use to summon things..." spoke Kankuro in surprise.

"That's because he's Lucy's interdimensional partner." answered Gaara.

"Huh?" asked the puppetmaster.

"Is there anything else that you would like me to dress up as, master?" inquired Virgo.

"Can you dress up as a bunny rabbit?" asked Naruto.

Immediately, Virgo snapped her fingers. She was now in a bunny costume.

"Look at you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"This bowtie is making my neck itch..." said the maiden.

"You can take it off. I don't want you to suffer..." answered the genin.

"That's better." answered Virgo as she removed the bow tie.

Personally she was rather glad that her new master was a gentleman even if he was rather lecherous. Imagine all the situations she could end up in if he wasn't.

"What's with Naruto and his new summon?" inquired Gamabunta.

"He's rather excited to have a summon that can change her appearance to whatever he likes." answered Lucy.

"I see." nodded the toad.

"So, do you want me to fight now, master?" asked Virgo.

"Temari said that we didn't need to fight...we just need to show off." answered Naruto.

"Alright then." answered the maiden.

Immediately, Naruto began to summon another spirit.

This time, it was Aries.

"There you go! Why don't you make a friend?" asked the genin.

"Um, hello!" exclaimed Aries.

"Greetings!" answered Virgo.

In retaliation, Lucy began to summon another creature.

In this case, it was a giant frog named Kaeruwara. Unlike Gamabunta, he happened to be blue and had longer legs.

Gamabunta gasped in shock. It was none other than his archrival.

"We meet again, Gamabunta!" bellowed Kaeruwara.

Gamabunta sighed. He really wasn't looking forward to looking to working with him.

"Were you in another makeup session with your boyfriend, Taurus?" asked Naruto.

"Not at the moment." answered Aries.

"Alright then. I'll send him to you now anyway." spoke the genin.

Immediately, he summoned Taurus.

Aries began to squeal.

"Hey, baby!" exclaimed Taurus.

Not wanting to be outmatched, Lucy decided to summon a creature of her own.

This time, she was going to summon a wolf-man to counter Taurus.

In this case, his name was Fenrir.

"Where am I? I want something to eat..." said the wolf-man.

"Welcome to the world of ninja!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately for Naruto, there was only so many summons that he could bring to the battlefield with him before he passed out.

So, he decided to try a different approach.

"Let's see who can make the bigger Rasengan!" exclaimed the genin.

"Sounds good." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Naruto and Lucy began to charge up their Rasengans, trying to see who could make theirs bigger.

They were able to stretch out their Rasengans pretty wide, but eventually, they reached their peak.

They decided to dispel the jutsus, and the Rasengans disappeared.

"So, what did the judges think?" inquired Lucy.

The judges both gave Naruto and Lucy a ten out of ten.

"So, are we chunin now?" asked Naruto.

"I would imagine that we are now." answered Lucy.

The judges nodded.

"Yes!" cheered the male chunin.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed the chunin kunoichi.

"Congratulations." said Gaara.

"So, am I up next?" inquired Kimimaro.

"Yes...you're up against Konohamaru." said Naruto.

Immediately, Kimimaro stepped into the arena along with Konohamaru.

However, as it turned out, they weren't going to get to battle each other.

Suddenly, birds began to descend from the sky.

"What the-" said Naruto.

Shortly afterwards, the birds began to attack Naruto and Lucy.

"Agh!" bellowed the chunin.

"Get them off!" screamed Lucy.

Fortunately, Kimimaro was able to slash them away.

"Thank you." said Naruto.

However, more of them were coming.

"Why are the birds so aggressive today?" inquired the chunin.

"Um, Naruto, I think someone is attacking us." said Lucy.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Sure enough, there appeared to be someone riding one of the birds.

Curious, Lucy looked at the sky, and gasped in shock.

It was Setsuna!

"This isn't good! We're under attack by another member of our rogues gallery!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Oh no! First Captain Bloodbeard, Takeshi, and Ebemener Scourge teamed up to kill us...and now this!" bellowed Naruto.

"If our rogues gallery are making alliances now, then I don't think she's going to be alone." noted Lucy.

Sure enough, Chihiro was also present, riding another bird.

There were many bandits riding birds as well.

"Well well well. If it isn't for that little brat that got us arrested." said Setsuna.

"Is that her brother?" asked Chihiro.

Naruto and Lucy sweatdropped.

"First the attack at the preliminaries, and now this?" asked Naruto.

"It seems that villains never rest." answered Lucy.

Fortunately, Kimimaro was there to help, as he was before.

Likewise, the Sand Siblings decided to do the same.

"You can't just go around and attack people during their exams!" exclaimed Temari.

"Didn't we do that back when we working with Orochimaru?" inquired Kankuro.

"We've gotten better than that since then." answered the wind user.

"That's true." nodded Gaara, recalling his encounter with Naruto.

Immediately, the bandits began to attack the six, along with Setsuna's bird summons.

"You made a summon contract?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I did." nodded Setsuna.

"That isn't good news for us." answered Naruto.

"That's right. It really isn't." acknowledged the kunoichi.

Immediately, Chihiro began to charge up electricity.

"Aah!" exclaimed the genin, quickly jumping out of the way before he got zapped.

Suddenly, another interdimensional portal began to appear. This one was black as ink.

"Huh? What's going on?" asked Setsuna.

For some strange reason, Chihiro got the feeling that this was good news for them and bad news for Naruto and his friends...much to her satisfaction.

Sure enough, she was right.

"Oh no! It's another member of our rogues gallery!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Who is it this time?" asked Kimimaro.

Suddenly, bats began to emerge from the interdimensional portal.

"Wait a minute...I thought I killed him!" bellowed the freshly promoted chunin.

"Good thing my bats were able to find a way to bring me back to life! Ahhahaha." laughed Dracferatu.

"Who are you?" asked Setsuna.

"I'm Dracferatu. The greatest vampire of all time! And I'm here to get revenge on that foul boy that slew me!" bellowed the vampire.

"You know...it's funny. That's more or less what we were here for...to get revenge on who we hate." explained Chihiro.

"You are?" inquired Dracferatu.

Chihiro nodded.

"Do you want to team up? Together he doesn't stand a chance! Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

Chihiro raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't worked with a vampire before, but...sure." answered Setsuna.

Immediately, she shook his hand.

"Not again!" bellowed Naruto. Once again, his enemies were teaming up against him.

Shortly afterwards, Dracferatu began to bombard Lucy, Naruto, and Kimimaro with bats.

They desperately began to fight them off.

"Good grief! We're being attacked by so many things...I don't believe it." noted Naruto.

"Maybe we should turn to our summons for help." suggested Lucy.

"Yes, of course!" acknowledged the chunin.

"Give it up! You cannot win! My bats are stronger than ever! Ahhahaha." exclaimed Dracferatu.

"I wish I had an upgrade like that." complained Chihiro. Personally she felt that she had been left out of the hoop. Setsuna and her new vampire partner had both received upgrades, and yet she had gotten nothing.

"Your wish is my command!" exclaimed the vampire.

"Huh?" asked Chihiro.

Suddenly, he sank his teeth into her neck.

"Ouch! What was that for? I thought we were on the same side!" inquired the storm kunoichi.

"I gave you an upgrade! Ahhahaha." answered Dracferatu.

Curious, Chihiro noticed that she now felt a lot stronger than before.

"Hmm?" inquired the kunoichi.

She felt the urge to try running up to Naruto and punching him in the face.

Much to her surprise, she was able to run towards the genin very quickly...and punch him so hard that he was sent flying.

"Aah!" exclaimed the chunin.

_Meanwhile..._

"What's the matter, Sakura?" inquired Tsunade.

"All of a sudden I feel a very strange sense of deja vu." said Sakura.

"Well, I just won some money at the lottery...so something bad must be happening." noted the Fifth Hokage.

"What is it this time?" asked the kunoichi.

"I think someone is sabotaging the Chunin Exams..." answered Tsunade.

"Not again!" exclaimed Sakura.

_We now return to the Chunin Exams._

"It appears I have the strength and a speed of a vampire now...sweet!" bellowed Chihiro.

"I take it you're appreciating my gift?" asked Dracferatu.

"Yes...can you do that for Setsuna too?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I can only do that once per day! Ahhahaha." answered the vampire.

"Meh, I don't want this battle to be too easy." spoke Chihiro.

"Man, her punch packs a whallop..." answered Naruto.

"I don't ever recall her being that strong before..." questioned Lucy.

Fortunately, the Sand Siblings were getting ready to fight.

"Er, who should take on who?" questioned the chunin.

"Well, I guess I'll take on Setsuna, since we have history together." answered the kunoichi.

Likewise, Temari decided to assist Lucy in her battle. Her fan would be useful against the birds, obviously.

"I'll take on her apprentice then." spoke Naruto.

Kankuro decided to take Naruto's side. His puppets would hopefully come in handy against Chihiro.

"I guess that leaves me with Dracferatu then." answered Kimimaro.

Likewise, Gaara was left to assist the bone ninja.

"Wait...didn't I battle you a long time ago?" questioned the jinchuriki.

"Times have changed. Enemies have become friends. I actually worked with your partner for that mission yesterday." said Kimimaro.

Gaara shrugged.

Immediately, they got ready to fight.

"Go Naruto! You can do this!" cheered Konohamaru.

"Go, Lucy!" exclaimed Udon.

"You can do this, Kimimaro!" bellowed Moegi.

"Good to see you're supporting us." said Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"Is something the matter, Hinata?" inquired Hiashi Hyuga.

"Look what's happening on TV." said Hinata.

Sure enough, Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro were in a massive battle against Setsuna, Chihiro, and Dracferatu.

"Oh, my." answered Hinata's father.

"I know, father." nodded Hinata.

"Why does this keep happening?" asked Hiashi.

"It's as if Orochimaru has cursed the Chunin Exams themselves...we get attacked by a maniac every time." said the fire dragonslayer.

"That's true..." answered Hinata's father.

"You think this is somehow his doing?" inquired the kunoichi.

"It may be...it may not." spoke the man.

"Hmm..." thought Hinata.

"Now if you excuse me I'm going to gather the branch house in case they decide to pay us a visit next." answered Hiashi Hyuga.

"Should I come with?" inquired the kunoichi.

"No no no. You stay here and fill me in with the current situation." explained the head of the Hyuga household.

"Yes, of course!" exclaimed the fire ninja.

Immediately, Hiashi Hyuga went to visit the branch household.

However, their current leader wasn't too happy to see him.

"What do you want?" asked the leader of the Hyuga branch members.

Naraku happened to have black hair and was dressed in a ninja uniform, much like many other members of the Hyuga clan. However, he happened to have pale skin, as well as a goatee.

"I need your help, Naraku. Konoha is under attack...and I need you to defend the household in case they attack our clan." said Hiashi Hyuga.

"You want us to help you?" inquired Naraku Hyuga.

Were it not for the seal on his forehead, Naraku likely would have become a missing-nin a long time ago. He happened to hate virtually everything about Hiashi Hyuga. Personally he felt that he should be the leader of the Hyuga Clan.

However, he had one small problem.

"Treat us with respect, Naraku. You do remember the seal you have on your forehead, don't you?" inquired Hiashi.

"Right, of course. How could I have forgotten about that?" asked Naraku.

As much as he hated Hiashi Hyuga, he happened to hate the seal on his forehead even more. How he wished that it would just go away.

"I want you to make sure my daughters and my nephew stay safe." spoke Hinata's father.

"Fine fine fine. Whatever!" exclaimed the man.

Hiashi was starting to wonder if someone else should have the position as head of the Hyuga branch household.

He clearly wasn't enjoying his job.

Immediately, Naraku Hyuga and the branch household members left to go protect Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji.

Hanabi Hyuga sighed. He actually appreciated the assistance of the Hyuga branch household...but he never really had time to show his gratitude.

Hopefully they would at least do their job for the time being. While he did admit that it was rather cruel to strip Hinata of her title as his heiress (as she was pretty weak for a Hyuga ninja), he did care for her well-being.

Sure enough, they were standing right outside his house, as his Byakugan readings would suggest.

"Well, I guess I'm safe now..." said Hiashi Hyuga as he went to bed.

_At the Chunin Exam battlefield..._

Lucy attacked Setsuna with her whip, who quickly sidestepped.

In retaliation, she swung her sword at Lucy.

However, Temari was there to help her, blowing away Setsuna to keep her at a distance.

"That's one mighty fan you've got there." noted the kunoichi.

"Thank you. I've been using it as a weapon for ages." answered Temari.

"I've been using this whip for ages." said Lucy.

"What a coincidence." noted the wind kunoichi.

Unfortunately, Setsuna was rather persistent. She began to summon some birds to attack the duo.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Lucy. Their pecks hurt.

Fortunately, Temari was able to blow them away.

"Aren't you a tough nut to crack." noted Setsuna.

Perhaps she should summon a bigger bird?

Knowing that birds had natural predators, Lucy began to summon some cats.

Immediately, the cats began to attack the birds, pouncing on top of them when they got too close.

"You can summon cats? Not bad." answered Temari.

"I can summon more than just cats, actually." explained Lucy.

"Hmm?" inquired the wind kunoichi.

"You see...due to the fact that I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, I don't really have a limit as to what creatures I can summon. I just have to worry about losing too much blood." answered Lucy.

"That's nice. There aren't many ninja that can do that..." spoke Temari.

"Fair enough. I can summon any avian I can want. Including this one." answered Setsuna.

Immediately, she summoned an ostrich to charge towards Lucy and Temari.

"Yikes!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, Temari was having difficulty blowing the ostrich away. He was pretty fast.

Maybe it was time to summon a creature of her own.

"Kamatari! It's your turn!" exclaimed the wind kunoichi, spreading some blood across the fan.

Kamatari immediately appeared in a burst of smoke.

Immediately, he began to slash the ostrich several different times, causing it to disappear.

He then ran straight towards Setsuna, who frantically began to fend him off with her sword.

"You wouldn't happen to be a pirate weasel, would you? You have an eyepatch over your left eye." questioned Setsuna.

"No, I'm not a pirate. I lost my left eye after a rabbit clawed it out..." said Kamatari.

"OK..." answered the wind kunoichi. Why were rabbits so ferocious?

Unfortunately, Setsuna countered with a wind jutsu of her own, which tore up Lucy's clothing.

Oddly enough, she happened to be wearing a blue tube top this time.

"Not again!" exclaimed Lucy. Once again, she had suffered clothing damage.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kankuro were fighting against Setsuna's apprentice, also known as Chihiro.

However, due to the upgrade that Dracferatu had given her, she wasn't proving to be an easy opponent.

Kankuro tried to have Crow stab Chihiro with its blades, but unfortunately she was proving to be rather quick.

Fortunately, he was able to trap Chihiro inside Black Ant.

"Let me out of here!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Right then...I'll just use Crow to stab you and-"

Suddenly, Chihiro managed to break free. As it turned out, she had destroyed Black Ant using her electric pulse jutsu.

"I'm free!" cheered the kunoichi.

"I should have known that this wasn't going to be that easy." acknowledged the puppetmaster.

She then followed by punching and kicking Kankuro, leaping over Crow and charging straight towards him beforehand.

Unfortunately for Kankuro, he wasn't cut out for close-ranged combat. He couldn't concentrate on using his puppets if he was being punched in the face and kicked in the shins.

Fortunately for Kankuro, close-ranged combat happened to be Naruto's forte...granted, he could now adapt to long-ranged combat accordingly due to his summons, but it was still his preference.

Immediately, he hit Chihiro with his Rasengan, knocking her down and causing her to collapse.

"Did we get her?" inquired Naruto.

No such luck. Chihiro immediately leapt to her feet and began attacking again, bringing down lightning bolts from the sky.

Though she had been injured by the Rasengan, she was still able to fight very effectively.

Immediately, she began to shoot lightning bolts from her fingertips, zapping Naruto Uzumaki.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the genin.

Fortunately, Kankuro was able to use Crow to slash Chihiro in her face.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

However, the cut appeared to be slowly regenerating.

"Did I get a vampire's healing factor too?" inquired Chihiro.

Apparently, she did.

Immediately, Chihiro began to charge up electricity in her arm.

"So, you like to play with your Rasengan, huh? Let's see how you like my Chidori!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"You can use the Chidori?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes...I've stolen a few scrolls from Konoha in the past. I only learned it recently, though." said Chihiro.

"I see." answered the chunin.

Immediately, she began to lunge towards Naruto. Fortunately, he was able to avoid it.

Normally, a ninja would be able to see the attack coming and would be able to launch an immediate counterattack.

However, due to Chihiro's now vampire-like speed, this was no longer an easy feat.

Curious, Naruto looked at Kankuro's destroyed Black Ant puppet.

"Is there any way for you to repair it?" inquired the chunin.

"I have a jutsu for repairing my puppets if they get damaged, but I need some time to pull it off." answered Kankuro.

"Alright then." spoke Naruto.

Immediately, Kankuro began to use the jutsu.

Slowly, Black Ant began to put itself back together.

However, Chihiro was now attacking Crow using another Chidori.

This time, she managed to hit the puppet, causing it to collapse on the ground. It had been drastically damaged by the attack.

"Uh-oh..." said Kankuro. Apparently, he was going to repair that particular puppet too.

Meanwhile, Gaara and Kimimaro were facing Dracferatu. He was trying to bombard them with bats, but unfortunately Gaara's tailed beast was protecting him pretty well.

"You always did go out of your way to make sure I didn't get hurt..." noted the teenage boy.

**"That's right, I did!" **exclaimed Shukaku.

Likewise, Kimimaro was doing well against the bats as well.

However, Dracferatu was not finished yet. Immediately, he began to bite into Kimimaro's neck, hoping to transform him into a vampire.

Unfortunately, powerful ninja (and mages) were able to resist the technique.

Dracferatu let out a sigh.

"Well, at least I can still suck your blood out. Ahhahaha." laughed the vampire.

Immediately, he began to drink Gaara's blood...

...only to have sand sprayed in his eyes for his trouble.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Dracferatu. He had forgotten all about Shukaku's defense mechanism.

This was then followed by Gaara trapping the vampire inside a coffin of sand.

"You think this can hold me? Ahhahaha." laughed Dracferatu.

"Well, it's usually worked before...the exception is fighting alongside me." said Gaara.

Kimimaro rubbed his hand behind his head.

Unfortunately, Dracferatu had the strength to back up his claims. Immediately, he burst his arm through Gaara's sand coffin, followed by one of his legs.

Within a minute, he was free.

"That's one strong vampire." noted Gaara.

**"I'll say!" **exclaimed Shukaku.

In retaliation, Dracferatu began to cast a spell to suck out Gaara's blood.

Sure enough, he began to see it leaving his body.

"That's not good..." said Gaara.

"Ahhahaha. Your blood tastes delightful!" exclaimed Dracferatu.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro was not going to sit by and let his comrade have his blood sucked out.

Immediately, he stabbed Dracferatu with his bone sword.

"Aaaaargghh!" exclaimed the vampire.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro had missed his heart, so he wasn't going to die again. At least not yet.

In retaliation, he began to bite into Kimimaro's neck and proceeded to start sucking his blood out instead.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the last member of the Kaguya clan. Being bitten by a vampire was very painful.

Fortunately, Gaara was able to assist Kimimaro by grabbing onto Dracferatu with one of his sand arms, removing his fangs from the bone ninja's neck.

"Much obliged." said the Kaguya clan member.

Immediately, he began to sprout bone spikes from his body to make it harder for Dracferatu to suck out his blood.

However, Dracferatu was not one to give up easily.

Casting another spell, Gaara and Kimimaro suddenly found themselves shrouded in darkness.

"Where did the vampire go?" inquired Gaara.

"This isn't good." said Kimimaro.

Immediately, they found themselves being attacked by several bats. Unfortunately, due to their echolocation abilities, being in darkness didn't hinder them much.

In fact, they were essentially in their element.

"Now I get it...he's trying to ambush us now." spoke Gaara.

"We should probably go on the defensive." acknowledged Kimimaro.

Fortunately, Gaara's sand was still doing its job.

_Meanwhile..._

Natsu decided to visit Hinata, as she happened to be one of his friends.

However, he was immediately greeted by several different Hyuga clan branch members, who jumped out of nowhere.

"State your business!" exclaimed Naraku.

"I'm here to see Hinata." said Natsu.

"Oh really? Are you here to kill her? Kidnap her? Cut out her eyes? Touch her b-"

"No! I'm not here to do any of those things!" exclaimed the fire dragonslayer.

"Then why are you here?" asked Naraku.

"I just want to pay Hinata a visit..." said Natsu.

"How do we know if we can trust you?" inquired the Hyuga clan member.

Natsu immediately showed them his Byakugan.

"Oh...carry on then." spoke Naraku.

He entered the house, where Hinata was rather surprised to see him.

"Hey there, Natsu! What a surprise." said the kunoichi.

"Hey there, Hinata...you sure have a lot of bodyguards." noted Natsu.

"That's because Konoha's currently having a crisis." said Hinata.

"I see." answered the fire mage.

Curious, he noticed that Hinata was watching something on TV.

"What's going on?" inquired Natsu.

"The Chunin Exams are getting attacked again." answered the kunoichi.

"The Chunin Exams? Isn't Lucy participating in them?" asked Natsu.

"I'm afraid so! She's fighting against a wind ninja along with Temari as we speak!" exclaimed the female dragonslayer.

"That's terrible! Is there anything we can do?" inquired the fire mage.

"Probably not. Tsunade's set up barricades all across Konoha to prevent the criminals from escaping. I don't think you're going to be able to get through." noted Hinata.

"Darn it! I hope that she's going to be OK..." answered Natsu.

"I have a feeling she will. I'm glad you came to visit...I was actually starting to get lonely." said the kunoichi.

"You are?" inquired the fire mage.

"They moved Neji to the branch house because his father was formerly their leader...my sister Hanabi Hyuga is taking a nap..." said Hinata.

"Sorry to hear that." answered Natsu.

"You know, it's funny...seeing ninja fight on television makes me want to duel another ninja myself." answered the kunoichi.

"You may have...inherited my love for fighting." said the male fire dragonslayer.

"Hmm?" inquired Hinata. Now that she thought of it, she thought that she had been a pacifist before.

"Believe me, I'd tried to duel almost every mage in Fairy Tail..." spoke Natsu.

"I see...I may have inherited that from you then." answered the kunoichi.

"Do you want to duel each other? There doesn't seem to be anyone else at the moment." said the fire mage.

"Everyone else is at their home...so sure." nodded Hinata.

"Yes!" cheered Natsu.

Immediately, they went outside where there was a sparring arena.

"So, are you ready?" inquired the fire mage.

Hinata nodded, bowing down to Natsu.

"Why are you bowing down to me?" inquired the fire mage.

"I felt that I should respect my opponent." said Hinata.

"Alright then." answered Natsu, bowing down to Hinata.

Immediately, the two of them began to use their Gentle Fists on one another.

_Meanwhile..._

After knocking Kamitari into the arena pit a few feet away from her using a gust of wind, Setsuna began to summon some penguins to attack Lucy and Temari.

Unfortunately, they waddled towards them very slowly.

Letting out a sigh, she dismissed them.

She needed to summon a more threatening bird.

"Let me think..." said the woman.

Suddenly, Lucy began to attack her with a whip, burning her face.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Setsuna.

"Sorry, can't let you summon any more birds." answered the kunoichi.

Setsuna whistled, and several bandits began to back her up.

"Uh-oh..." said Lucy.

Immediately, the bandits began to run towards Lucy and Temari.

Fortunately, Temari was able to blow them away.

"I've got to do something about that fan..." noted Setsuna.

However, some of them were attacking Temari from a distance with a bow and arrow.

"Agh!" exclaimed the kunoichi. One of them had hit her in the shoulder.

Fortunately, Lucy was there to help.

Immediately, she whistled for Gamabunta...who was still in the arena.

He hopped out of the arena and began to pounce on top of the bandits.

"Looks like we might be able to turn the tide now..." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately, Setsuna began to slash and stab Gamabunta with her katana. She was very quick with it.

In retaliation, Gamabunta began to spew out oil.

"Yuck!" exclaimed Setsuna, wiping herself off.

This gave Lucy the opportunity to hit Setsuna with her Rasengan.

"Aaugh!" bellowed the wind kunoichi.

Immediately, she fell on the floor.

"So, is the battle over?" inquired Lucy.

Setsuna helped herself to her feet.

"No, it's not." answered Temari.

In retaliation, Setsuna began to summon her personal mount...a roc.

"Whoa! That's one giant bird!" exclaimed Lucy.

"We might be in trouble." said Temari.

Immediately, the roc let out gusts of wind, knocking Temari and Lucy backwards.

"Aah!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"This is one tough bird." noted Temari.

"Like her? This is Haruka...I had to admit, I was very lucky to be able to make a contract with her." noted Setsuna.

"Yes, you were." agreed Lucy.

Immediately, Haruka began to attack Gamabunta, hoping to have some frog legs tonight.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the giant toad.

Unfortunately, rocs like Haraku happened to enjoy feasting on giant animals like Gamabunta.

On the plus side, Kamatari had emerged from the arena to help Temari fight again.

"There you are!" exclaimed Temari.

"Sorry about that." apologized Kamatari. Setsuna was tough.

Fortunately for Kankuro, he had managed to repair Black Ant. However, he was going to have to take care not to have it destroyed again.

So, rather than to try imprison Chihiro again (and watch her blow up Black Ant once more), he decided to simply have Black Ant attack her with its sawblades.

However, she was proving to be very adept at dodging them.

Immediately, he began to repair Crow as well. Though it hadn't been destroyed like Black Ant had, it needed to be repaired nonetheless.

However, Chihiro was getting ready to launch some more lightning bolts.

Fortunately, Naruto was about to call for help.

"Virgo! Can you help me, please?" inquired the chunin.

"Yes, master!" exclaimed Virgo.

Immediately, she stepped out of the arena to where Naruto and Kankuro were.

"I need you to help me take down Chihiro...she's trying to fry us with lightning bolts." said the genin.

Virgo nodded.

Immediately, she began to attack Chihiro.

"Aah!" exclaimed the apprentice.

Virgo was much tougher than her innocent appearance would suggest.

Immediately, she began to dig underground, leaving Chihiro to wonder where she had gone.

Her question was answered when she suddenly found herself being kicked from behind.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Setsuna's apprentice.

"Thanks for help." said Naruto.

"You're welcome, master." answered Virgo.

Suddenly, Chihiro kicked Virgo and sent her flying, causing her to fall on top of Naruto.

Immediately, he began to blush.

"I'm sorry master. I failed you. Punish me..." murmured Virgo.

"I can't punish you! You're my Celestial Spirit!" exclaimed Naruto.

"But I failed you..." said the maiden.

Naruto pinched Virgo on the cheeks.

"Happy?" asked the chunin.

Virgo nodded.

Naruto let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Is your Celestial Spirit kinky?" asked Kankuro.

"I hope not." answered the chunin.

"Maybe just a little..." said Virgo.

Naruto sighed.

Once again, Chihiro began to charge up for an electric pulse.

Unfortunately, she was now able to charge up faster than before, so they had less time to react.

Naruto tossed a kunai at Chihiro, interrupting her concentration.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

This was then followed by Kankuro bombarding Chihiro with a poison gas.

Immediately, she began to hold her breath.

"Is that gas explosive?" inquired Naruto.

"I believe so, why?" asked Kankuro.

Naruto tossed a paper bomb into the gas cloud.

Immediately, the gas cloud exploded, sending Chihiro flying.

However, she still wasn't down for the count yet.

"I will kill you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Can't we talk this out?" inquired Naruto.

Immediately, Chihiro prepared for another Chidori.

"Uh-oh..." said Kankuro.

Of course, Kimimaro and Gaara were still fighting Dracferatu, trying to find a way out of this mess.

"There's got to be a way out of this darkness somewhere..." said the Kaguya clan member.

"Hmm..." thought the sand ninja.

Curious, he began to look for a way out.

Sure enough, there appeared to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

He hoped that he wasn't dying.

Fortunately, he was not, and he was able to find a way out of the darkness along with Kimimaro.

Gaara let out a sigh of relief. He was actually starting to get scared for a moment there.

"What the-how did you break free from my spell?!" exclaimed Dracferatu.

"We found a light at the end of the tunnel..." said Gaara.

Dracferatu sighed. Apparently that spell didn't last forever.

"I guess I'm going to have to try a different tactic..." said the vampire.

Immediately, his bats began to screech.

"Urgh!" bellowed Gaara.

"My ears..." murmured Kimimaro.

Already, their ears were starting to bleed.

The bats must have been screeching pretty loud, because glass began breaking in the distance.

"Urgh..." said the sand ninja.

Of course, Konohamaru was still cheering them on.

"Come on! You can be vampireslayers! I just know it!" exclaimed the teenage boy.

Unfortunately, Dracferatu noticed what Konohamaru and his friends were doing, and decided that he wanted it to end.

"What should I do with them? I know! Ahhahaha." said the vampire.

Immediately, he reached into his cloak and pulled out the leader of his bat flock and his personal messenger, Vladimir.

Oddly enough, he happened to be much larger than the rest of his bats. Maybe he had drunk so much blood he had gotten fat?

Then again, that didn't explain why he could still fly as fast as ever.

Immediately, he began to wake up.

"What is it, master?" inquired Vladimir.

"I need you to deal with those three kids over there! They insist on cheering our enemies on! Ahhahaha." answered Dracferatu.

"Yes, master!" exclaimed the vampire bat.

"Uh-oh..." thought Konohamaru.

Immediately, Vladimir began to attack Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, trying to suck out their blood.

"Run!" bellowed the genin.

Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi began to run away from the killer bat. They wanted their blood to stay in their bodies where it belonged.

"There goes our supporters..." said Gaara.

"Pity." nodded Kimimaro.

Unfortunately, losing their supporters made them feel a bit more...discouraged.

"I'm sad to see them gone." spoke the sand ninja.

"Me too." agreed Kimimaro.

"Without your supporters, you're powerless against me! Ahhahaha!" laughed Dracferatu.

"Well, that didn't exactly help us." noted Gaara.

Kimimaro shook his head.

"Now then, it's time for me to go into hiding while my lackies take care of you!" exclaimed the vampire.

Immediately, he transformed into a vampire and began to shuffle among his bat brethren.

"Oh man..." murmured Gaara.

"Where did he go?" inquired Kimimaro.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata and Natsu both practiced their Gentle Fist techniques on each other, neither of them gaining a clear advantage.

"Not bad! You seem to be a fast learner." answered the kunoichi.

"Thanks." answered Natsu.

"Then again I appear to be a fast learner myself considering how fast I was able to learn what your foster father taught me." noted Hinata.

"Really?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

"Well, he admittedly didn't teach me much." answered the female dragonslayer.

"I see." nodded Natsu.

Immediately, the duo continued to spar with one another.

Once again, neither of them were able to get an advantage over the other.

"Hmm...it appears that we're both roughly equal in strength." noted Natsu.

"It looks that way." answered Hinata.

"Isn't that nice." acknowledged the fire mage.

"Maybe we should do this again in the future." noted the kunoichi as they continued to duel.

Eventually, they decided to see who was stronger...in physical strength.

"So...dragonslayers have superhuman strength, do they not? I believe Igneel explained that to me..." noted Hinata.

"Yes, they do. Some of them, anyway." answered Natsu.

Curious, they decided to see if they could lift each other off their feet...which they did somewhat easily.

As they did so, they both began to blush.

"Well, I sure have gotten strong..." answered Hinata.

"You sure have." nodded Natsu.

Suddenly, Hinata's bodyguards began to burst into the room.

"Huh?" asked Hinata. What was going on?

Immediately, they began to tackle Natsu to the ground like a team of football players.

"Aaugh!" bellowed the fire mage. They were surprisingly strong...and agile.

"Natsu!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Well, what have we here? You thought you could try to kill Hiashi's daughter and get away with it, didn't you?" inquired Naraku.

"What? I wasn't here to kill Hinata! I would never do that!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Lie all you want. I don't care." answered the leader of the Hyuga branch house.

Immediately, he pulled out a kunai.

"Right then...I don't think you'll be able to kill Hinata if you're dead...so..." said Naraku.

"Stop!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Huh?" asked the leader of Hinata's bodyguards.

"He wasn't going to kill me!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Oh really?" inquired Naraku.

"We were just duelling, that's all. Now let him go!" exclaimed Hinata.

Reluctantly, Naraku instructed the bodyguards to release Natsu.

They then went back to their posts.

"Thanks for saving me...if it weren't for you I would have been a goner." answered the male dragonslayer.

"You're welcome, Natsu...I actually saved Naruto after we swapped places and I ended up in Fairy Tail...' said the female dragonslayer.

"Did you?" asked Natsu.

"I know...I feel like a whole different person." answered Hinata.

"Well, so do I." nodded the male dragonslayer.

"Being interdimensional partners really has changed us." noted the kunoichi.

"It's true, it has." agreed Natsu.

"Well, that was a good sparring session, wouldn't you say?" inquired Hinata.

"Mm-hmm." answered the fire mage.

"I'm not sure if my father will be happy that I had a guest over though..." noted the kunoichi.

"You're right...we might need to talk things over with him." nodded Natsu.

"Yeah..." answered Hinata.

"Is he usually polite to guests?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"Usually." nodded the female dragonslayer.

Natsu let out a sigh of relief.

"I guess I'll see you again when the Chunin Exams are over..." answered the fire mage.

"See you later!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, Natsu left Hinata's house, Naraku giving him the evil eye as he left.

"He must really not like it when people not part of his clan pay Hiashi and his family a visit." noted the fire mage.

Sure enough, Naraku was grumbling about him being a commoner.

"Hopefully he'll loosen up some day." thought Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, how is your date going?" inquired Erza as she gave Gray and Juvia some food.

"Awesome!" exclaimed the water mage.

"That's nice." answered the knight.

Oddly enough, Gray was also enjoying his date with Juvia somewhat.

"So, do your lovebirds want anything else? Or do you want your bill?" inquired Erza.

"We'd like some dessert." spoke Juvia.

"Alright then!" exclaimed Erza.

Sure enough, she came back a few minutes later with an enormous sundae.

"That's one big sundae..." noted Gray.

"That's why we're going to share it!" exclaimed Juvia.

"We are?" asked the ice mage.

"Of course we are!" bellowed the water mage.

"Um, sure..." answered Gray.

Immediately, the duo began to eat the sundae.

"Delicious!" cheered Juvia.

"Er, yeah." nodded the ice mage.

"Is everything OK?" asked Erza.

"Yeah." answered Gray.

"Alright then. You ready for your bill?" inquired the knight.

"Sure, just let us finish this sundae." said Juvia.

Shrugging, Erza decided to leave them both to their own devices.

Sure enough, they managed to finish their sundae a few minutes later.

Erza then came back with the bill.

"Good thing I've been doing a lot of missions lately." noted the ice mage.

Immediately, he handed Erza some jewels as a tip.

"Thank you." said the knight.

After paying the bill, Gray and Juvia left the restaurant.

"That date was so awesome!" exclaimed Juvia.

Immediately, she gave Gray a hug.

"Yes, it was." answered the ice mage.

"Do you want to go on another date?" inquired the water mage.

"Sure, maybe later." said Gray.

Immediately, Juvia decided to head back to the Fairy Tail guild.

"Well, that was a rather nice date..." noted the ice mage.

Nonetheless, he wondered if he was simply going on a date simply because Juvia kept stalking him.

Then again, she had stopped doing that recently.

"Oh yeah..." answered Gray.

Hopefully now that Juvia's obsession with him was now healthy, she wasn't going to go crazy.

"Wouldn't want her to go psycho now." noted the ice mage.

He heard that when some girls were denied love for too long, they went completely insane.

"I wouldn't want that to happen to Juvia." acknowledged Gray.

Erza left the restaurant a few minutes later.

"Hey there, Erza! Are you done with your shift?" inquired the ice mage.

"Yes, I am." answered the knight.

"Alright then. So, you're heading back to Fairy Tail now?" asked Gray.

Erza nodded.

"I'll see you there!" exclaimed the ice mage.

Immediately, he began to head home along with Erza.

"Well, it's been a long night..." noted Gray.

Immediately, he decided to go to bed...on the couch.

"Zzz..." murmured the ice mage.

_Naruto and Lucy can't seem to catch a break...this time they're being attacked by Setsuna, Chihiro, and Dracferatu!_

_How is their battles with them going to turn out this time?_

_And will Gray really go on another date with Juvia?_

_I hope you're excited for the next chapter!_


	34. Chapter 34: Ninja Promotions

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, we're going to continue where we left off...and Kimimaro and Team Edisu are going to get promoted! Yay!_

_Oddly enough the last chapter happened to be called Ladies' Night when it took place during the day...do you think it was still fitting?_

**Chapter 34: Ninja Promotions**

"It looks like I'm stuck in Konoha..." said Shikamaru. Apparently, when Tsunade had realized that criminals were escaping from her slave camp, she decided that she needed to barricade Konoha to make sure nobody came in or out.

So, he was stuck in his house for the time being. It was for his own protection, they said.

No matter. He hardly left his house anyway. He'd rather go to sleep than do something more active.

Well, that and read a book. He was Levy's interdimensional partner now after all.

However, he wondered how long the barricade was going to be. Tsunade never mentioned how long this was going to take.

He didn't want to be stranded in his house for too long. He wanted to go visit his friends.

Speaking of which, where were they? He wasn't exactly sure where Ino and Choji were when the barricade hit.

He hoped that they were somewhere nice.

However, he was starting to get worried about Lucy. According to the TV, she was fighting against the wanted criminals.

Of course, he was worried about Naruto and Kimimaro too. Were they going to be OK?

Curious, he noticed that the Sand Siblings were trying to protect them. Would they be enough? Then again, Temari did save him from that female psychopath by the name of Tayuya.

"Sheesh...this invasion is such a drag." noted Shikamaru.

Now that he thought of it...didn't he get promoted to chunin during Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha?

"What a coincidence..." acknowledged the shadow ninja.

Personally he hoped that the criminals would be caught soon. Why did Naruto and his friends have so many crazy foes these days?

According to the TV, one of them even happened to be a vampire.

"I thought those only existed in myths..." thought Shikamaru.

Then again, judging from the interdimensional portal he used as well as his magical spells, he likely wasn't from the world of ninja.

Hopefully Naruto, Lucy, and Kimimaro had some holy water...or some garlic...or some silver...or didn't invite him into their houses.

"Vampires have a surprising amount of weaknesses." noted Shikamaru.

Oddly enough, sunlight didn't appear to be hurting him...it was just making him sparkle.

"How odd." thought the shadow ninja.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the sun wasn't going to burn him up. That would make things too easy, now wouldn't it?

Suddenly, he noticed that Konohamaru and his friends were being attacked by a rather large vampire bat. Apparently, the vampire had summoned it to attack them.

"I hope they're OK...they're only genin." noted Shikamaru.

Then again, Naruto had been a genin only until recently. What exactly took him so long to become a chunin?

"Well, admittedly he did decide to go train with Jiraiya for about two and a half years or so..." noted Shikamaru.

Oddly enough...now that he thought of it...he and Lucy happened to be roughly around the same age. Both of them were about sixteen years old, he believed.

"What were the odds?" inquired Shikamaru.

Then again, they were interdimensional partners.

"Hmm..." thought the ninja. Naruto and Lucy already had their similarities before they shared the same interdimensional portal.

"It's really weird." spoke Shikamaru.

Now that he thought of it...why did he keep talking to himself?

He must be getting pretty lonely.

"I must miss Choji and Ino..." noted the shadow ninja.

It wasn't much of a surprise. They seemed to do everything together these days...at least until Lucy came along and he started playing Shogi with her.

Hopefully she was going to make it out of this alive.

"I wonder where Choji and Ino are? Hopefully they're somewhere more populated than this..." said Shikamaru.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hmm, I think Gamabunta might need some help." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately, Gamabunta was being lifted into the sky by Haruka.

"Let me down!" bellowed the toad.

Apparently, Haruka was trying to make Gamabunta fall from a great height in order to wound him.

"What do you suggest?" inquired Temari.

Immediately, Lucy whistled for his archrival.

"What do you want?" asked Kaeruwara.

"I need you to help Gamabunta. He's getting pulverized out here!" exclaimed Lucy.

"But it's hilarious!" bellowed the giant frog.

"You don't want your summoner to get killed, do you?" inquired Temari.

"I'm conflicted." said Kaeruwara.

Suddenly, Gamabunta landed on top of him.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Gamabunta.

"Alright, you have me convinced." answered the giant frog.

Immediately, he used his tongue to grab onto Haraku, locking her in place.

"Alright! Now I can hit with my Rasengan!" bellowed Lucy.

Lucy did so, causing Haraku to screech. Setsuna immediately began to scowl.

"Looks like I wounded her." noted the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, Haruka began to fly towards her in retaliation.

"Uh-oh." said Lucy.

Immediately, she leapt out of the way.

However, Haruka was still continuing to fly towards her.

"That's one persistent bird of prey." noted Lucy.

Meanwhile, Temari was dealing with Setsuna, and was once again attacking her with Kamatari.

This time, he was doing his job right, and Setsuna was covered with several cuts and scrapes.

"Aren't you a tough ninja..." answered the kunochi.

"Our village didn't train us to be amateurs." spoke Temari.

"That explains how you got in the military." noted Setsuna as she began to whip up a whirlwind.

In retaliation, Temari began to counter with her fan.

This time, she stretched out it all the way.

The two attacks cancelled each other out...but Setsuna managed to slash Temari shortly afterwards.

"Agh!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Fortunately, she wasn't greviously injured. However, it was rather painful nonetheless.

"You think you can defeat the bandit queen?" inquired Setsuna.

"The bandit queen?" asked Temari.

"Why do you think I have all these bandits backing me up?" asked the kunoichi.

"That explains a lot." answered the kunoichi. Personally she was surprised how many bandits there were back home. They sure seemed to thrive in the desert.

However, at this point, the bandit's morale was decreasing...in no small part due to the fact that one of their opponents was attacking with two giant amphibians.

"Um, are you sure that we're cut out for this?" asked one of the bandits.

As it turned out, they were beginning to fall back.

"Of course you are!" exclaimed Setsuna.

"But they've got two giant frogs!" bellowed another bandit.

"Actually, one of us is a giant frog. I happen to be a giant toad." explained Gamabunta.

"What's the difference?" inquired the aforementioned bandit.

"Well, frogs sweat mucus and have to live near water. I don't need to sweat mucus and I don't need to live near water." said Gamabunta.

The bandit began to shiver with revulsion upon realizing that frogs sweat mucus.

"I know. I'm as disgusted as you are." agreed the giant toad.

Kaeruwara began to glare at Gamabunta.

Immediately, the former began to shoot a destructive beam of water at the bandits, sending them flying.

Some of the bandits tried to stab Kaeruwara and Gamabunta with some rather sharp knives...but unfortunately they weren't doing a thing against their flesh.

They subsquently began to retreat, much to Setsuna's frustration.

"My bandit crew are as incompetent as ever!" bellowed the bandit queen.

"Sorry to hear that." answered Temari.

Suddenly, Kerai (otherwise known as the bandit chief, and the former leader of the bandits) made his appearance.

"Ah! There you are! I was wondering where you had hopped off too...I didn't see you with any of my birds." said Setsuna.

"One of the birds thought it would be a better idea to go and eat some fish rather than take me to our destination..." answered the bandit chief.

"I see...so, are you ready to help?" inquired the kunoichi.

Kerai nodded.

Immediately, he began to create some wind clones of himself.

"Good to see you've mastered that jutsu." said Setsuna.

"Things are about get more difficult..." noted Temari.

Then again, she did like a challenge.

Kankuro continued trying to attack Chihiro with her puppets. This time, he managed to stab her in the leg.

"Aaugh!" bellowed the kunoichi.

However, her new healing abilities were kicking in once again.

"This is a war of attrition..." thought Kankuro.

He in fact had been in a few of those in the past. Why did wars have to take so long?

Virgo tried to attack Chihiro, but this time she was ready. She jumped away as soon as she started digging.

This time, Naruto decided to ask Aries for help.

"C'mon! You can do it!" bellowed the genin.

Aries faintly began to smile upon hearing that.

Immediately, she began to attack Chihiro with a Wool Bomb.

"Aah!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Nice shot!" bellowed Naruto.

Unfortunately, Chihiro punched away Aries shortly afterwards, sending her on top of Kankuro.

"Um, hi?" asked the puppetmaster.

Curious, Aries noticed Kankuro's creepy-looking puppets, and began to feel very nervous.

Naruto tried to comfort her.

"Take a deep breath...the puppets aren't going to hurt you...they're on your side..." said the chunin.

"Y-yes! Of c-course!" bellowed Aries.

However, Chihiro was charging up for another electric pulse.

"But Chihiro certainly isn't." answered Naruto.

"Huh?" inquired the celestial spirit.

Immediately, Chihiro hit Aries and Naruto with an electric pulse.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the duo.

"Are you two OK?" inquired Kankuro.

"We're kind of messed up..." answered Naruto.

Aries was having trouble getting to her feet.

Likewise, Naruto appeared to be rather dizzy.

"This isn't good." noted Kankuro.

"Darn right!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Fortunately, Kankuro's puppets were now keeping her on the defensive.

"I don't think we can take another shot like that..." acknowledged the chunin.

"Agreed. You sure we can win?" inquired Aries.

"The fates of our friends are on the line here...so yes." answered Naruto.

Once again, she began to take a deep breath.

Chihiro prepared another Chidori, but this time Kankuro was ready and countered with Salamander, much to her frustration.

"Oh c'mon! I can't keep using that jutsu all day!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Ah yes...I believe Sasuke had a limit to how many times he could use that jutsu." noted Naruto.

Now that he thought of it, he wondered how many Rasengan he should be tossing at his foes.

Wouldn't want to overexert himself now, like he had done back when the Sound Four were chasing him.

"Where is Dracferatu?" asked Gaara, hurling sand at the vampire bats.

"I have no idea..." answered Kimimaro.

Personally, he began to wonder if he should try looking for a bat that looked different from everyone else.

Surely the real Dracferatu would look different from the other bats, right?

However, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Suddenly, he noticed that one of the vampire bats happened to look bigger than the rest.

Immediately, he tried focusing fire on it.

Sure enough, this was the real one, and Dracferatu turned back to normal.

"Agh! How did you know it was me?" inquired the vampire.

"You were bigger than the other bats..." answered Kimimaro.

Dracferatu sighed. He really needed to do something about that.

For now, he needed to try something different.

Immediately, he began to transform into a wolf.

"Good thing I can transform into more than just a bat. Ahhahahaha." spoke Dracferatu.

This was then followed by him biting Gaara in the leg. Unfortunately, Shukaku's sand couldn't protect him this time.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Gaara. Dracferatu really had sharp fangs in his wolf form.

However, Kimimaro wasn't going to allow him to suck the blood out of Gaara. Once again, it was time for him to be a hero.

This time, he began to summon some velociraptors to attack Dracferatu.

Ironically, they attacked him by biting, causing him to revert back to his normal form.

Gaara then hit the vampire with a sand tsunami.

"Right...hopefully he won't be able to escape from all that sand..." noted the sand ninja.

Unfortunately, he was slowly breaking free.

"Man, he's strong..." thought the sand ninja.

**"Typical for a vampire." **noted Shukaku.

Eventually, he broke free. However, he appeared to be exhausted.

"I could really use a pick-me-up right about now...ahhahaha." said the vampire.

Immediately, he began to drink blood from the velociraptors to replenish his strength.

Kimimaro quickly dismissed them.

"You're a poor sport!" bellowed Dracferatu.

"My teammate Tayuya did something like this all the time whenever her summons were hindering her..." answered Kimimaro.

Immediately, he began to cast another spell to put the duo to sleep.

Unfortunately for Kimimaro, Dracferatu succeeded. Fortunately for Gaara, the spell didn't affect him.

"Why didn't you fall asleep?" inquired the vampire.

"Can't sleep. Tailed beast will eat me." answered Gaara. Apparently, being the jinchuriki of Shukaku allowed him to resist knockout gas and the like.

**"Darn right!" **exclaimed Shukaku.

"I see..." spoke the vampire.

Personally, he wondered what the blood of a tailed beast would taste like.

"No matter. That's still one down, one to go! Ahhahaha." exclaimed Dracferatu.

"That laugh is getting on my nerves..." thought Gaara.

Immediately, he began to try to wake Kimimaro up.

He hoped that he wasn't a heavy sleeper.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were being chased by Dracferatu's favorite vampire bat, Vladimir.

"I vant to suck your blood! Give it to me!" exclaimed Vladimir.

"No!" bellowed Konohamaru.

Unfortunately, Vladimir proved to be rather agile.

"We can't keep running away from him like this!" bellowed Moegi.

"He's going to catch us!" exclaimed Udon.

Sure enough, Vladimir was slowly catching up to them.

Immediately, he let out a screech, causing Team Ebisu to begin to cover their ears.

Unfortunately, Vladimir could use this to stun his prey, allowing him to sink his teeth into their necks.

"Vhich one should I pick first? I can hardly vait!" exclaimed Vladimir.

For some strange reason, Vladimir always replaced his Vs with Ws as of late. Maybe because his owner happened to be a vampire? Then again, he actually didn't speak that way himself.

He decided that he wanted to target Udon first.

Immediately, he sank his teeth into Udon's neck.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Udon.

Fortunately, his teammates were there to rescue him.

"Leave him alone!" bellowed Moegi.

Immediately, she hit Vladimir on the head with a frying pan.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the vampire bat.

Apparently, the trio were a bit stronger than he thought.

Then again, Konohamaru did happen to be the grandson of the Third Hokage.

Immediately, he decided to try sucking out Moegi's blood instead...

...only to have a paper bomb attached to his face by Udon for his trouble.

The paper bomb exploded, causing Vladimir to collapse on the floor.

Knowing that he could only suck their blood if he got too close to them, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi decided to leap away from the vampire while he was stunned.

However, he was a very persistent predator.

"I vill suck your blood!" bellowed Vladimir.

Once again, he began flying towards them.

"How do we keep him away?" inquired Moegi.

Shrugging, Konohamaru decided to do what he thought would work best.

In this case, it was to toss kunai at Vladimir.

Frantically, he began trying to avoid them.

"Thank goodness I have plenty to spare..." noted the genin.

However, he realized that he was going to run out eventually, and that therefore he wasn't going to be able to keep tossing them forever. Just how was he going to defend himself then?

He might be in serious trouble here.

"I hope Naruto and his friends finish their battles soon..." noted the genin.

He wasn't sure if he and his friends could take on a ferocious vampire bat alone.

Immediately, Vladimir prepared for another assault on their necks.

"This time I vill get your blood! I mean it!" bellowed the vampire bat.

"Incoming!" bellowed Konohamaru.

Life always did seem so much easier for him during his time as a genin...then again, his grandfather did end up dying in his youth thanks to Orochimaru.

One of these days he wanted to avenge his death...could he become strong enough?

_Meanwhile..._

Ino and Choji tried to leave the Yakiniku BBQ, only to be met with an unfortunate discovery.

"What the heck?" inquired Choji.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they were stuck at the restaurant at the moment. The jonin of Konoha had set up a barricade to prevent the criminals from escaping, and in the process had trapped Choji and Ino.

It looked like they weren't going to be able to leave.

"Looks like we're stuck here." noted Ino.

"Yeah, we are..." answered Choji. Who would have thought they were going to end up being stranded?

Curious, they noticed that nobody else appeared to be at the restaurant at the moment. It had been completely deserted.

"Where did they all go?" inquired Ino.

"We must have been here longer than we thought." noted the Akimichi clan member.

"Yeah...how long were we here, anyway?" agreed the Yamanaka clan member.

"About six hours, I think...why do you ask?" asked Choji.

"Sheesh." answered Ino.

Already, they were starting to get bored.

"What's a girl to do?" inquired Ino.

"What's a boy to do?" agreed Choji.

Immediately, they began to look for a way to pass the time.

Unfortunately, it appeared that all the dishes had already been washed.

"I guess we won't be using the dishwasher..." noted Ino.

"Yeah..." agreed Choji.

Likewise, the floors had already been mopped.

"Darn it! I just found the mop too!" exclaimed Ino.

"Where was it?" inquired Choji.

"In the janitor's closet." answered the kunoichi.

"Oh, right...of course." nodded the human wrecking ball.

As they also discovered, the tables had already been done.

"They're really doing their jobs today, aren't they?" inquired Choji.

"Yes, they are." answered Ino.

Curious, they wondered if they should try paying their bill.

Unfortunately, it only took them a few minutes, and they found themselves without anything to do again.

"Well, Choji, it looks like we have nothing to do..." answered Ino.

"That's right, Ino...all we have now..." said Choji.

"...is each other." they said in unison.

Immediately, they began to make out...as they did not have anything better to do.

Besides, they loved doing that.

"You're such a good kisser, Choji!" exclaimed Ino.

"And you're quite the hugger!" bellowed Choji.

Personally they wondered why they hadn't hooked up earlier.

Granted, Ino had thought that Sai was rather cute...but his sense of humor was rather vulgar, to say the very least.

Personally she liked Choji's sense of humor better.

Likewise, Choji liked hanging out with Ino...because she was secretly a bigger eater than he was.

The food just didn't have much of an impact on her body. Apparently, her clan would remain forever slender.

And since the restaurant had been barricaded, nobody was going to barge in while they were making out...

...right?

_Meanwhile at the Chunin Exams..._

Temari was running out of options. The more bandits she blew away, the faster they ran towards her.

Likewise, Lucy was having a time dealing with Kaeri and his clones. Gamabunta and Kaeruwara were holding down Haruka the best that they could, but she was one tough bird.

"You thought you could defeat the bandit queen?! Think again!" bellowed Setsuna.

Immediately, she blew away Gamabunta and Kaeruwara away from Haruka, allowing her to break free and start attacking Lucy and Temari again.

"I already managed to defeat you once before." pointed out Lucy.

**"What makes her sure we can't do it again?" **inquired Kurama.

"Oh yeah? Well, that was a one-time fluke! It's not going to happen again! Don't try!" exclaimed Setsuna.

Suddenly, she remembered that she still had a wolf-man that she could use.

"Oh, right. How did I forget about him?

Immediately, she instructed the wolf-man to restrain Setsuna so that she couldn't hit them with another wind jutsu...which she did.

"Let me go!" exclaimed Setsuna, trying to break free from his iron grip.

"You look tasty..." murmured the wolf-man.

Setsuna began to shudder.

Getting an idea, Kamatari then swiped the sword from the wind kunoichi.

"Hey! That's my sword!" exclaimed the bandit queen.

He then handed it to Temari.

"Thanks...but I don't know how to use a sword." noted the kunoichi.

"You don't? Why don't you do me a favor and hand it back to me!" exclaimed Setsuna.

This gave Temari an idea.

"Alright then...I'll toss it back to you..." said the kunoichi.

Setsuna smiled.

"Literally." spoke Temari.

"What the-" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Temari tossed the sword at Setsuna as an improvised kunai, puncturing one of her arteries.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Setsuna.

She collapsed on the floor.

"Mistress!" bellowed Kerai.

Shortly afterwards, everything began to go downhill for Setsuna's minions.

Suddenly, Lucy hit all of Kerai's clones with her whip, causing them all to disappear into smoke.

"I didn't realize that I could use this to attack all of the clones at once." said the kunoichi.

"Noooo!" screamed the kunoichi.

"Lucy Kick!" bellowed Lucy.

Immediately, she hit Kerai right between the legs, causing him to collapse on the floor in a heap.

"Ugh..." murmured the bandit chief.

"You didn't tell me that you specialized in taijutsu, Lucy." said Temari.

"Taijutsu? You mean physical jutsus and the like?" inquired the kunoichi.

Temari nodded.

"That actually isn't my speciality...summoning creatures is." answered Lucy.

"Really? You've got a really mighty kick..." noted the kunoichi.

"Gee, thanks." spoke the kunoichi.

With both the bandit queen and the bandit chief down for the count, the bandits decided to retreat.

"I guess they were cowards." noted Temari.

"They sure were." answered Lucy.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still fighting against Chihiro. However, much like Temari, he was feeling rather exhausted.

"I can't fight much longer..." noted the chunin.

"Good!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Likewise, Kankuro appeared to be have spent much of his chakra as well, as his puppets were beginning to slow down.

"How long is this battle going to be?" inquired Kankuro.

"It's been raging on for about half an hour." answered Naruto.

"That doesn't bode too well for us, does it? We don't have unlimited chakra." acknowledged the ninja.

"Well, no ninja does. That's impossible." said the chunin.

Fortunately, help arrived from a rather familiar source.

"Hey you! Yeah you!" bellowed Taurus.

"Huh?" asked Chihiro.

Suddenly, Taurus crawled out of the arena.

"You! You zapped my girlfriend!" exclaimed the minotaur.

"Um..." murmured the kunoichi.

Immediately, he began to charge towards Chihiro.

She was caught completely off-guard, and was sending flying back several feet.

"Aargh!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Yeah! Way to go, Taurie pie!" exclaimed Aries.

"Would you care to help me? She's getting back up..." noted Taurus.

Sure enough, Chihiro was getting back up to her feet.

Aries nodded, and hit her with another Wool Bomb, knocking her back down.

"Thank goodness...I think we're actually winning now..." acknowledged Kankuro.

"Didn't she have a jutsu that she could use for crowd control?" inquired Naruto.

Suddenly, Chihiro hit Aries and Taurus with her electric pulse jutsu, sending them both backwards.

"Oh, right...that jutsu..." noted the puppetmaster.

"Not bad! But it all ends here!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Naruto noticed Virgo was just standing there.

"Er...why are you not helping them?" inquired the chunin.

Virgo jumped in surprise. Apparently, she wasn't paying attention.

"Sorry, master! I should have paid more attention! Punish me!" bellowed Virgo.

Naruto poked her in the belly, causing her to giggle like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

"You're not a bad girl...don't be so hard on yourself." said Naruto.

"Is there anything I can do?" inquired Virgo.

"Well, I need someone with muscle...and I think you happen to be stronger than you look." noted the chunin.

"I can transform into a gorilla-like form actually..." said the maiden.

"What? You can?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah...most people are terrified of it though...I've only had one summoner that ever wanted me to look like that..." spoke Virgo.

"Being terrified, I can live with. I cannot say the same if I experienced about ten thousand volts." explained the chunin.

"Oh, right...wouldn't want you to die master." nodded the Celestial Spirit.

Immediately, she transformed into her gorilla form, causing Kankuro and Naruto to gasp.

"You're right, Virgo...your gorilla form is rather scary...and yet it's somehow beautiful..." noted the chunin.

"You flatter me, master." said Virgo in a rather scary-sounding voice.

"Maybe you could try body slamming her? That seems as good of a strategy as any." suggested Naruto.

Kankuro nodded. That did seem like a good idea.

"Here I go!" exclaimed Virgo, running straight towards Chihiro.

As it turned out, Taurus and Aries were both hugging each other tightly, as she was about to charge up some very deadly lightning bolts in each of her palms.

"You thought you could defeat me, did you? It's time for you to taste...my sheer power!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Suddenly, she noticed that a very large shadow had appeared below her.

"What?" asked the kunoichi.

She looked up...and her jaw dropped in shock.

"Oh...dear..." murmured Chihiro.

Virgo landed on top of Chihiro, knocking her out cold instantly.

She then turned back to her regular form.

"So, how did I do, master?" inquired the maiden.

"You did great, Virgo!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Thank you." said Virgo.

Naruto immediately handed her a cookie.

"You're too kind." answered the maiden.

"I know...I'm a sweetheart...girls say it all the time." spoke the chunin.

Meanwhile, Gaara was trying to find a way to become a vampireslayer while making Kimimaro wake up.

Immediately, he began to pull out some pans and began to bang them together.

Kimimaro was still asleep.

"That didn't work." noted the son of the Fourth Kazekage.

"Good luck trying to wake him up! Ahhahahaha." answered Dracferatu.

Gaara tried playing an electric guitar next, but that didn't work either.

"I don't even play the guitar." noted the sand ninja.

Oddly enough, not even the screeching of the bats appeared to be waking Kimimaro up.

Hopefully the spell was going to wear off soon. By the looks of it, he had been put to sleep forever.

Sighing, it looked like he was going to continue fighting Dracferatu without him.

However, as it turned out...help was arriving from an unlikely source.

**"Would you like to tap into my chakra?" **inquired Shukaku.

"Hmm? You're offering to help me?" asked Gaara.

**"I hate vampires...so yes." **answered the tanuki.

"Alright then..." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, he transformed one of Gaara's arms into that of his own.

"This brings back memories." noted the sand ninja.

He then began to use it to grab Dracferatu. This time, he was having a harder time breaking free.

"Hey! Let me go!" exclaimed the vampire.

He then began to pummel Dracferatu in the ground, leaving cracks in the floor as he did so.

"Ouch! Ow! Oof! This is surprisingly painful." noted Dracferatu.

He then flung him far away, sending him crashing into the chairs on the other side of the Chunins Exams arena.

As soon as he helped himself to his feet, he began to see bats surrounding his head.

Apparently, he had a concussion.

"Why is this boy so tough? He looked innocent enough when I first saw him..." asked Dracferatu as he rubbed his forehead.

Then again, not everyone was who they first appeared to be.

Unfortunately for Dracferatu, Gaara's Shukaku arm now happened to be elastic.

"You didn't tell me you could stretch." noted the sand ninja.

**"I happen to be rather...flexible." **answered Shukaku.

"Well, admittedly the arm was partly made of sand." acknowledged Gaara.

He then began to smash Dracferatu into concrete, who as this point was taking quite a beating.

"Aaugh! I can't take this anymore!" bellowed the vampire.

At this point, Kimimaro began to wake up.

"Good to see you're awake...it's a pretty bad idea to go to sleep on the battlefield. Then again, I wouldn't do it even if I wasn't on the battlefield." answered Gaara.

"Does that have anything to do with your tailed beast?" inquired Kimimaro.

"Yes, it does." answered the sand ninja.

Immediately, Kimimaro fashioned a stake made out of bone, and stabbed Dracferatu in the chest.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the vampire.

However, he missed his heart by the few inches.

Nonetheless, this was enough to take him out.

"Well, we may not be vampireslayers...but at least we managed to defeat one." answered Gaara.

"That's still rather impressive." noted Kimimaro.

"Should we still call ourselves vampireslayers?" inquired the sand ninja.

"I don't know." answered the bone ninja.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were still facing Vladimir. Unfortunately, he appeared to have the advantage over the three of them.

Why you may ask? Because Vladimir was the top servant of an ancient vampire...and he was up against a bunch of kids.

Well, technically they were preteens. But you got the idea.

"What are we going to do? This vampire bat is tough..." noted Konohamaru.

"At this rate we're going to get exsanguinated!" exclaimed Udon.

Moegi began to shudder. Were they going to die? She always thought that she had so much left to live for.

Then again, she couldn't quite remember what she was living life for at the moment, since she was scared out of her wits.

Were they going to become Dracferatu's vampire spawn?

And to make matters worse, Vladimir was getting better at avoiding his kunai and was flying around faster.

At this rate, he wasn't going to be able to hit him at all.

"There's got to be way to save my friends...they're counting on me!" exclaimed the genin.

"Say your prayers!" exclaimed Vladimir.

"Wouldn't those hurt you and your owner?" inquired Udon.

"On second thought, don't say your prayers!" bellowed the vampire bat.

"Hmm..." thought Moegi.

Curious, they tried saying their prayers, and a lighting bolt hit Vladimir from the heavens.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the vampire. Being on the side of an unholy creature had its disadvantages.

However, he still did not go down.

"What to do..." murmured Konohamaru.

Suddenly, he noticed that one of the judges' chairs was standing next to him.

It actually wasn't very heavy.

Shrugging, he decided to use it as an improvised weapon.

"Stand back from my friends and I! I'm warning you!" bellowed Naruto's apprentice.

Vladimir ignored him, still wishing to drink his blood.

He paid the price from it.

Immediately, Konohamaru began to whack Vladimir with the chair, causing him to screech.

"Yeow! That hurts!" bellowed the vampire bat.

"Never suck the blood of my friends!" exclaimed the genin.

He then finished Vladimir off with another blow from the chair, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"How could I lose...to a bunch of brats?" inquired the vampire bat as he passed out.

"Wow! We actually managed to win! Naruto will be so proud!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

"I know...is he doing OK?" asked Udon.

"I think so...he appears to be recovering from his injuries over there." answered the genin.

Curious, he noticed that there appeared to be a nurse with him that happened to have purple hair.

"How did she get there?" inquired Konohamaru.

As it turned out, Virgo was giving Naruto some bandages.

"There! Now you're as good as new!" exclaimed the maiden.

"Thank you." said the genin.

"Do I get bandages too?" inquired Kankuro.

"What's the magic word?" asked Virgo.

"Please." said the puppetmaster.

Virgo immediately handed Kankuro some band-aids.

"Thank you." answered the sand sibling.

Likewise, Temari and Lucy were recovering from their battle as well.

"That was a big fight..." noted the kunoichi.

**"I'll say! It lasted for two chapters!" **bellowed Kurama.

"My nine-tailed fox is breaking the fourth wall..." said Lucy.

"Is he now? I don't ever recall Gaara's tailed beast ever doing that..." answered Temari.

"You can hear his tailed beast too?" inquired the summoner.

"Well, sometimes I can. It depends on how loud he's being. Right now he appears to be celebrating his victory." said the wind kunoichi.

**"We are the champions! We are the champions!" **exclaimed Shukaku.

"I suppose we are." agreed Gaara, who actually began to smile.

The judges reappeared shortly afterwards.

"Is the carnage over?" asked one of the judges.

"Yes...I actually managed to take down a giant vampire bat..." answered Konohamaru.

"Really? Congratulations, Konohamaru!" bellowed Naruto.

"Thank you...he was tough, but we managed to prevail in the end. I hit him with a chair..." said the genin.

"Well, considering how brave you were in that situation...I think you and your teammates deserve the title of chunin." said one of the judges.

"Yes!" cheered Udon and Moegi.

Likewise, the judges decided to do the same for Kimimaro. Personally, they thought he was strong enough to become a jonin.

But like all ninja, he needed to work his way from the bottom.

"Well, it looks like I'll get to go on B-Rank Missions now..." noted Kimimaro.

"Congratulations! Then again I go on A-Rank Missions all the time these days...even though I was a chunin until about half an hour ago..." acknowledged Naruto.

"How ironic. So, can I go home now?" asked Lucy.

"Give the jonin a few moments to lower the barricades." said one of the judges.

Suddenly, the Water siblings burst into the arena.

"Are we too late for the finals?" inquired one of the siblings.

"Well, admittedly you did show up late." acknowledged another judge.

"We know..." answered another sibling.

"Do you want us what you can do?" inquired yet another judge.

One of the siblings began to smash the ground with his hammer, another began to scult clay into explosive clay figures, and yet another used a powerful water jutsu.

"You seem impressive enough. You pass!" exclaimed the first judge.

The Water Siblings began to cheer.

"Who do those remind me of?" asked Kimimaro.

Gaara shrugged. He couldn't tell.

Eventually, all the barricades were lowered, and Lucy was free to go.

"Alright! Now I can head back home again!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"You sure have been gone for a while, haven't you?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, I have." answered Lucy.

Konohamaru in particular was looking forward to seeing his teacher again...who unfortunately had jury duty and could not attend the Chunin Exam finals.

"Jury duty at a time like this? What were they thinking?" inquired the freshly promoted chunin.

He let out a sigh.

But at least he would be able to tell everyone else the good news.

_Meanwhile..._

Due to the fact that Konoha had been barricaded to protect it from the wanted criminals, Natsu had a rather hard time getting home.

"What took you so long?" inquired Erza.

"Sorry, I had to wait for each of the jonin to lower the barricades...the Chunin Exams were attacked and they were trying to defend Konoha from the criminals." explained Natsu.

"The Chunin Exams? Was Lucy OK?" asked Gray.

"She made it out alright, fortunately. She even became a Chunin." said the fire mage.

"Really? That's awesome!" exclaimed the knight.

"Yes, we know." nodded Natsu.

"So, did Naruto become a chunin too?" inquired Erza.

"He sure did!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Yes!" cheered the knight.

"And so did Kimimaro!" exclaimed Natsu.

"That's good news for everyone then." noted Gray.

"Yeah..." answered the fire mage.

Suddenly, they heard someone knocking on the door.

"Hmm? Is someone there?" asked Erza.

Curious, they opened the door.

It was none other than Professor Fumbledore.

"Excuse me? I'm looking for your latest recruit...Chiyoye Headstone." said the wizard.

Natsu, Gray, and Erza gasped in shock upon realizing who he was referring to.

"You might want to...speak to Makarov about that." spoke Erza.

"Yes, of course." answered the professor.

Immediately, he went to speak to Makarov.

"Yes, how may I help you?" inquired the guildmaster.

"I'm looking for Chiyoye Headstone." said Professor Fumbledore.

Makarov was rather surprised.

"I'm afraid she isn't here anymore...she already left the guild a long time ago." answered the guildmaster.

Professor Fumbledore sighed.

"Sorry to disappoint you." answered Makarov.

"She's probably devastating the environment as we speak..." noted the professor.

"Yes...from what Erza and Naruto told me, she was very proficient in draining life...how much do you know about her?" inquired Makarov.

"More than I would like to." answered Professor Fumbledore.

"What do you know?" asked the guildmaster.

"I did research into our past...looking for something that I could use to try to redeem her...but in the end, I didn't find anything. It's as if she's the devil himself. She was sadistic even as a child." spoke the professor.

"That's rather unfortunate..." noted Makarov. Was there really no redemption for Chiyoye?

"Did you know that she destroyed her own village?" inquired Professor Fumbledore.

"She what?!" bellowed the guildmaster.

"Yes, it's true...she murdered everyone in the village and razed it to the ground. I cannot believe that she would do something like it myself. But all the facts lead towards her as the culprit." answered the magician teacher.

"I see." nodded Makarov.

"Personally I was going to search for her so that I could bring her to justice for everything she did...so that I could redeem myself." spoke Professor Fumbledore.

"Redeem yourself?" inquired the guildmaster of Fairy Tail.

"I used to be her teacher." said the man.

"Oh my." answered Makarov.

"I know...she was the worst witch I could have ever picked to be one of her students...I regret every moment of it." answered Professor Fumbledore.

"Yeah...I personally regret ever letting her into my guild. I wonder if I should come with you..." noted the guildmaster.

"No no no. You're still needed here. Don't throw your life away. Besides, I feel like this is something that I need to do myself." demanded the elderly magician.

"Alright, alright." nodded Makarov. Admittedly, he did have a point. Without him Fairy Tail would be significantly weakened.

"Wait, didn't you mention something about being a teacher?"

"I used to be...until Chiyoye murdered my students..." answered Professor Fumbledore.

"That's terrible. I know how exactly how you feel. Chiyoye murdered some of my guildmates too. Gruesomely, no less." nodded Makarov.

"Were they stripped to the bone?" inquired the professor.

"Yes, they were." answered the guildmaster, looking like he was about to cry.

"That's the fate that befell my students. I really should have kept a better eye on her." noted the former teacher.

"Maybe I should have kept a closer eye on her too. I'm sealing off her room brick by brick as we speak." answered Makarov.

"How close are you to finishing?" inquired Professor Fumbledore.

"We're almost done..." Makarov sighed. "Almost..."

"Do you have any leads to where she had gone?" asked the professor.

"Well, I believe she's looking for more victims so that she can make herself powerful...she even murdered four people that some of our newer recruits knew personally...granted, they weren't exactly friends of theirs, but they all agreed that they should never had died like that." answered Makarov.

"Believe me, I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy." noted Professor Fumbledore.

"Who is your worst enemy?" inquired the guildmaster.

"The man who keeps stealing my hat." answered the professor.

Suddenly, a man walked into the room and stole his hat.

"There he goes again." spoke Professor Fumbledore.

"Got your hat!" exclaimed the man as he ran away.

"Should I get your hat back for you?" asked Makarov.

"Maybe later. We have more important matters to discuss." answered the professor.

"Yes, of course." answered the guildmaster.

"Is there anything you happen to know about Chiyoye? I don't know everything about her...though I know quite a bit about her nonetheless." spoke the elderly magician.

"Well, she came here to steal the Book Of The Dark Arts...and succeeded." noted Makarov.

"That's quite serious." acknowledged Professor Fumbledore.

"Agreed." nodded Makarov.

"She may have stolen other spellbooks in the past, she may have not." answered the professor.

"Well, Naruto did mention something about finding dark spellbooks underneath her room...some of our mages are having a look at them as we speak." noted the guildmaster.

"A wise decision." agreed Professor Fumbledore.

"Well, it was nice meeting a wizard like yourself." said Makarov as he shook his hand. "It's good to see that there's someone else who has had years of experience."

"But you look so young..." answered the professor.

"That's because a friend of mine taught me a jutsu." explained the guildmaster.

"A jutsu?" asked Professor Fumbledore. He had never heard of such a thing.

"It's a long story." spoke Makarov.

"Mm-hmm." answered the professor.

"Now that I think of it...considering that she has already drained the life out of a town...maybe she's heading to a city next." noted the guildmaster.

Professor Fumbledore's eyes widened in surprise.

"I think I know where she's going now." said the mage.

"You do?" inquired Makarov.

"Well, I might know where she's going...she may be planning to destroy my home city." said Professor Fumbledore.

"And that is..." spoke the guildmaster.

"Mana City." answered the elderly mage.

"Yes, I wish good luck to you. And remember, the faster you arrive there, the less opportunities Chiyoye gets to become stronger." noted Makarov.

"I'm well-aware of that, thank you. It's a pity that she turned to the dark side...she was such a promising pupil." acknowledged Professor Fumbledore.

"She was a promising mage to us too...though maybe we should have been more hesistant to take her in." agreed the guildmaster.

"Right, I'll teleport there and be on it." said the former teacher.

"Try not to die. We want you to stop her, not assist her." warned Makarov, knowing that he would have his life drained if he lost.

"Not to worry...Chiyoye can't gather much strength from the elderly...nor can she drain the life from the sick without getting ill herself." noted the professor.

"That must be a pretty big weakness for her." acknowledged the guildmaster.

"It sure is." nodded Professor Fumbledore.

"Goodbye then. Good luck against Chiyoye!" exclaimed Makarov.

He immediately teleported out of his office.

_Meanwhile..._

Once again, Kenichi was having trouble deciding which clan should be next. He couldn't quite put a finger on it this time.

He had tried killing more people that had the misfortune of encountering him while thinking of a plan, but eventually he ran out of victims. He did not know whether they were just hiding or whether he simply wasn't having any luck.

"What to do..." said the man.

Apparently, it was time to check the world map. Surely there was another clan that he had not destroyed yet. More clans appeared in Konoha in all the time, and he made sure to keep himself updated of recent events.

"Let's see now..." answered Kenichi as he began to survey the world map.

Personally he was rather glad that he was keeping this with him nowadays. He couldn't travel around the world effectively without it. He was fairly skilled at geography, though he did not quite know the world of ninja like the back of his hand yet. It would take him a few more months, at least.

Already, he had crossed out the clans he had already eradicated. The map in question was heavily covered with Xs. He never showed any mercy, not to the weak. They didn't deserve it, he had said. Men, women, children...it didn't matter to him. They all deserved to be wiped out.

"Where haven't I gone yet?" inquired the ninja as he pulled out a marker.

Suddenly, he noticed a land on the map that he had not noticed before.

"What's this?" pondered Kenichi.

As it turned out, it was none other than the Land Of Waves.

Curious, he discovered that though it was more than large enough to be considered a land, it did not contain a hidden village, and that therefore it did not have any ninja protecting it.

Not only that, but it was a very dependent nation, relying entirely on assistance from other villages such as Konohagakure.

He gasped in surprise. Why hadn't he attacked the Land Of Waves before?

He had just hit the motherload.

"The Land Of Waves...must be destroyed." said Kenichi.

Immediately, he circled the Land Of Waves on his map, and he hopped onto his dragon, Kaishi, and began to fly towards the Land Of Waves.

"They're going to all perish at my hand." he promised himself.

_The Land Of Waves is in big trouble...Kenichi's going to invade! That's just terrible._

_But at least Naruto and his friends are Chunin now...granted, maybe some of you wanted him to remain as a genin forever...but that's not how things are going to work in my fanfic. Sorry, but I felt that he deserved to be promoted. He does want to be Hokage after all._

_In the next chapter, there's going to be a race! Can you guess which one?_


	35. Chapter 35: The 24-Hour Endurance Race

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...there's going to be a race. That's right, it's the 24-Hour Endurance Race! Yes, I know that this was based on a filler episode...but this chapter is actually connected to the plot. Really, I promise!_

_Can you guess whose going to win? And whose going to receive the punishment? Well, you're about to find out._

**Chapter 35: The 24-Hour Endurance Race**

Naruto was very happy. After about sixteen years, he had finally gotten the opportunity to become a chunin.

He felt like throwing a party.

And to make matters better, he got the feeling that something exciting was going to happen today.

"I wonder what it is." answered the chunin.

Suddenly, the pager he had in his pocket went off.

"Hmm?" questioned Naruto.

Curious, he decided to see who it was from.

It was none other than Makarov.

"Greetings, Naruto! Today is the day that we're going to begin our annual 24-Hours Endurance Race!" exclaimed the man.

"The 24-Hours Endurance Race?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. Your friends are all invited to attend...so long as they happen to have the Fairy Tail guild mark..." said Makarov.

"The Fairy Tail guild mark?" inquired the chunin.

"That way nobody will get confused..." spoke the guildmaster.

"Fair enough." answered Naruto.

Curious, he wondered who he should tell first.

"I know! I'll start with Hinata!" exclaimed the chunin.

However, as it turned out, she already knew.

"Er, did you get the message on your pager?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, I did. I'm feeling rather excited." noted Hinata.

"Yeah...I guess so." answered the chunin.

"I've never really been in a race though..." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"Wait...did you tell your father about this?" inquired Naruto.

Hinata nodded.

"Did he say yes?" asked the chunin.

"Yes. he did. He said that it would be good exercise for me." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"Alright then! Let's go!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Should we tell Sakura too?" inquired Hinata.

However, Sakura already knew as well.

"Tsunade said that it would be good training...so I guess I'll go." answered the kunoichi.

"I guess we should go visit the Ino-Shika-Cho trio next..." noted Naruto.

"Yes, we should." answered Hinata.

Sure enough, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru wanted to participate in the race as well.

"It sounds exciting! I bet with my new speed powers I'll have an advantage..." noted Ino.

"Yeah, I bet you will." answered Choji.

"I'm not one to race typically...but I guess I'll stick around just so I can see the race firsthand..." said Shikamaru.

"OK." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the six entered the interdimensional portal.

Sure enough, everyone seemed rather excited about the race.

"I'm looking forward to this!" exclaimed Alzack.

"So am I!" bellowed Bisca.

"I'm going to be drinking so hard after this..." spoke Cana.

"I thought you were going to drink in moderation from now on..." questioned Mirajane.

"Oh yeah..." answered the drinker.

"I'm going to crush my competition!" exclaimed Jet.

"I bet you are." agreed Droy.

"We'll see about that." answered Levy.

Gajeel was flexing his muscles. He was looking forward to the race apparently.

Juvia and Gray also seemed fairly excited.

"Isn't this great, Gray?" asked Juvia.

"It sure is." nodded the ice mage.

Happy was jumping up and down.

"I'm going to win this!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"What makes you so sure?" asked Natsu.

"I won the race in the actual episode!" bellowed Happy.

"Oh, right..." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"I've got a good feeling about this." said Elfman.

Immediately, Makarov beckoned the guild members outside to where the race was going to take place.

Sure enough, there was a path detailing where everyone needed to go.

"Greetings, everyone! It's time for our annual race...as we all know, Jet managed to win this year...he beat all the competition." noted Makarov.

Immediately, everyone else applauded Jet.

"As a reward, he received a trophy...and got to be on the front page of the Sorceror's Magazine." continued the guildmaster.

Jet held out last year's issue of the Sorceror's Magazine to show off to the audience.

"Suffice to say, he became popular very quickly." noted Makarov.

"I bet he did." answered Juvia.

"Of course, just because he won last year doesn't he mean he will this year. It's anyone's game...though admittedly he does have an advantage." acknowledged the guildmaster.

"Meh." replied Jet.

"The rules are rather similar. You need to climb up the mountain off in the distance and collect a dragon scale. The first person to return to the finish line wins the race and will get a trophy. They will also get to be on the front page of the Sorceror's Magazine after an interview with the publishers. It's something to look forward to." spoke Makarov.

"I bet so!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Of course, if you score last place, you're in for a heap of trouble. You'll have to attend an interview with the Sorceror's Magazine publishers...wearing women's clothing!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

The male members of the guild gasped.

"What if we happen to be girls?" inquired Mirajane.

"Then you will have to dress as a man." answered Makarov.

The female members of the guild gasped.

"Right...I suggest you all do your best. Go to the starting line and wait for me to give the signal, will you?" asked the guildmaster.

The members of Fairy Tail nodded, and began to stand on the starting line.

Assuming that Makarov was going to wait a while before starting the signal, Naruto decided to pull out the latest edition of the Sorceror's Magazine. He was looking forward to being in it.

However, Sakura quickly noticed.

"Um, hi?" asked Naruto.

She began to glare at him.

"3, 2, 1, go!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

Immediately, Naruto began to leap away, right before Sakura tried to grab him.

"Wait until I get my hands on you!" exclaimed the kunoichi, trying to catch Naruto.

Happy began to fly on the sky, hoping that he would be able to get through the course with ease.

However, he was not that fortunate.

"Flying is prohibited!" bellowed Makarov with a loudspeaker.

Suddenly, Happy crashed into the ground.

"Oww..." murmured the Exceed.

Apparently, he was going to have to run.

Unless...

Immediately, he began to build a catapult.

Hinata quickly noticed.

"What are you doing, Happy?" asked the kunoichi.

"I'm building a catapult so that I can get to the top of the mountain faster!" exclaimed Happy.

"Didn't the guildmaster say that we weren't allowed to fly?" asked Hinata.

"It's not flying! It's falling...with style!" bellowed the Exceed.

"Whatever you say." said the fire dragonslayer.

Oddly enough, Shikamaru did not seem to be interested in racing.

Lucy immediately noticed, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to try to win?" asked the summoner kunoichi.

"I don't really feel like racing..." answered Shikamaru.

"But if you don't race, you'll have to dress like a woman!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hmm...wear a dress or take a nap..." pondered the shadow ninja. "Meh, I'm still choosing the latter."

"Have fun being a transvestite then..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to leap towards the mountain.

Jet had a big smile on his face. There was no way that anyone else was going to be able to win the race...

However, he got the feeling that he was forgetting something.

"Now what is it?" inquired the speed mage.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Ino.

Curious, he looked around, and gasped in shock.

Ino was running neck to neck with him.

"Oh, that's right...I'm not the only one with super speed anymore..." noted Jet.

Suddenly, he found himself being entangled with vines.

"Agh! Let me go!" exclaimed Jet.

As it turned out, he had been tangled up with Choji's vines.

"Huh? Oh that's right...nobody said anything about casting spells to impede the other racers." noted the speed mage.

Ino unfortunately dashed ahead of him, and he was forced to try to break free.

"This won't take long...right?" inquired Jet.

Immediately, Choji sped past him inflated like a wrecking ball, causing him to groan.

Meanwhile, Happy had just finished his catapult. It was even sparkling.

"Alright! We're good to go now!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"That's good to hear." answered Hinata.

"I'll test it out on this sleepyhead boy." answered Happy.

Immediately, he lifted up Shikamaru and put him in the catapult.

"Here we go!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Pulling the lever, Shikamaru was sent flying straight towards the mountain.

"Success!" bellowed Happy.

Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize that was one of the racers, right?" asked the kunoichi.

"What?!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Personally I'm not sure why he would be sleeping like this...but yes, he was one of the racers." answered Hinata.

"D'oh!" bellowed Happy.

At that very moment, the catapult collapsed.

"Aw, man!" exclaimed the blue cat.

"Sorry. It looks like we won't be able to win that way." answered the fire dragonslayer.

Happy sighed. It looked like he was going to have be more old-fashioned.

"See you at the mountain!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"See you later!" bellowed Hinata.

Suddenly, she noticed Natsu running towards her.

"Hey there, Natsu!" exclaimed the female dragonslayer.

"Hey there, Hinata!" bellowed the male dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata began to leap like a kangaroo in order to stay ahead of Natsu.

Recalling that he was Hinata's interdimensional partner, the fire mage tried to do the same...

...but it ended with a tragedy.

"Aaugh! My ankle!" screamed Natsu.

"Natsu!" bellowed Hinata.

Immediately, she stopped leaping towards the mountain.

"Are you OK?" asked the kunoichi.

"I think so...ugh! I can't walk at all!" bellowed Natsu.

"Oh no!" bellowed Hinata.

"How am I going to race now?" asked the fire mage.

Getting rather desperate, she grabbed Natsu's arms and wrapped them around her stomach.

"What are you doing?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

"I'm giving you a piggyback ride." answered the female dragonslayer.

"Really?" asked Natsu.

"My father said to never leave another ninja behind...or in this case mage." spoke Hinata.

"That's awfully generous of you...but what about my motion sickness?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

Hinata sighed.

"It looks like we're walking." noted the female dragonslayer.

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to get as far away from Sakura as he could.

"Oh man! She's so fast!" exclaimed the chunin.

"I'm going to get you, Naruto!" bellowed Sakura.

Naruto sighed. Was there no hope for him?

Suddenly, he noticed that he was rather close to Lucy. He could see her a few feet away.

"Hey there, Lucy!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Hey there, Naruto...er, why is Sakura chasing you?" asked the jinchuriki.

"I read this magazine and looked at the girls on it..." answered the chunin.

"Oh..." answered the summoner kunoichi.

Curious, she decided to examine the Sorceror's Magazine for herself.

"Dang! The girls in this magazine look good! I wish I had that kind of body!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"So do I." **said Kurama.

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Um, Lucy..." murmured Naruto.

"What?" asked the chunin kunoichi curiously.

"I think Sakura wants to kill you now." answered the former jinchuriki.

Sure enough, Sakura had steam coming out of her ears.

"Jump for your life!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, the duo began to leap towards the mountain as fast as they could.

Of course, Sakura was still pursuing them.

"You can't jump away from me forever!" bellowed the medical ninja.

Immediately, she discarded her shirt, leaving her in her sarashi.

"There! Now I can leap faster!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Funny, that's what I did." noted Gray.

Sure enough, he was shirtless...and Juvia was absolutely ecstatic about it.

"Oh. Hey there, Gray." said the kunoichi.

"How are you doing?" asked the ice mage.

"I'm trying to catch Naruto and Lucy." answered Sakura.

"Good luck with that then." noted Gray.

Sakura continued to pursue Naruto and Lucy.

Meanwhile, Hinata was still walking towards the mountain.

"I'm starting to know how that turtle in that race felt..." noted the kunoichi.

"Why couldn't we be the bunny?" asked Natsu.

"Didn't the bunny lose?" inquired Hinata.

"Only because he was a slacker." answered the fire mage.

"You mean like Shikamaru?" asked the fire kunoichi.

"Hahaha." laughed Natsu.

"Right...I don't think it should be too long before we reach the mountain...even if we are at walking speed." noted Hinata.

"That's a relief." answered the male dragonslayer.

Suddenly, they noticed Shikamaru flying above their heads.

"I didn't know that Shikamaru can fly..." questioned Natsu.

"He can't..." answered Hinata, recalling how Happy had tested out the catapult on him a few minutes prior.

Strangely, he was still sleeping...even in midair. He must have been one heck of a heavy sleeper.

Meanwhile, Mirajane and Elfman were racing neck to neck.

"You sure have gotten fast." noted Mirajane.

"I could say the same to you, sister." answered Elfman.

"I guess I've lost weight..." noted the S-Class Mage.

"Maybe you have." acknowledged the S-Class candidate.

"I think we're doing well, wouldn't you say?" asked Mirajane.

Suddenly, they fell into a hole.

"Spoke too soon." spoke the S-Class Mage.

Sure enough, Levy passed them.

"You want to help each other out of this?" asked Elfman.

"That's what brothers and sisters are for." nodded Mirajane.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Lucy were still trying to avoid Sakura.

Immediately, they began to climb up the mountain.

Curious, he noticed that Erza was making her way towards them, and began to wave.

Oddly enough, she actually waved back.

However, he then remembered that he and Lucy were in danger.

"Oh that's right...climb climb climb!" bellowed Naruto.

Frantically, they climbed up the mountain as fast as they could. Sakura was not far behind.

"Even the Abominable Snowman is terrified of me!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Sure enough, the Abominable Snowman screamed in terror and fled for the hills.

"Wow." thought Naruto.

"She wasn't kidding." noted Lucy.

Meanwhile, Alzack and Bisca were also neck and neck.

"I wonder which one of us is going to cross the finish line first?" asked Alzack.

"Maybe we could cross the finish line together and hope for a tie?" inquired Bisca.

Suddenly, they were grabbed by a lasso.

"What the-" exclaimed the cowgirl.

Immediately, they found themselves tied to a tree.

"Thanks for loaning me this!" exclaimed Cana.

"So that's why she wanted one of those..." noted Alzack.

Immediately, Cana ran on ahead of them.

"We're going to have to cut ourselves free..." acknowledged Bisca as she pulled out a knife.

"Should I start or should you?" asked the cowboy.

"Hmm..." thought the cowgirl.

Elsewhere, Shikamaru landed on the top of the mountain in a heap.

"Oof!" bellowed the teenage ninja.

Immediately, he began to rub his head.

"What happened?" inquired Shikamaru.

Curious, he noticed that there were several dragon scales on the top of the mountain.

"Well, I might as well take one of these..." noted the shadow ninja.

Immediately, he picked up a black dragon scale and put it in his pocket. It seemed as good of a spot to put it as any.

"Now to get back to my nap..." said the Nara clan member.

He went back to sleep, snoring as he did so.

At the base of the mountain, Happy was having a hard time climbing up.

"Come on! Come on! Darn it! Why won't Makarov let me fly!" complained the blue Exceed.

Things just couldn't be easy, now could they?

At this rate, he was going to finish dead last...and have to dress up as a female Exceed.

He wasn't exactly looking forward to that. He wanted to protect his masculinity.

Besides, Natsu would probably laugh at him.

Speaking of which, where was he? He got the feeling that he would be at the mountain by now. He was always full of energy.

What was taking him so long?

Something strange was going on.

"Hmm..." thought the Exceed.

Thankfully, he was able to get a good grip on the mountain this time, and he was able to start making his way to the top.

"That's better!" exclaimed Happy.

Maybe now he wouldn't end up in last place.

"Just...a little further." said the cat.

Meanwhile, Hinata and Natsu had made it to the bottom of the mountain, and were beginning to climb up.

"Try to be more careful next time, OK?" asked the kunoichi.

"OK, I will." answered Natsu.

"I might not be there to help you next time..." acknowledged Hinata.

"Yeah, probably not. We both live in different worlds." noted the male dragonslayer.

"Yeah, we sure do." answered the female dragonslayer.

"I just wanted to leap like a ninja..." said the fire mage.

"Yeah...we've had accidents like that in the past..." noted the fire kunoichi.

_"Here I go!" exclaimed a ninja academy student._

_Immediately, he tried to leap from one side of the room to another._

_Instead, he ended up breaking his arm._

_"Aah! My arm!" bellowed the student._

_Kakashi sighed._

_A few minutes later, another student tried to leap from her desk to another._

_She fell and hit her face._

_"Ow!" exclaimed the female student._

_Kurenai sighed._

_Yet another student tried to leap from one side of the room to another._

_Instead, they decided to give up._

_Asuma sighed._

"Jumping around like a kangaroo can be a risky endeavour." acknowledged Hinata.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Natsu.

"It actually took me some time to get used to." spoke the female dragonslayer.

"Yeah...I might want to try leaping smaller distances next time..." agreed the male dragonslayer.

"Sounds like a plan." said Hinata.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Naruto had both made it to the top of the mountain.

Erza and Shikamaru were both already at the top.

"How'd you get here, Shikamaru?" questioned Lucy.

Shikamaru woke up with a start.

"Huh? What?" asked the shadow ninja.

"I'll be taking this, thanks." answered Erza.

Immediately, she picked up a scarlet dragon scale.

"I'll be seeing you later." said the knight, climbing down the mountain.

Curious, they noticed that Gajeel was climbing up the mountain as well.

"I guess we should hurry. The longer we stand around, the more time the other racers have to catch up with us." noted Naruto.

"Yes, of course." agreed Lucy.

Immediately, they picked out an orange and yellow dragon scale respectively.

"Naruto! Lucy!" bellowed Sakura.

Naruto and Lucy's blood ran cold.

Immediately, she ran forward, trying to punch Naruto down the mountain.

However, he avoided it, and he ended up knocking down Shikamaru instead.

"Aah!" exclaimed the shadow ninja.

"Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy. Was he going to be OK?

"Run!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, the two of them began to run down the mountain.

Stopping for a moment to pick up a pink dragon scale, Sakura began to pursue them.

At that very moment, Gajeel reached the top of the mountain.

"I'm finally here! I'm an expert at mountain climbing!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

He was going to have to brag to his friends. Then again, the members of Fairy Tail seemed a bit wary of him due to the fact that he was once part of Phantom Lord...except for Juvia and Sakura.

Immediately, he picked out a silver dragon scale.

"Now to cross the finish line!" bellowed the former Phantom Lord mage.

It was only a matter of time before he would win the race now...right?

Curious, he noticed that Happy was climbing up the mountain as well.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't bide my time." noted Gajeel.

Immediately, he began to climb down the mountain.

At that very moment, Hinata and Natsu reached the top.

"Thank goodness we're here..." noted the fire kunoichi.

"Yeah..." answered the male dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata picked out a purple dragon scale and Natsu picked out a red dragon scale.

"There...now all we have to do now is climb down the mountain." said Hinata.

"Yes, of course." nodded Natsu.

To make a long story short, they began to climb down the mountain.

At that very moment, Jet reached the top. Choji couldn't hold him forever.

"Alright!" exclaimed the speedy mage.

Immediately, he picked out a vermillion dragon scale.

"Back to the finish line I go!" bellowed Jet.

"You don't say?" inquired Ino.

"Oh...hey there." answered the speedy mage.

Ino picked out a violet dragon scale to go with her ninja outfit.

"I actually like these dragon scales...they look pretty. Too bad we won't be able to keep them." noted Ino.

"They sure do. I think that this race is going to be fun." agreed Choji as he picked out a maroon dragon scale.

Immediately, Jet sped down the mountain with Ino in hot pursuit.

"Wait for me!" exclaimed Choji as he began to inflate himself once more.

Cana climbed to the top of the mountain a few minutes later.

She decided to pick out a brown dragon scale.

"Alright..." said the former alcoholic.

Suddenly, she found herself being grabbed by Alzack. Apparently, they had broken free from the lasso Bisca had loaned her.

"Let go!" exclaimed Cana.

"Bisca, get to the finish line! I'll hold her off!" bellowed Alzack.

"Yes, Alzack!" shouted Bisca.

Immediately, Bisca picked out a white dragon scale.

Cana sighed. It looks like she wasn't going to be able to score first place.

She noticed Levy picking out a vermillion dragon scale, and began to sigh.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Naruto were racing down the mountain. How there were able to run down it without taking a tumble, they weren't quite sure.

Maybe there were just that terrified?

Curious, they noticed that Sakura had disappeared.

"Where did she go?" asked Lucy.

"I don't know. Maybe she gave up?" inquired Naruto.

They then noticed that the mountain was starting to get rather snowy.

"Oh, would you look at that. It snowed while we were away." noted the female jinchuriki.

"How did that happen?" questioned Konoha's hero.

Lucy shrugged. Something didn't seem quite right.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sound of a snowball running.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Curious, they looked behind them, and gasped.

An enormous snowball was heading straight towards them!

And judging from the pink hair poking out of it, Sakura was inside. Apparently, she wanted to run them over.

"Run for it!" bellowed the male chunin.

"I'm with you there!" exclaimed the female chunin.

Immediately, they began to run as fast as they could.

Unfortunately, Sakura was gathering momentum as she went downhill.

"Now I gotcha!" she exclaimed.

Meanwhile, a nearby snowman was feeling very unhappy. His body had melted, and he was now just a disembodied head.

"What a bother! I can't believe my body melted like this! What's a snowman to do? I wish I still had a body..." said the snowman.

At that very moment, Sakura crashed into the snowman, granting his wish in the process.

"Oh! Never mind then!" exclaimed the now embodied snowman.

Sakura rubbed her head. Why did she suddenly crash?

"Thank you for being so helpful towards me! How can I ever repay you?" asked the snowman.

Sakura raised the eyebrow. How could the snowman talk? Then again, she got the feeling that she had created it using her ice magic.

"Can you tell me where a blonde-haired boy and a blonde-haired girl went?" asked the kunoichi.

"They went that way!" exclaimed the snowman.

"Thanks." said Sakura, resuming her hunt for Naruto and Lucy.

"What a nice girl!" thought Sakura's snow creation.

Elfman and Mirajane reached the top of the mountain.

"I'm pooped." said Mirajane.

"You want me to carry you?" asked Elfman.

"Um, sure." answered the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, Elfman picked up Mirajane and put her on his back.

"There we go!" exclaimed the S-Class candidate.

"You sure you can carry me?" asked Mirajane.

"Of course I can! You're a lightweight!" exclaimed Elfman.

"Well, I do want to keep my good looks...so..." answered the demon mage.

Elfman picked up a tan dragon scale while Mirajane picked out a white dragon scale.

"Here we go!" exclaimed the S-Class candidate as he sped down the mountain.

"Much obliged." said Mirajane.

Maybe they would end up getting first place together. That would be pretty nice.

At that very moment, Cana broke free from Alzack's grip.

"Finally! That took forever!" bellowed the alcoholic. Who would have thought that he was so strong?

Immediately, she began to climb down the mountain, followed by Alzack himself.

Gray and Juvia reached the top a few seconds later.

"We better hurry." noted the ice mage.

Juvia nodded with agreement.

Immediately, Cyan picked out a cyan dragon scale while Juvia picked out a blue one.

"Lead the way!" exclaimed Juvia.

Sakura let out a sigh. She was hoping that she would be able to catch Naruto and Lucy by now.

But apparently, it wasn't meant to be.

At that very moment, Gajeel came running towards her.

"Hi?" asked Sakura.

"How are you doing?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"I'm trying to catch Naruto and Lucy." answered the kunoichi.

"Need any help?" asked Gajeel.

"Um...sure." nodded Sakura.

Snapping his fingers, shackles suddenly grabbed onto Naruto and Lucy's legs.

"What the-" exclaimed the former jinchuriki.

"We're trapped!" bellowed the blonde girl.

"Now I've gotcha!" shouted Sakura.

Gajeel began to smirk. This was going to be so much fun to watch.

However, Erza was not going to let Sakura hurt her friends.

Immediately, she began to cut the shackles holding Naruto and Lucy prisoner.

"Thank you. She would have pulverized us..." noted the male chunin.

"Yeah..." agreed the chunin kunoichi.

"You're welcome. I'll try to hold her off." answered Erza.

"Thank you..." said Naruto.

Immediately, Lucy and Naruto began to race towards the finish line.

Unfortunately, Sakura was not giving up easily.

She grabbed onto the closest thing that she could find...which turned out to be Shikamaru, still recovering from her punch.

"What the-" said the shadow ninja, waking up from his nap.

Immediately, she began to spin him around like an athlete throwing the hammer.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

She then tossed him at Naruto and Lucy...but only hit the latter.

"Wah!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Immediately, they both crossed the finish line.

"Congratulations, Lucy and Shikamaru! You've both secured first place!" exclaimed Makarov.

"Wow, Shikamaru. You managed to win a race by doing absolutely nothing." noted Lucy.

"I did? I feel so weird..." answered Shikamaru.

"No matter. Congratulations, you're a winner!" exclaimed the jinchuriki, shaking his hand.

"Aren't you a winner too?" asked the shadow ninja.

"Oh yeah...I guess we're both winners." answered Lucy.

Immediately, Makarov handed them both golden trophies.

"As a reward, you both get to be on the front page of the Sorceror's Magazine! How about that!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"You mean...we're going to have our pictures taken together?" asked Shikamaru.

Makarov nodded.

Shikamaru and Lucy began to blush.

Meanwhile, Erza was fending off Sakura so that Naruto would stay safe.

Erza pulled out her swords, and Sakura pulled out an ice sword.

However, she was able to shatter it somewhat easily.

She then began to create an ice hammer.

Erza shattered it too, however.

"Let's try a spear..." said Sakura.

Erza shattered that as well.

"Oh c'mon!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Sakura pulled out an ice chainsaw...

...but Erza broke it.

"Fine! You win! I'll leave Naruto alone! Happy?" asked Sakura.

Erza nodded.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Aren't you going to cross the finish line?" asked the knight.

"I was thinking that you should go first...you did save my bacon..." noted Naruto.

"No no no. You can go on ahead. I don't mind." answered Erza.

Naruto decided to take a third option.

"Do you want to cross the finish line...together?" asked the chunin.

"Um...sure." nodded the knight.

They did just that.

"Naruto and Erza have both obtained second place!" exclaimed Makarov.

"Second place, huh? That's not too bad." noted Erza.

Personally she was expecting that she would be able to get first place considering how strong a mage she was...but she wasn't complaining about it.

"Yeah..." answered Naruto.

Immediately, Lucy and Shikamaru waved to Naruto.

"So, you got first place?" inquired the male chunin.

"Yes." answered Lucy.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Naruto.

Makarov handed Naruto and Erza silver trophies.

"Silver is more my color anyway." noted the Requip mage.

"Have fun having your picture taken together!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

Naruto and Erza began to blush.

At that very moment, Sakura decided now was a good time to cross the finish line.

Immediately, she did so...

...right when Gajeel did.

"Um, hi?" asked Sakura.

"Hello?" inquired Gajeel.

"Sakura and Gajeel have obtained third place!" exclaimed Makarov.

"Third place? I should have gotten first!" bellowed Gajeel.

"Sorry to hear that." answered Sakura.

"Aren't you a sweetie pie..." murmured the iron dragonslayer.

"But I just tried to beat Naruto and Lucy up a while ago..." noted the kunoichi.

"I know! It was hilarious!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Sakura sweatdropped.

Makarov handed Sakura and Gajeel bronze trophies.

Gajeel was tempted to eat Sakura's...but he decided not to.

"You two will be having pictures taken together...how about that." said Makarov.

"Um...sure." answered Sakura.

"Alright! Just as long as I can get my picture taken!" exclaimed Gajeel.

The next mages to cross the finish line were Juvia and Gray.

"How did we do?" asked Juvia.

"You got fourth place." answered Makarov.

"Alright." said Gray.

"I'm sure you two will enjoy having your picture taken together." said the guildmaster.

Juvia began to squeal.

The receiver of fifth place was Jet.

"Alright!" exclaimed the speed mage.

However, he then noticed that there were already other mages there.

"D'oh!" bellowed the man.

"Sorry, you didn't win this time. But at least you didn't score last place." noted Makarov.

"Fair enough." answered Jet.

Ino and Choji scored sixth place.

"Well, would you look at that. You've both scored sixth place. You're both going to be taking your picture together too." said the guildmaster.

"Yes!" cheered Ino.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Choji.

"They sure seem happy about that." noted Makarov.

Mirajane and Elfman both scored seventh place.

"What a coincidence...you two are brother and sister, if I recall correctly." answered the guildmaster.

The duo both nodded.

"Well, congratulations. You two get to take your picture together." said Makarov.

Mirajane and Elfman cheered.

Alzack and Bisca both scored eighth place.

"Again with the mages tying for the same places...well, you both scored ninth place. I hope you two are happy." noted the guildmaster.

"We're happy so long as we don't have to endure the punishment." said Alzack.

"Fair enough." acknowledged Makarov.

"We get to have our picture taken together, right?" asked Bisca.

Makarov nodded.

"Yes!" they both exclaimed in unison.

The ninth person to cross the finish line was Cana.

"Darn it! I was hoping that I would do better." noted the former alcoholic.

"Maybe next time." answered Makarov.

"Yeah...maybe next time." said Cana.

The tenth person to cross the finish line was Droy.

"Did I make it?" asked the chubby mage.

"Yes, you did." answered Makarov.

"Alright." said Droy.

"You really could have done better though." noted the guildmaster.

Droy let out a sigh.

"Well, I guess you can try again next year." said Makarov.

"I guess..." answered the plant mage.

The eleventh person to cross the finish line was Levy.

"Hey everybody." said Levy.

Immediately, she began to read a book.

"This book keeps on getting more and more exciting." noted the letter mage.

She just had to read the ending of the book.

The twelveth person to cross the finish line was Happy.

"Did I win?" asked the Exceed.

"Not even close." answered Makarov.

"Aww!" complained Happy.

"Better luck next time." said the guildmaster.

"Am I going to have to dress up like a woman?" asked the Exceed.

"Well, you didn't actually lose the race...so..." murmured Makarov.

Happy let out a sigh of relief. He could keep his dignity at least.

"So who's left?" asked Naruto.

"Hinata...and Natsu I believe." answered Makarov.

At that very moment, Hinata came by carrying Natsu on her back.

She immediately collapsed on the finish line. Apparently, carrying him for so long had exhausted her.

"Sorry, Hinata and Natsu! It looks like you've lost. Looks like you're both going to be wearing clothing for the opposite gender." said Makarov.

"Uh-oh." said Hinata and Natsu in unison.

_A few minutes later..._

"Alright! We won!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I guess we did." answered Shikamaru.

"I feel so excited!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"I bet you are." noted the shadow ninja.

"I bet the creators of Sorceror's Magazine are going to be looking forward to seeing us..." said Lucy.

"I bet they are." nodded Shikamaru.

"I wonder what they'll have to say to us?" asked the summoner kunoichi.

"Probably something nice." answered the shadow ninja.

"Yeah...probably something like that." noted Lucy.

"So, I take it you'll be taking that trophy back home?" asked Shikamaru.

"Of course I will! I'll take it to my apartment!" bellowed the jinchuriki.

"Right, of course." nodded the Nara clan member.

Immediately, Lucy picked up her trophy and went to take it back home.

Oddly enough, her landlady was there to see her.

"Did you hear the news?" asked the summoner kunoichi.

"Yes, I did." answered the landlady.

"So you know about the race?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's landlady nodded.

"I guess you know I won then..." said the teenage girl.

"Yes, I know." answered the woman.

"Are you going to congratulate me?" asked Lucy.

"Congratulations, Lucy." said Lucy's landlady.

"Thank you. I'll be putting this in my room, if you don't mind." answered the jinchuriki.

"Go on ahead." agreed the woman.

**"Your landlady is fat." **said Kurama.

Lucy let out a sigh as she went into her room. He simply did not have any respect for anyone.

She returned to her guild a few minutes later.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto was also very excited.

"Can you believe it, Erza? We scored second place!" exclaimed the chunin.

"I know. We did." nodded the S-Class mage.

"I feel awesome!" exclaimed Naruto.

"We didn't get first palce though." said Erza.

"It's true...we didn't...but second place is still pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?" questioned the chunin.

"Well, that's true." agreed the knight.

Sakura and Gajeel were rather happy about receiving third place as well...though they were a bit surprised that they had both tied.

"What were the chances of that?" inquired the kunoichi.

Gajeel shrugged.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have our pictures taken together whether we like it or not." answered Sakura.

"Yeah...whether we like it or not." acknowledged the iron dragonslayer.

Personally, he was leaning on the former.

"You think that we're going to be on TV?" questioned Sakura.

"Most likely." answered Gajeel.

"Won't that be nice." said the super strong girl.

"It sure will! It's about time I received the spotlight I deserve!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"Er, yeah..." agreed Sakura.

"This is my big break!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"Yeah...mine too." nodded the kunoichi.

"Are you looking forward to it?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Yeah...I am." said Sakura.

"Alright!" cheered Gajeel.

"I guess it's our fifteen minutes of fame." noted the kunoichi.

"Fifteen minutes? Awww!" complained the former member of Phantom Lord.

Outside the guild hall, Juvia and Gray were feeling pretty good as well.

"Isn't this great, Gray? We're going to be on TV!" exclaimed the water mage.

"Yeah...isn't that nice." noted the ice mage.

"I'm looking forward to it!" bellowed Juvia.

"I bet you are." nodded Gray.

"I feel like throwing a party!" bellowed the former member of Phantom Lord.

"Yeah...maybe we could throw a party after this." noted the devil slayer.

"That sure sounds like fun." acknowledged Juvia.

"Just try not to drink too much...wouldn't want one of your kidneys to get stolen." suggested Gray.

"Yeah...wouldn't want to lose one of my kidneys...I'd be more than happy to donate one to you though." said the water mage.

"Thanks...I don't need a kidney at the moment though." spoke the stripper.

Immediately, he began to take off his pants, causing Juvia to squeal.

"Whoa! Thanks for the warning!" exclaimed Gray, putting his pants back on.

The water mage shrugged.

Jet and Droy were both rather excited too. They were both going to get interviewed.

Granted, they weren't going to have their pictures taken together...but it was something to look forward nonetheless.

At that very moment, they were approached by Levy.

"Hey." said the bookworm.

"Hey, Levy!" exclaimed Droy.

Immediately, they both began to blush.

"Why do they always do that?" thought Levy.

She began to ponder why that kept happening.

"H-how are you doing?" asked Jet curiously.

"I'm doing fine...you?" inquired Levy.

"Never better!" bellowed Droy.

"Very good." answered the letter mage.

"Is-isn't this great?" asked the plant mage.

"I bet it is." nodded Levy.

In the cafeteria, Ino and Choji were both very happy. In fact, they were both eating like pigs.

"We did it! We're going to get our picture taken together!" exclaimed Ino.

"It feels so awesome..." agreed Choji.

"It sure does!" cheered the psychic kunoichi.

"Still, I was under the impression that you would do a bit better...you're lightning-quick nowadays..." noted the chubby teenager.

"Well, I wasn't always like this...back before I used the interdimensional portal, I wasn't faster than anyone else, really...except for maybe Shikamaru. We all know that he loves to sleep, not run." acknowledged Ino.

"True..." nodded Choji. Personally, he wasn't much of a runner himself. Being part of a clan that loved to eat had its disadvantages.

On the other hand, they were experts at sumo wrestling. He didn't want to have to wear a diaper though. That seemed rather embarrasing.

Besides, he was a ninja, not a sumo wrestler. Why should he suddenly change careers?

"Also, one of my opponents happened to be super-fast too...he was my interdimensional partner, I believe." spoke the kunoichi.

"Oh yeah..." recalled the Akimichi clan member.

"So, what should we say at the interview?" asked Ino.

"Maybe talk about our lives?" questioned Choji.

"That seems like a good idea." agreed the psychic kunoichi.

"Yeah..." nodded the plant ninja.

Immediately, they began to think about what they should tell the interviewers.

There were so many possiblities...

At the table next to Ino and Choji were Elfman and Mirajane.

"So, what should I wear for the interview?" asked the S-Class Mage.

"Probably something that will make you look pretty...personally I was thinking about wearing a tuxedo..." answered the S-Class candidate.

"Not a bad idea." agreed Mirajane.

"I just need to find one." noted Elfman.

"Where to look..." questioned the demon mage.

Curious, he decided to head to the Fairy Tail clothing store to see if there were some on sale.

Sure enough, there were tuxedos on sale.

"Yes!" exclaimed Elfman.

Immediately, he purchased one using a hefty amount of jewels.

He then went to the changing room to put it on.

"Alright! I'm going to rock this interview!" he exclaimed.

He went to go see Mirajane a few minutes later.

"Darn! You look good!" bellowed the S-Class Mage.

Elfman smiled triumphantly.

"I guess I should go get a dress..." noted Mirajane.

Meanwhile, Cana was drinking heavily.

She was finding being in an interview to be a bit...stressful.

"Right...I'll just do this to keep my mind off being on TV..." thought the card mage.

She was worried that she was going to do something stupid.

"Maybe I'm going to fart?" inquired Cana.

Then again, she had not been eating baked beans as of late...though she did have a burrito last week.

"Yeah...that wasn't such a smart idea." noted the former alcoholic.

Shrugging, she began to look for a way to make herself look good.

"I know! I'll wear my black bikini top!" bellowed Cana.

Immediately, she went to the girls' locker room and changed her clothes.

"There! Now I'll look amazing." thought the card mage.

"You can say that again." said Loke.

"Why weren't you at the race?" asked Cana.

"I needed to spend more time with my family..." spoke the Celestial Spirit.

"I see..." spoke the alcohol lover.

Promptly, she began to drink some Kool-Aid.

"Oh yeah..." murmured Cana.

At the shooting range, Alzack and Bisca were both very eager to participate in an interview.

"We did it! We're finally going to be on TV!" exclaimed Alzack.

"We sure are!" nodded Bisca.

Immediately, they began to kiss passionately.

"You are such a good kisser!" bellowed the cowboy.

"Ditto!" exclaimed the cowgirl.

Personally they wondered if they should get married someday.

They were going to have to get wedding rings first though. Which one of them was going to propse?

They couldn't decide who should propose to who. Then again, it probably wouldn't matter too much.

Personally they wondered what the wedding cake would be like. Would it make them chubby?

Then again, Droy and Choji were already chubby and neither of them were complaining about it, so maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

Still, Makarov might recommend them to a diet instructor. He always did notice whenever things weren't quite right in his guild...like the time where they were invaded by body snatchers.

"Thank goodness he found their nest..." noted Alzack.

"Imagine if we all had our identities stolen." agreed Bisca.

"Yeah...identity theft is one of the hardest things to fight." acknowledged the cowboy.

"I wouldn't want to have my identity stolen." noted the cowgirl.

Meanwhile, Happy was eating fish. He may have done poorly in the race, but at least he wouldn't have to dress like a woman. He would die of embarrasment if that happened.

Not having to endure the punishment was an accomplishment in its own, it seemed.

"Phew!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Of course, the same did not go for Natsu, now did it?

"Hmm..." thought Happy.

On the other hand, the idea of Natsu in a woman's dress actually amused him.

He was going to have to look on the back page of the Sorceror's Magazine once the interviews were over. Then again, he might actually die laughing. Natsu had named him Happy for a reason.

"Meh, I'll still have eight more lives." noted the Exceed. It was a good thing he always had spares, right? Then again he was going to run out eventually.

Wait...didn't he already spend one of his lives when he decided to play with a gun?

Personally he wondered what he had been thinking back then.

"Yeah...I kind of got reckless." acknowledged Happy.

Of course, the gun wasn't actually loaded, but it still wasn't a good idea. It could have bonked him on the head.

He really didn't want that.

Elsewhere, Hinata was searching for Natsu.

"Where is he?" thought the Hyuga kunoichi.

Curious, she used her Byakugan and her enhanced sense of smell to track him down.

Oddly enough, he happened to be in the guild master's office.

Immediately, she decided to head there to see what the meeting was about.

Since she also had enhanced hearing, she was able to hear them loud and clear.

"Please don't do this to Hinata! Just take me! This is all my fault!" bellowed Natsu.

"Hmm?" inquired Hinata.

"I was the one that broke my ankle! I got careless!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

"That explains the crutches..." noted Makarov.

"Don't make Hinata suffer like this! She doesn't deserve it!" bellowed Natsu.

"Awww...how sweet." thought Hinata.

However, she decided that she didn't want him to suffer like this.

Immediately, she entered the guild master's office.

"Hey there, Hinata...nice to see you." said Natsu.

"No no no no. You shouldn't be making Natsu be a transvestite. You should be making me be a transvestite." spoke Hinata.

"Hmm?" inquired Makarov.

"According to the Hyuga code of honour...I should put the lives of others above myself. I can't let Natsu go through this." answered the female dragonslayer.

"Isn't she brave..." thought Natsu.

"You're really close, aren't you?" asked the guild master.

"Yeah..." nodded Hinata.

"I guess we are." agreed Natsu.

"I know just what to do then!" exclaimed Makarov.

Immediately, he rang a bell on the desk.

Erza came by a few minutes later.

"You rang?" asked the knight.

"I want you to dress up these two in each other's clothing!" exclaimed Makarov.

"You got it." nodded the knight.

Immediately, Natsu found himself wearing Hinata's sweater while Hinata found herself wearing Natsu's vest.

"Huh. This actually looks good on me." noted the male dragonslayer.

"This outfit is exposing my bra." complained the female dragonslayer.

Blood began to drip from Natsu's nose.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of that." answered Erza.

Snapping her fingers, Hinata was now wearing a sarashi.

"Thank you." said the kunoichi.

"So, are you ready for your interview? The Sorceror's Magazine producers will be here in about an hour." answered Makarov.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Natsu.

"Alright then. Have fun, I guess." noted the guild master.

"We will." answered Hinata.

Immediately, the duo left the guild master's office.

"That was a rather interesting plan you had there..." noted Erza.

"I figured that they would enjoy dressing like that." acknowledged Makarov.

"I guess you were right." answered the Requip mage.

"Now if you excuse me I'm going to drink my coffee." said the guild master.

Immediately, he began to drink a cup of joe.

"Maybe I should drink some coffee too..." acknowledged Erza. That actually sounded kind of good right now.

She went to find the nearest coffee maker.

"This was quite the endurance race...and I enjoyed every bit of it." said Makarov.

Immediately, he resumed drinking his coffee.

_Well, the 24-Hour Endurance Race is over. We have our winners...and we have our losers. Sorry, not everyone can win._

_In the next chapter, there's going to be loads of interviews. Hooray._


	36. Chapter 36: Interview Time

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto, Lucy, and their friends are all going to get interviewed. Isn't that nice?_

_And yes...we're doing this in the order that they placed._

**Chapter 36: Interview Time**

Lucy and Shikamaru smiled as they sat in the interview's chair. Makarov said that it was time...and since they got first place, they got to go first.

"It's nice to get to be on TV..." noted Lucy.

"I guess so..." answered Shikamaru.

Immediately, they sat down in their interview chairs.

Sure enough, there were two mages ready to interview them.

"I feel rather excited..." said Lucy.

Shikamaru began to yawn.

"Greetings! My name is Cosmo!" exclaimed one of the mages.

"And my name is Wanda!" bellowed another mage.

Lucy and Shikamaru raised eyebrows.

"So, how does it feel to score first place?" inquired Cosmo.

"Pretty good!" bellowed Lucy.

"I was a bit surprised that I won to be honest...I slept during most of the race..." noted Shikamaru.

"Did you now?" asked Cosmo.

"It's true, I did...I don't know how I managed to pull it off..." questioned the shadow ninja.

Cosmo and Wanda shrugged.

"Well, I guess you must be a lucky man." noted Wanda.

"Yes, I am." answered Shikamaru.

"Now we both have shiny gold trophies!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I'm sure that people are going to want your autographs..." acknowledged Cosmo.

"What a drag! How am I going to fall asleep when I have about a million fangirls?" inquired Shikamaru.

"I don't know..." answered Lucy.

Personally, she wondered if she should help Shikamaru shoo them off. He'd been a real help to her as of late.

Not only that, but she had already kissed him on the lips twice.

Immediately, her cheeks turned red.

"So...what do you have planned for your future?" asked Cosmo.

"Maybe visit my father, I suppose. See if he's really turned over a new leaf..." answered Lucy.

**"Nooooooooooooooooo!" **screamed Kurama.

"Then again, maybe not." noted Lucy, hearing the scream of her nine-tailed fox.

Kurama's pulse settled.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Wanda.

"My nine-tailed fox. He's living inside my stomach." answered Lucy.

"OK..." answered the female interviewer.

"I wonder what having a nine-tailed fox inside me would be like..." noted Shikamaru.

"If you had Shukaku living inside you, you'd never be able to go to sleep." acknowledged Lucy.

Shikamaru shuddered at the thought.

"How do you feel about Fairy Tail?" asked Cosmo.

"I feel like it's my home." answered Lucy.

"I want to keep learning more about it." said Shikamaru.

"Interesting..." spoke Wanda.

"Are you two a couple?" inquired Cosmo.

Lucy and Shikamaru began to blush.

They both shook their heads.

"Oh...well, you two seem to be rather close..." noted Wanda.

"It's true, we are." answered Lucy.

"Then again, I am the interdimensional partner of her best friend." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Interdimensional partner?" asked Cosmo.

"Yeah...it's the reason I have a nine-tailed fox living inside me." spoke Lucy.

**"I'm happy about the transfer to be honest. Being inside Naruto's body was such a pain. This is much more preferable." **noted Kurama.

"I'm actually starting to like having you in my body...it's like having a friend that never goes away." acknowledged the teenage girl.

**"But I'm not your friend." **answered Kurama.

"But your cheeks are turning red..." spoke Lucy.

**"How'd you know?" **asked the nine-tailed fox.

"I can see you if I concentrate hard enough." answered the kunoichi.

Kurama rolled his eyes.

"How long have you two known each other?" asked Cosmo.

"Since the day I took a fateful trip through an interdimensional portal..." explained Lucy.

"An interdimensional portal?" inquired Wanda.

"I know...it's kind of confusing." answered Shikamaru.

"Well, that's all the time we have for this interview. It's time for you two to have your picture taken." said Cosmo.

Immediately, Lucy and Shikamaru sat in the chair.

The first picture had Lucy smiling for the camera...while Shikamaru took a snooze.

The second picture had Lucy beginning to yawn, with Shikamaru still sleeping.

The last picture had Lucy sleeping...on top of Shikamaru.

Suffice to say, they were rather embarrased about the incident.

But at least it was somewhat pleasurable.

Of course, Naruto and Erza were up next.

"It's nice to get to do an interview for you..." noted the chunin.

"It sure is." agreed Erza.

Sure enough, Cosmo and Wanda were happy to interview them.

They were particularly happy to see Erza.

"Good to see you again!" exclaimed Cosmo, shaking Erza's hand.

"It sure is." nodded Erza.

"Is this your boyfriend?" inquired Wanda.

Erza and Naruto began to blush.

Immediately, Naruto tried to explain.

"Er, no...we're the best of friends, but-"

"Alright then." said Cosmo.

"Funny, I was under the impression that you would score first place, Erza...I heard that you were one of the strongest mages Fairy Tail has..." noted Wanda.

"Well, this armor does kind of weigh me down..." spoke Erza.

"Do you want me to take it off?" inquired Naruto.

"No no no. I'm fine." answered the knight.

Immediately, she Requiped into a red dress.

"That's better." spoke Erza.

"Wow..." murmured Naruto.

"Yes, I chose to wear a strapless dress. Why do you ask?" inquired the knight.

"No reason...heh heh." answered Naruto.

Curious, she noticed that Naruto's cheeks had turned red.

"Hmm..." thought Erza.

"So, how's life as an S-Class Mage?" asked Cosmo.

"Pretty good. Pretty good. I actually went on a mission yesterday..." explained the knight.

"How did that turn out for you?" inquired Wanda.

"Well..." answered Erza.

_Erza slashed and stabbed the demon, causing it to explode into ichor._

_"Well, hopefully it will stop possessing people's bodies and spinning their heads around like a record." noted the knight._

_Immediately, she began to wipe up the blood with a mop._

_"There! Now it looks like the demon was never there!" exclaimed Erza._

_She had mopped the floor with the demon...and then had wiped his blood off the floor too._

_"How about that?" thought the knight._

"So...the mission was a success?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes...I was a bit surprised that it was an S-Class Mission to be honest. The demon really wasn't all that tough." noted Erza.

"I guess you're just that strong." acknowledged the chunin.

"I guess so." answered Naruto.

"Funny, I heard about you...apparently, you're a fairly recent recruit to Fairy Tail." spoke Cosmo.

"Yeah...that's because I'm not from Fiore." spoke the chunin.

"You're not?" inquired Wanda.

"I'm actually from Konoha..." answered Naruto.

"Konoha? Never heard of it..." spoke Cosmo.

"That's because it's all the way in another world..." explained the former jinchuriki.

"My head hurts..." complained Wanda.

Oddly enough, she had heard Lucy mention something similar not too long ago.

Who would have thought that there was more than one world in the universe?

"It's actually nice to be a member of Fairy Tail, to be honest...I don't have a nine-tailed fox living inside my body anymore." noted Naruto.

"Didn't Lucy say that she had a nine-tailed fox body inside her?" asked Cosmo.

"That's because I ended up transfering him to Lucy by accident." explained the chunin.

"I see..." comprehended Wanda.

"Don't worry, she doesn't mind. I inherited her summoner keys, so it was a pretty decent tradeoff." noted Naruto.

"I suppose it was." agreed Erza.

"Not only that, she can use my Rasengan!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Rasengan?" inquired Cosmo.

"It's basically a great big sphere of energy..." explained Naruto.

"I see..." answered Wanda.

"It's rather impressive, now that I think of it..." noted Erza.

"Yeah...it took my dad three years to master it..." pointed out the chunin.

"How long did it take you to master it?" inquired the knight.

"About a month..." answered Naruto.

Cosmo and Wanda began to whistle.

"Nowadays I'm working on using a Twin Rasengan technique...that way the jutsu will be twice as strong..." spoke the chunin.

"How's that coming along?" asked Erza.

"Pretty well. I just need a bit more time to train, that's all." answered Naruto.

"Good luck with that then." spoke Cosmo.

"Yeah...luck is all I need...and skill." noted the chunin.

Curious, he decided to see if he could make a Twin Rasengan right then and there.

For a moment, it appeared that he had succeeded...but he quickly noticed that one Rasengan was much smaller than the other.

"Well, this is still an improvement over just one...but I think I can do better." noted Naruto.

"Probably." nodded Erza.

Personally he wondered if he and Lucy should try tutoring each other. They were interdimensional partners after all.

"Well, it's time for you to have your pictures taken. Don't be camera shy!" exclaimed Wanda.

"We won't. We won't." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the duo began to have their pictures taken.

The first picture had Erza smiling for the camera while Naruto ate some delicious ramen.

The second picture had Naruto and Erza sharing the ramen together.

The last picture had Naruto and Erza accidentally kissing each other on the lips, much to their embarrasment.

"Deja vu..." thought Lucy.

Next to have their interview was Sakura and Gajeel.

Unfortunately, Sakura was in her underpants.

"Agh! Put some clothes on!" demanded Cosmo.

"D'oh! Well, good thing I was wearing my sarashi..." murmured Sakura.

Curious, she noticed that Gajeel's nose was bleeding heavily.

Immediately, she began to use a healing jutsu to heal Gajeel's snozz.

"Thank you." answered the iron dragonslayer.

In return, he handed her some clothes.

"Thank you...but why does this outfit make me look goth?" inquired Sakura.

"It was the only clothes I had that would fit you..." answered Gajeel.

"Oh...do you think it looks good on me?" asked the kunoichi.

Gajeel nodded.

Sakura began to smile.

Immediately, they sat down in the interview chairs.

"It is safe for us to open our eyes?" asked Cosmo.

"Yes." answered Sakura.

Cosmo and Wanda opened their eyes.

"Phew! That's a relief! You've got to stop taking your clothes off in public!" exclaimed Wanda.

"I know...I inherited that from my interdimensional partner, Gray Fullbuster." explained Sakura.

"She's been giving me nosebleeds ever since." noted Gajeel.

"Yeah..." answered the kunoichi sheepishly.

"Well, try not to do that in public..." suggested Cosmo.

"Right, of course." nodded Sakura.

"Anyways, congratulations on crossing the finish line together!" exclaimed Cosmo.

"Yeah...I actually wasn't paying attention when that happened...I was trying to catch Naruto and Lucy during most of the race..." explained the kunoichi.

"I actually helped her." noted Gajeel.

"I appreciate it." spoke Sakura.

Gajeel began to smirk in satisfaction.

"Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?" inquired Cosmo.

Gajeel and Sakura began to blush.

"Why do we keep asking that?" asked Wanda.

"Well, we do happen to be a couple..." noted Cosmo.

"That's true..." acknowledged the female interviewer.

"We're not a couple...we've only known each other for about fifteen chapters..." explained Gajeel.

"Did you just break the fourth wall?" asked Sakura.

"Is that a big deal?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"Meh...probably not." answered the kunoichi.

"I did save her from being a genki girl though..." noted Gajeel.

"Huh?" asked Cosmo.

"It's a long story..." explained Sakura.

"One that involves gypsies..." continued the iron dragonslayer.

"I heard that they were vengeful..." noted Wanda.

"They sure are." nodded Sakura.

Personally, she wondered if Happy should ever visit a fortuneteller again. From what she knew about him...he was a klutz.

"So, Gray is your interdimensional partner?" asked Wanda.

"Yes, he is...I can use his ice magic." answered Sakura.

"Interesting..." noted Cosmo.

"Interdimensional portals make my head spin..." complained Wanda.

"Should I try using one?" questioned Gajeel.

"Maybe." shrugged Sakura.

"I bet I'd get something nice out of it..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

"But you might become a stripper." warned Tsunade's apparentice.

Gajeel sweatdropped.

"That's...true." acknowledged the former Phantom Lord mage.

"Yeah...wouldn't want you to die of embarrassment." noted Sakura.

"Yeah..." agreed Gajeel.

Suddenly, Sakura began to take off her shirt.

"Not again!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Frantically, she put her shirt back down.

"Ugh..." murmured the kunoichi.

Cosmo and Wanda began to sigh.

"What an awkward interview this is turning out to be..." spoke Cosmo.

"I know..." agreed Wanda.

"Sorry...I can't help it." apologized Sakura.

"At this rate you're going to make me start running around in my underpants..." muttered Gajeel.

Sakura began to blush.

"That's...not something that I look forward to." noted Wanda.

"What? Do you think I'm ugly? I actually got my looks from my mother..." asked Gajeel.

Cosmo began to sweatdrop.

"I think you look kind of cute..." murmured Sakura.

"What?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

Sakura began to blush again.

"So...I heard that you used to be part of Phantom Lord. Why did you decide to leave?" inquired Wanda.

"Master Jose ate the Exceed I befriended..." explained Gajeel.

"I see..." answered Cosmo.

"It was a shame. I thought we had something between us." noted the iron dragonslayer.

Sakura placed her hand on Gajeel's shoulder.

This time, it was his turn to blush.

"Well, that's enough for this interview. It's time for you two to have your pictures taken." spoke Wanda.

"Alright!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel went up to the camera.

The first picture had Gajeel trying to hog the spotlight from Sakura.

The second picture had Sakura trying to push Gajeel out of the way so that she could be in the picture.

The last picture had Sakura falling on top of Gajeel, much to the embarrassment of them both.

Next up was Juvia and Gray.

Unsurprisingly, Juvia was very happy that she got to do an interview with Gray.

"This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed the water mage.

"But we only scored fourth place..." pointed out Gray.

"Who cares?!" bellowed Juvia.

"Um..." murmured the ice mage.

Immediately, Gray began to take his shirt off, causing Juvia to squeal.

"Not again!" bellowed Cosmo.

"I can't believe we have another stripper here..." complained Wanda.

"Huh? Oh, that's right...Sakura went right before us." noted Gray.

"It's true, she did..." acknowledged Juvia.

"She mentioned something about your interdimensional partner..." questioned Cosmo.

"Yeah...I've inherited her super strength and her short temper...I actually beat up someone on the way here." explained the ice mage.

"You did?!" exclaimed Wanda.

"He was groping Juvia..." spoke Gray.

"It was...scary." noted Juvia.

"I think we better stay on your good side." suggested Cosmo.

Wanda nodded in agreement.

"Relax...I'm a nice guy...most of the time." answered Gray.

"He sure is!" exclaimed Juvia.

Cosmo and Wanda sighed in relief.

"Right...so, I heard that your hometown was destroyed by a demon..." said Cosmo.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Gray.

Juvia placed her hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Thanks..." answered the ice mage.

"I know how you feel...I lost my teammates to a madman..." murmured Juvia.

Immediately, she began to cry.

Gray put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to smile.

"So...are you two boyfriend and girlfriend? I've already had three interviewers say that wasn't true, but-"

Cosmo didn't have to finish that sentence.

"We actually are." answered the ice mage.

"How about that..." said Wanda.

'I know...we are so in love..." noted Juvia.

"She stalked me at first...but once she agreed to stop doing so, I couldn't help but fall in love with her." nodded Gray.

"That's sweet..." spoke Wanda.

Now that she thought of it, Cosmo initially behaved the same way.

"Personally I'm glad that we finished in the same position..." spoke Gray.

"Fourth place wasn't too bad...wasn't it?" inquired Juvia.

"No, it really wasn't." nodded the ice mage.

"So...how long have you two known each other?" asked Wanda curiously.

"Since she went on a mission to send Lucy to Phantom Lord..." spoke Gray.

"She used to be part of Phantom Lord too?" inquired Cosmo.

"Well, she quit after her teammates were slain by Kenichi...god, I hate that man..." murmured the ice mage.

"Who's Kenichi?" asked Wanda.

"A man that you never want to meet in your lifetime." answered Gray. Personally he felt rather unfortunate that he had a chance encounter with Kenichi himself, even if he was fortunate enough to survive.

Cosmo frowned. He wasn't sure who Kenichi was...but he didn't sound like a good person.

"Is he going to pay Fiore a visit?" asked the male interviewer.

"That's rather unlikely. He happens to be from the world of ninja...much like some of my friends." explained Gray.

Cosmo and Wanda let out a sigh of relief.

"You might not be better off here at the world of magic though...I heard that there's an evil sorceress by the name of Chiyoye Headstone on the loose..." noted Juvia.

"She killed no less than a dozen of our recruits...gruesomely." acknowledged Gray.

Cosmo and Wanda both sighed. Was there anywhere that was safe?

"Chiyoye Headstone?" asked Cosmo.

"If Kenichi is the most evil ninja in history, then Chiyoye's the most evil mage in our history books." noted the ice mage.

Once again, the duo sighed. Kenichi and Chiyoye sounded utterly repulsive.

"You're going to protect us from them...right?" asked Wanda.

"Well, we can try. Juvia and I both have a personal grudge against Kenichi. He's killed so many people...and quite frankly, so has Chiyoye." noted Gray.

"I want to make him pay." agreed Juvia.

"Well, after you've dealt with Kenichi, you might want to go after Chiyoye next..." acknowledged Cosmo.

"Well, I don't think we can take them on alone...Kenichi and Chiyoye are both very strong." pointed out Gray.

"Yeah...we were lucky to survive a battle against one of Kenichi's clones." acknowledged Juvia.

"Kenichi can create copies of himself?" asked Cosmo.

"He usually does most of his dirty work without summoning clones...but yes, he can." answered the ice mage.

Cosmo and Wanda looked worried. Was there anywhere in the world of ninja that was safe?

"Well, thanks for warning us about those two...let's have your picture taken now, shall we?" beckoned Cosmo.

Immediately, Gray and Juvia prepared to have their picture taken.

The first picture had Gray and Juvia smiling for the camera.

The second picture had Juvia kissing Gray on the lips. Apparently, he was surprised, because his eyes were wide open.

The last picture had Juvia kissing Gray on the lips as well. This time, Gray's eyes were closed, suggesting that he was happy to kiss Juvia.

Next up was Jet.

"Hey there...we were expecting you to score first place. Then again, I suppose fifth place wasn't too shabby either." noted Wanda.

"Well, I had serious competition this time..." spoke Jet.

"You did?" asked Cosmo.

"I ended up sharing my speed powers with someone else." explained the fastest mage in Fairy Tail.

"You did?" inquired Wanda.

"It was an accident..." explained the speed mage.

"I see..." comprehended Cosmo.

"So...who did you share your powers with?" inquired Wanda.

"A girl by the name of Ino..." spoke Jet.

"Interesting..." thought the female interviewer.

"So, how are things between you and your teammates...Team Shadow Gear?" asked Cosmo.

"As good as ever." answered Jet.

"That's nice." noted Wanda.

"It's always a joy working with them." said the speed mage.

"I bet it is." agreed Cosmo.

"It always feels strange teaming up with someone else." murmured Jet.

"I suppose." acknowledged Wanda.

"I wonder what it would have been like if our guildmaster decided to pair me up with someone else." questioned the speed mage.

"That would be an interesting experience...wouldn't it?" inquired Cosmo.

Jet nodded.

"I wonder what it would be like if I had to interview someone with another person..." spoke Wanda.

"Well, we've both had to call in sick at times." acknowledged Cosmo.

"True..." nodded the female interviewer.

"I've had that happen to me too..." spoke Jet.

Whenever that happened, they always did have to take a temporary replacement. He had found himself working with someone other than Levy and Droy in the past.

It was always a rather interesting experience.

He in particular remembered the time where they went with Cana instead of Levy...because she had a doctor's appointment.

_"Glug glug glug..." murmured Cana._

_"Why are you always drinking?" asked Jet._

_"Because it's so pleasurable...why is your buddy Droy always eating?" inquired the alcohol lover._

_Curious, he noticed that Droy was eating some chicken wings._

_"Nom nom nom!" bellowed the chubby mage._

_"Can I have some?" inquired Cana._

_"Sure!" exclaimed Droy._

_Immediately, Droy handed Cana some chicken wings._

_"Thanks...these will go great with my booze..." noted the card mage._

_"I suppose it will." answered Droy._

_Something told Jet that Droy and Cana were going to enjoy working together._

"Now that I think of it...maybe they should hang out sometime." noted Droy.

"Maybe..." acknowledged Cosmo.

"Well, it's time for you to have your picture taken now." said Wanda.

"Alright!" exclaimed the speed mage.

Apparently, he had been waiting for this.

Immediately, he smiled for the camera.

The first picture had him picking his nose.

The second picture had him realizing what he was doing, with his cheeks turning pink.

The third picture had him using a tissue instead.

"Thank you for your time." said Wanda.

The next racers to have their interview were Choji and Ino.

"I'm so glad that I get to be on TV..." said Ino.

"Me too." agreed Choji.

"Best of all, I get to be on TV with you!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I know..." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

"Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend too?" inquired Wanda.

"We sure are!" exclaimed Ino.

"Funny how we keep getting ties..." noted Cosmo.

"Yes, I know..." agreed Wanda.

"So...are you two both from the world of ninja? You both seemed to be dressed differently than the mages of Fairy Tail." asked the male interviewer.

"Yes, we are. We came here for the twenty-four endurance race." explained Choji.

"I'm glad that we scored sixth place!" exclaimed Ino.

"Me too." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

"Right...so, I heard that you inherited Jet's speed magic...I bet it helped you during the race, didn't it?" inquired Wanda.

"It sure did." confirmed the psychic kunoichi.

"I wish I could run like that..." said Cosmo.

"Well, Jet did inherit my psychic abilities in return." noted Ino.

"He sure did." answered Choji.

"Did you inherit anything from someone else?" inquired Wanda.

"Yes...I inherited Droy's plant magic..." explained the Akimichi ninja.

"Very interesting." thought the female interviewer.

"I think I'll use it to grow a garden for Ino." spoke Choji.

"How sweet!" squealed Ino.

"I figured you would enjoy it..." said the body expanding teenager.

"I sure would!" nodded the Yamanaka kunoichi.

"You two sure are close..." acknowledged Wanda.

"Just like us!" exclaimed Cosmo.

"Yeah...just like us." agreed the female interviewer.

Immediately, her cheeks began to turn red.

"So...how long have you two known each other?" inquired Cosmo.

"Since we were genin..." answered Choji.

"Since you were genin?" asked Wanda.

"Well, we weren't always chunin...we had to take exams first." explained Ino.

"Unfortunately, we both failed the first time around..." noted the chubby ninja.

"It didn't really matter though. Orochimaru came and ruined everything." noted the kunoichi.

"Orochimaru?" asked Cosmo.

"He's this evil scientist that likes experimenting on ninja...he also has an unhealty obsesssion with snakes." explained Choji.

"An evil scientist that likes to experiment on ninja...you mean like Dr. Frankenstein?" inquired Wanda.

"Yes...like Dr. Frankenstein." explained Ino.

"If only he wasn't so obsessed with learning every jutsu there is..." noted Choji.

"If only..." agreed the psychic kunoichi.

"So...what's this about Orochimaru coming along and ruining everything?" asked Wanda.

"Well, Orochimaru successfully assassinated the Third Hokage." explained Ino.

"The Third Hokage?" inquired Cosmo.

"Yes...he was our leader." continued the psychic kunoichi.

"It was really sad...he was the father of our sensei too..." noted Choji.

"He managed to cripple Orochimaru though...so at least that was something." said Ino optimistically.

"He managed to cripple him?" questioned Cosmo.

"Yeah...he couldn't use his arms after the Third Hokage had his way with him." explained the chubby ninja.

"That's really impressive..." noted Wanda.

"Yeah...it didn't do us all that much good...he eventually found another host body to make him better again." stated Ino.

"That's too bad." answered Cosmo.

"On the plus side, this meant that he couldn't use Sasuke Uchiha as a host body until three years had passed..." spoke Choji.

"It's a shame that Sasuke Uchiha had to defect from us...I thought he was a hunk." said Ino.

"Well, that was before we became a couple..." noted the chubby ninja.

Ino began to giggle.

"Sasuke Uchiha defected from you?" asked Cosmo.

"Yeah...he wanted to kill his brother for what he did to his clan...and he felt that Konoha wasn't making him strong enough..." explained Ino.

"That's sad." answered Wanda.

"Now that I think of it...I heard that he and his clan suffered from a curse of hatred that caused them to do terrible things..." acknowledged the psychic kunoichi.

"Do they know?" asked Choji.

"The only way to get rid of it is for someone to successfully reach out to them..." explained Ino.

"I hope that happens someday." said Wanda.

"Me too..." murmured the psychic kunoichi. Granted, she already had Choji...but it would be nice if Sasuke Uchiha could come back to Konoha one day.

Maybe if they were lucky Tsunade would pardon him...but he had a lot to answer for.

"Right...it's time for you two to have your pictures taken." said Wanda.

Ino and Choji were both very excited.

The first picture had Ino smiling for the camera. Unfortunately, Choji let out a burp. He had drank some soda before the interview.

The second picture had Ino letting out a burp while Choji sweatdropped. She had shared that particular soda with Choji before the interview.

The last picture had them both blushing. The experience was a bit embarrassing for them. Maybe they should have drank some soda after the interview.

"Have a nice day." said Wanda.

Elfman and Mirajane entered the room a few minutes later.

"Good to see you again, Mirajane! It's always nice to have you pose for the Sorceror's Magazine..." said Cosmo.

Wanda sweatdropped.

"Good to see you again too." nodded Mirajane.

"You two are brother and sister, am I right?" asked Cosmo.

"Yes, we are." confirmed Elfman.

"I guess it's a coincidence that you both scored seventh place then..." noted Wanda.

"We decided to work together to win the race, actually." explained Mirajane.

"How sweet..." answered Cosmo.

"I think we did fairly well...though I think we could have done better too." acknowledged Elfman.

"Maybe next year we'll both get first place?" inquired Mirajane.

"Maybe we will." answered the S-Class candidate.

Personally they were looking forward to getting a gold trophy...but they couldn't have everything.

"Right then. Were you looking forward to the race?" asked Wanda.

"Yeah, we were. We found it to be a very enjoyable experience." said Mirajane.

"I would love to race again!" exclaimed Elfman.

"Alright then..." spoke the female interviewer.

"Were you looking forward to this interview?" asked Cosmo.

"We sure were." nodded Mirajane.

"I get to have my picture taken with Mirajane, so yes!" exclaimed Elfman.

"That does sound like fun..." acknowledged the male interviewer.

"Then again I have had my picture taken for the Sorceror's Magazine at least half a dozen times before..." noted Mirajane.

"We know..." nodded Wanda.

"I have to admit...I have a lot of outfits." acknowledged the S-Class Mage.

"You sure do." grinned Elfman.

"For the interview I decided to wear this pink dress..." explained Mirajane.

Sure enough, she was wearing a pink dress.

"I think it looks nice on you!" exclaimed the S-Class Mage.

"You flatter me." answered Mirajane.

Likewise, Elfman was dressed in a tuxedo.

"I think that outfit looks nice on you." said the demon mage.

"Returning the favor, are we?" asked Elfman.

Mirajane nodded.

"Right...I heard that your sister is dead. I'm so sorry to hear that..." sympathized Wanda.

"We've accepted the loss at this point..." explained the S-Class Mage.

"It's a shame...Natsu wanted to marry her." noted Elfman.

"He did? I didn't know that..." said Cosmo.

"Well, he did...I guess he's just going to have to find someone else." acknowledged Mirajane.

"Maybe Hinata?" asked Elfman.

"Yes...maybe Hinata." nodded the S-Class Mage.

"Who's Hinata?" inquired Cosmo.

"She's one of the two racers that scored last place...the other being Natsu himself." explained Mirajane.

"I see..." comprehended Wanda.

"I believe that you're going to be interviewing her and Natsu not too long from now." continued Elfman.

"Oh, that's right...we're interviewing each and every one of the racers..." noted Cosmo.

"That includes the racers that scored last place...expect them to be transvestites." explained Mirajane.

"Ah...the traditional punishment for the losers..." spoke Wanda.

Personally she wondered if she was going to have to stifle the urge to laugh.

"I was worried that we were going to have to be transvestites if we lost to be honest..." said Elfman.

"That was a genuine concern." agreed Mirajane.

"I wouldn't want to have to dress up as a woman..." noted Cosmo.

"What about the time you played around with my clothing? You wore one of my bras on your head..." asked Wanda.

"Well, that was the exception..." explained the male interviewer.

Wanda began to giggle.

"Have you ever messed around with Mirajane's clothing?" asked Cosmo.

"Only one or twice." answered Elfman.

Immediately, he began to blush.

"Why were you wearing my panties?" asked Mirajane.

"I don't know..." shrugged Elfman.

"Did you think they looked good on you?" inquired the S-Class Mage.

"Maybe..." answered the S-Class candidate.

Both Cosmo and Wanda began to blush.

"This interview is turning out to be rather...interesting." said Wanda.

"I know..." nodded Cosmo.

Mirajane and Elfman both shook their heads up and down.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time before we interviewed an S-Class Mage..." acknowledged Cosmo.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Wanda.

"Yeah...it was only a matter of time before I sat in a chair like this..." nodded Mirajane.

"This chair is so comfortable..." murmured Elfman.

"I'm with you there." concurred the S-Class Mage.

"Well, that's all the time we have for your interview. It was nice to have you with us, Mirajane." said Cosmo.

"Thank you." answered Mirajane.

Immediately, she and Elfman went to have their picture taken.

The first picture had Elfman wrap his arm around the right side of Mirajane's neck, causing her to smile. Likewise, Elfman was smiling as well.

The second picture had Elfman flexing his muscles while Mirajane put some lipstick on her lips.

The last picture had the bench Elfman and Mirajane were sitting in suddenly collapsing underneath the former's weight, causing lipstick to be splattered across the latter's face.

"Don't worry...we can fix that." said Wanda.

Sure enough, Cosmo began to cast a spell to repair the bench, causing it to look as good as new.

Mirajane and Elfman let out a sigh of relief. They didn't want to have to pay for the damages.

Next up were Alzack and Bisca.

"Well, if it isn't for Fairy Tail's lovebirds!" exclaimed Wanda.

"Yes, that's us." nodded Alzack.

"It's a pleasure to get the opportunity to meet you." spoke Cosmo.

Alzack and Bisca smiled.

"It was a rather exciting race..." acknowledged Bisca.

"It sure was." concurred Wanda.

"I'll say! I bet people are going to talk about it for ages..." noted Cosmo.

"They sure are." nodded Alzack.

"I'm so glad that we're going to have our picture taken together!" exclaimed Bisca.

"Yeah...everyone whose tied for the same position in the race seems happy about who they ended up with..." acknowledged Wanda.

"I'd be pretty happy to take a picture with you, so..." answered Cosmo.

"Yeah...me too." agreed the female interviewer.

"So, Bisca...how long have you been wearing that hat?" inquired Wanda.

"Since I was young." explained Bisca.

"When you were young?" asked Cosmo.

"Since I was four." continued the cowgirl.

"Wow..." gasped Wanda.

"I know...I'm really attached to this hat..." spoke Bisca.

"Got your hat!" exclaimed Alzack, removing the hat from her head.

"Hey!" bellowed the gunner.

"If you want it back, kiss me on the lips!" demanded the cowboy.

"With pleasure!" squealed Bisca.

Immediately, they began to make out.

"Aren't you in love..." noted Cosmo.

"So are we!" exclaimed Wanda.

"Oh yeah..." recalled the male interviewer.

Alzack returned the hat to Bisca.

"Thank you..." cheered the cowgirl as she put the hat back on her head.

"You're welcome." answered the cowboy.

Once again, they began to make out.

"Are you going to spend the entire interview doing that? Just saying..." inquired Wanda.

"Sorry, sorry!" apologized Bisca.

"We're a bit excited today..." noted Alzack.

"I bet you are." understood Cosmo.

Immediately, Alzack and Bisca began to take deep breaths.

"That's right...try to calm yourselves down." spoke Wanda.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" inquired Cosmo.

"For about five years." answered Alzack.

Cosmo and Wanda whistled. Not even they had been dating that long.

They had been dating...for about three months. Personally, they wondered why the duo weren't married yet.

That certainly would be a rather exciting wedding. Just how many of their friends were going to attend?

Probably everybody in Fairy Tail.

"Do you two...think that you should get married?" inquired Cosmo.

"Weddings are expensive..." noted Bisca.

"Well, that's true..." spoke Wanda.

"We're not sure if we could afford a wedding ring..." -questioned Alzack.

"They sure are inflating these days..." noted Cosmo.

"Maybe if we do a few more missions..." shrugged Bisca.

"Or if we catch a few outlaws..." spoke Alzack. He just loved doing bounty hunts with his girlfriend.

"Yeah...maybe that will work." suggested Wanda.

"Know any good bounties?" asked the cowboy.

"Well, I heard that there's a man that won't stop streaking in public..." answered Cosmo.

Wanda began to blush.

"Really?" inquired Bisca.

"You might want to dress him before sending him to the authorities.." noted the male interviewer.

"Yeah..." nodded Alzack. Wouldn't want anyone to go blind now.

"So...what's it like out in the West? You happen to be immigrants, are you not?" asked Cosmo.

"Yes, we are...just for the record, we didn't cross the border illegally. We signed a legal document." explained Bisca.

"That's a relief..." answered Wanda.

"Believe us...Fairy Tail would probably throw us out if we were." noted Alzack.

"That's true..." acknowledged Cosmo.

"To be honest, we were a bit glad to leave. We kept having duststorms..." explained Bisca.

"That doesn't sound like fun." sympathized Wanda.

"They never were." nodded Alzack.

"Other than that, it was rather pleasurable though. We decided that we needed to get out a bit more, however...so we decided to head to Fiore to do some sight-seeing. Fairy Tail noticed that we were skilled magicians...and well, you probably know where I'm going with this." clarified Bisca.

"Yeah...well, that's all the time we have for this interview. Let's have your pictures taken for the magazine." said Cosmo.

Immediately, the duo sat down on the bench.

The first picture had them making out.

The second picture...also had them making out.

The third picture...you guessed it, had them making out.

"That was a bit boring..." noted Cosmo.

"I know..." concurred Wanda.

The next person to have their interview was Cana...who was currently drinking some liquor.

"That's the stuff." said the card mage.

"You sure you should drink before an interview?" inquired Cosmo.

"Relax...I never get drunk. Except for maybe once or twice..." answered Cana.

"I'm having a hard time believing that you're a girl..." questioned Wanda.

"Well, my parents were expecting a boy..." noted the alcohol lover.

"That explains a lot." murmured Cosmo.

"Er, yeah..." agreed Wanda.

Once again, Cana began to drink some booze.

She let out a burp.

"So...how long have you been drinking alcohol?" inquired Cosmo.

"Since I was thirteen." explained the drinker.

Cosmo and Wanda gasped in shock.

"That's two years before the legal age!" bellowed Cosmo.

"I think I'm going to have a heart attack!" screamed Wanda.

"I know...my friends made me go on all sorts of dares..." answered Cana.

"Lousy peer pressure..." murmured the male interviewer.

"Yeah...I've had to deal with that in the past...why did I have to be so popular?" inquired Wanda.

"If you weren't so popular, you might not have gotten a job at the Sorceror's Magazine..." questioned Cosmo.

"You weren't very popular at school...and yet here you are now." pointed out the female interviewer.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." remembered the male interviewer.

Then again, Wanda had stuck up for him every time he had an encounter with the bullies.

"Are you going to dare me to take my clothes off?" asked Cana.

"What?!" bellowed Cosmo. The only person he wanted to see naked was his girlfriend Wanda...and the lady that delivered him his mail.

"Heavens, no!" screeched Wanda.

"Alright then..." answered the card mage.

"I heard that Gildarts Clive is your father...are you popular because of that?" asked Wanda.

"Well, I do have my share of admirers. Then again, that might be because of my bikini top." noted Cana.

"Why did you wear that for an interview?" inquired Cosmo.

"Because I look so good in it!" exclaimed the card mage.

"Well, that's true..." noted the male interviewer.

Wanda rolled her eyes.

"If you want I can wear something skimpier..." said Cana.

"No no no! You're fine!" exclaimed Cosmo.

Wanda let out a sigh.

"You know what? I think this interview has gone on long enough." noted the female interviewer.

"Really? I thought we were just getting started..." spoke Cana.

"It's better if we end this now." spoke Wanda.

"Yeah, maybe..." nodded Cosmo.

Immediately, Cana sat on the bench.

"Let's just get this over with..." said the female mage.

The first picture had Cana drinking some liquor.

The second picture had Cana drinking an entire barrel of beer.

The last picture had her letting out an enormous burp that nearly broke the camera.

"Hey! Those cameras aren't cheap!" complained Wanda.

"Sorry." apologized Cana as she left the interview room.

The next person to have their interview was Droy.

"This barbecue is delicious!" exclaimed the boy.

"Really?" asked Cosmo.

Immediately, he swallowed the barbecue in one gulp.

"Gosh." said Wanda.

He let out a burp.

"Sorry about that." apologized Droy.

"It's fine...our last interviewee let out an enormous one." noted Cosmo.

"Wow." murmured the member of Team Shadow Gear.

"So...I heard that you were a big eater." spoke Wanda.

"Yeah...I can eat more than anyone else in Fairy Tail." said Droy.

"That's nice..." noted Cosmo.

"Then again, I do have serious competition from Choji Akimichi these days..." acknowledged the plant mage.

"I bet you do." nodded Wanda.

"Maybe I should challenge him to an eating contest..." questioned Droy.

While he was at it, maybe he should try challenging Natsu or Hinata. They seemed to be big eaters too.

Then again, he doubted that he could eat fire like they could. He wasn't exactly a fire dragonslayer.

In fact, fire magic tended to burn his plants.

"How long have you and Jet known each other?" inquired Wanda.

"For about fifteen years." answered Droy.

Wanda and Cosmo whistled.

"How long have you two known each other?" asked the plant mage.

"For about ten years." answered the female interviewer.

"So...about a decade then?" inquired Droy.

Cosmo and Wanda both nodded.

"I've known Levy for longer than that...and she still hasn't proposed to me." complained the plant mage.

"I'm sorry to hear that." sympathized Cosmo.

"Maybe we just aren't meant to be together..." spoke Droy.

Wanda placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks...I needed that." said the plant mage.

Then again, he did find Cana to be rather attractive. Maybe he should try hanging out with her again?

Maybe he could try drinking alcohol and she could try eating some food. That would be rather nice.

"I wonder what it would have been like if we scored the same place..." noted Droy.

That would be a twist, wouldn't it?

"Well, a lot of mages scored the same position..." acknowledged Wanda.

"That's true..." nodded the plant mage.

"Well, that's all the time we have for this interview." said Cosmo.

Immediately, Droy went to have his picture taken.

The first picture had him eating a hamburger.

The second picture had him eating a hot dog.

The last picture had him eating both a hamburger and a hot dog at the same time.

"Wow..." murmured Cosmo.

"I must have a big mouth..." acknowledged Droy.

"You sure do!" exclaimed Wanda.

The next person to have their interview was Levy.

Immediately, she let out a yawn.

"Shouldn't you be more excited?" inquired Cosmo.

"Sorry...ever since I became the interdimensional partner of Shikamaru I've been a real sleepyhead..." explained Levy.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Wanda.

"I'm going to need my beauty sleep after this interview." noted the bookworm.

"Probably." nodded Cosmo.

"Maybe I should have slept before the race..." suggested Levy.

"Maybe." agreed Wanda.

Once again, she began to yawn.

"You wouldn't happen to have some coffee...would you?" inquired the letter mage.

"We do, actually." nodded Wanda.

Immediately, she directed her to the coffee maker.

"Thank the first guildmaster!" exclaimed Levy.

Levy went over to the coffee maker and made some coffee.

"Thank goodness the coffee maker wasn't broken." noted the letter mage.

Suddenly, the coffee maker broke.

"And of course it broke right after I said that..." spoke Levy.

"Try not to tempt fate next time..." muttered Wanda.

Immediately, she began to repair the coffee maker.

Levy began to drank the coffee.

"That's better." murmured the letter mage.

Curious, Cosmo and Wanda noticed that Levy's shadow had mysteriously come to life.

"What's up with your shadow?" inquired Cosmo.

"It's been like that ever since I became Shikamaru's interdimensional partner." clarified Levy.

"I see..." nodded Wanda.

Immediately, Levy's shadow shook hands with Cosmo and Wanda.

"Well, at least your shadow seems rather polite." noted Cosmo.

"She sure is." nodded Levy.

Levy's shadow bowed down to Cosmo and Wanda.

"How long have you been his interdimensional partner?" inquired Cosmo.

"About a week...and a half." explained Levy.

"I see." nodded Wanda.

"It's rather useful to be able to bend my own shadow...but it's also made me a slacker." noted the letter mage.

Sure enough, she was skipping a lot of her chores as of late.

"That might explain why you didn't do too well during the race." acknowledged Cosmo.

"Well, my interdimensional partner scored first place, so maybe it was just a coincidence. I don't know. I did manage to make it past Happy, at least." noted Levy.

"That's true." said Wanda.

Once again, Levy began to yawn.

"Darn it! I was hoping that the coffee would last longer..." complained the bookworm.

"How did it leave your body so quickly?" inquired Cosmo.

"I don't know..." answered Levy.

Curious, Wanda noticed that Levy's shadow had drank some of the coffee as well.

"That might explain it..." noted the female interviewer.

"My shadow can drink?" inquired Levy.

"How odd..." murmured Cosmo.

Levy shrugged.

"Right then...it's time for you to have your picture taken." spoke Wanda.

"Finally...now I can go to bed." murmured the letter mage.

The first picture had Levy reading a book.

The second picture had Levy yawning.

The last picture had Levy taking a snooze.

"Wake up!" exclaimed Cosmo.

"What?" inquired the letter mage.

Curious, she realized that she had fallen asleep.

"Sorry about that." apologized Levy.

Immediately, she headed straight towards her bed.

The next person to have their interview was Happy.

"It feels funny interviewing an Exceed..." noted Cosmo.

"I know..." agreed Wanda.

"Sweet! I finally get to be interviewed!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"It must be exciting for you." acknowledged the female interviewer.

"Uh-huh!" bellowed Happy.

"Try to relax for us, will you? We want you to answer some questions." explained Cosmo.

Happy began to hyperventilate.

"So...how long have you and Natsu known each other?" inquired Wanda.

"Since I was a kitten!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"That's a long time." noted Cosmo.

"Uh-huh!" shouted Happy.

"Please use your indoors voice." ordered Wanda.

"Fine..." murmured the Exceed.

"That's better." said the female interviewer.

"I guess you and Natsu are pretty close, huh?" asked Cosmo.

"We sure are. Of course, so are Hinata and I." explained Happy.

"Hinata?" inquired Wanda.

"She looked after me while Natsu was gone." clarified the Exceed.

"Oh...I see." nodded Cosmo.

"That was awfully nice of her." acknowledged Wanda.

"Uh-huh!" bellowed the Exceed.

"Was there a particular reason she looked after you?" questioned Cosmo.

"Well, she happened to be Natsu's interdimensional partner." explained Happy.

"That makes sense..." nodded Wanda.

"It was the least she could do, I suppose." said the Exceed.

"Yeah..." agreed Cosmo."W

"Imagine what I would have done without her..." noted Happy.

"Would you have gone crazy?" inquired Wanda.

"Probably." answered the Exceed.

"Right...it was a good thing you didn't have to wear a strait jacket." spoke the female interviewer.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Happy.

"I said use your indoors voice." said Wanda.

"Sorry, sorry!" apologized the Exceed.

"Right then...now that I think of it, you seem to be the only Exceed in Fairy Tail..." noted Cosmo.

"Really? Hmm...I might want to invite some more Exceeds into the guild." questioned Happy.

"Maybe..." answered Wanda.

"I'm sure that I would enjoy the company..." spoke the Exceed.

"What about Natsu and Hinata?" inquired Cosmo.

"They love Exceeds...so yes!" exclaimed Happy.

"Use your indoors voice...I shouldn't have to keep telling you that." complained Wanda.

"That's hard for me..." answered the Exceed.

"Yeah...I can see that." nodded the female interviewer.

Once again, Happy began to hyperventilate.

"Gotta stay calm! Gotta stay calm!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"As you say that...you fail to use your indoors voice." said Wanda.

"I just can't win here..." pouted Happy.

"Well, all that's left now are Natsu and Hinata. Let's have your picture taken!" bellowed Cosmo.

"My picture taken?!" screeched the Exceed.

Unfortunately, Happy did not like flash photography at all.

The first picture had him gasping in shock.

The second picture had him screaming in terror.

The last picture...had him unconscious.

"Oh dear...looks like he fainted." noted Wanda.

"I'll take him out of the interview room." answered Cosmo.

Immediately, he picked up Happy and took him outside the interview room.

Natsu and Hinata entered the room a few minutes later.

"Well, would you look at that! You dressed up as each other!" exclaimed Cosmo.

"Makarov said that we should try it...personally I thought it was a good idea." noted Hinata.

"Uh-huh! He's a genius!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Well, he is your guildmaster...so in theory he would be smart." suggested the female dragonslayer.

"Yeah..." nodded the male dragonslayer.

"I actually kind of like this outfit..." spoke Hinata.

"Me too...this outfit feels so warm and comfortable." answered Natsu.

"I guess there a reason I wore this outfit all the time ever since I became sixteen..." acknowledged the former Hyuga heiress.

"You've got to tell me where I can get outfits like this..." spoke the male dragonslayer.

"Well, I know a decent tailor." answered Hinata.

"You've got to take me to her!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Maybe after the interview." suggested the female dragonslayer.

"Oh, right..." nodded the male dragonslayer.

"I'm sorry that you two both scored last and had to dress up as the opposite gender..." sympathized Wanda.

"It's OK...if it weren't for me, Natsu wouldn't have made it across the finish line at all." noted Hinata.

"He wouldn't have?" inquired Cosmo.

"He injured his ankle." explained the female dragonslayer.

Sure enough, Natsu was wearing a cast around his foot.

"At least it should be better soon...I can heal pretty fast..." spoke the male dragonslayer.

"That explains why you keep getting in fights." noted Hinata.

"Fighting is so much fun!" exclaimed Natsu.

"But I don't want you to hurt yourself..." spoke the female dragonslayer.

"How sweet..." murmured Igneel's foster son.

"Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend? I've already asked this a million times but-"

Natsu and Hinata interrupted Wanda.

"No, we are not! Why do people keep asking us that? We're just very good friends, that's all!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

"That might change in the future though." noted the female dragonslayer.

Natsu and Hinata both began to blush.

"Right...if you two become a couple...then you have our support." spoke Cosmo.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the duo in unison.

"I know happy Cosmo and I were when we became a couple..." noted Wanda.

"I bet you were happy." spoke Hinata.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Cosmo.

"My father's pretty picky about who I should marry though. He said that I should marry an aristocrat." said the kunoichi.

"Yeah...Lucy's father is a bit like that too." noted Natsu.

"Again, our similarities kind of creep me out...I'm a bit glad that I became your interdimensional partner rather than Lucy's to be honest." answered Hinata.

"I think being your interdimensional partner is awesome! I love my new set of eyes!" exclaimed the fire dragonslayer.

"My pair of eyes are weak for a Hyuga clan member's...that's why my father disinherited me." explained the kunoichi.

"That's too bad." answered Natsu.

Immediately, he pressed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to blush.

"Natsu's such a gentleman..." thought Hinata.

"Wait, your father disinherited you?" asked Natsu.

"He said that my younger sister was a better candidate for the title...oddly enough Neji's Byakugan happens to be pretty strong and he's a member of the branch household." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Maybe I should have a talk with your father..." said the male dragonslayer.

"It's OK...I've come to terms with it...at least my younger sister is happy, right?" answered Hinata.

"That's a relief..." sighed Natsu.

"My sensei said that I was an excellent scout...so it really isn't all that bad." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Alright then." nodded the male dragonslayer.

"Who is your sensei?" asked Cosmo.

"A kunoichi by the name of Kurenai...she's really good at genjutsu." noted Hinata.

"Interesting..." spoke Wanda.

"My teacher happens to be a fire dragon..." answered Natsu.

"Yes...I've actually met the guy. He was a bit surprised to learn that I was also a fire dragonslayer." spoke Hinata.

"How long have you been a fire dragonslayer?" inquired Cosmo.

"For about a month or two." explained the fire dragonslayer.

"Really? You seem awfully good at using my abilities." noted Natsu.

"You flatter me." answered Hinata.

"Well, it looks like we've interviewed everyone. Let's have your picture taken! I hope you don't die of embarrassment..." exclaimed Cosmo.

"We won't...we accepted our fates. We're actually kind of happy to dress as each other in fact." explained Natsu.

Hinata nodded.

Immediately, they sat down in the bench together.

The first picture had Hinata smiling for the camera while Natsu stuck his tongue out.

The second picture had Hinata raising her eyebrow while Natsu continued to sting his tongue out.

The last picture had Hinata sticking her tongue out along with Natsu. Apparently, she had decided to join him.

"Have fun!" exclaimed Cosmo and Wanda.

Immediately, Hinata and Natsu left the room.

It had been a very long series of interviews...

...but Cosmo and Wanda had enjoyed every one of them.

_This sure was a long chapter, wasn't it? Maybe I should make the next chapter shorter to compensate...as such, I'm going to keep my author's notes brief._

_Merry Christmas!_


	37. Chapter 37: The Land Of Sorrow

Ninja Tail

_You probably thought that last chapter was rather amusing, am I right? Well, you probably won't think so about this chapter...it's going to be sad._

_As such, I am going to be referring to this chapter as The Land Of Sorrow...you'll see why not too long from now._

**Chapter 37: The Land Of Sorrow**

Naruto smiled as he headed back home to the world of ninja.

Oddly enough, Kimimaro was there to see him.

"Hey there, Kimimaro! Why weren't you at the race?" asked Naruto.

"The race? I was sick..." spoke the bone ninja.

"Oh no! Was your illness flaring up again?" inquired the chunin.

"No no no. I was fine. I was already cured of it, remember? It was just the common cold, that's all." answered Kimimaro.

Naruto sighed in relief.

"That's good to hear." noted the chunin.

Curious, he decided that it was time for him to do a mission.

Much to his surprise, he found that there was another mission to visit the Land Of Waves.

"Hmm? I haven't seen one like this in a while..." spoke Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to accept the mission, and went to Tsunade to talk about the subject.

"Hey there, Tsunade! I noticed that there was a mission to visit the Land Of Waves..." grinned the chunin.

"Yes, I know." nodded Tsunade.

"Funny, I already went there three years ago..." acknowledged Naruto.

"Did you now?" asked the Sannin.

"Yeah...it was quite a mission." noted the chunin.

"I bet it was...you were still a genin back then...and yet you went on an A-Rank Mission." acknowledged Tsunade.

"Yeah...they didn't tell me about that when I signed up." noted the chunin.

"If only the Land Of Waves wasn't so broke back then..." murmured the Sannin.

"Right...can you give me a mission briefing?" inquired Naruto.

"Sure...as you know, the Land Of Waves has been a valuable asset to us. They've been giving us quite a few goods and services." explained Tsunade.

"That's true." nodded the chunin.

"However, as of late...they've completely cut off all communications with us." spoke the Sannin.

"What? That's pretty odd..." questioned Naruto.

"We know...that's why we want you to investigate. I don't remember wronging them...but maybe you should talk to them anyway." suggested Tsunade.

"Maybe I should." nodded the chunin.

"You do happen to be a friend of theirs...are you not?" inquired the Sannin.

"Of course!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Good. That should make diplomacy a lot easier." acknowledged the Fifth Hokage.

"I bet so!" shouted the chunin.

"However...I can't help but shake the feeling that there's foul play involved." said Tsunade.

"What makes you say that?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, I won money at gambling today." explained the Fifth Hokage.

"Not again...do you think it was Gato's thugs?" asked the chunin.

"I think it's something much worse." answered Tsunade.

"That doesn't sound good..." noted Naruto.

"I suggest that you bring some of your friends with you..." suggested the Sannin.

"Good idea." nodded the chunin.

"I know! I'll bring Sakura with you!" exclaimed Tsunade.

"Huh? Oh, that's right...she went on that mission with me." noted Naruto.

"Don't worry...she won't just stand there and do virtually nothing like she did earlier." answered the Sannin.

"Right, of course..." nodded the chunin. This time they didn't have a bridge builder to protect...so hopefully things would be a bit easier.

Immediately, Sakura entered the office.

"You called?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I need you to go on a mission with Naruto." explained Tsunade.

"Sure!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Thank you, Sakura." cheered Naruto.

"You're welcome." answered the kunoichi.

"That still might not be enough, though...I suggest that you bring more friends." suggested the Fifth Hokage.

"Right...of course." nodded the chunin.

Immediately, he stepped into the interdimensional portal to look for his friends on the other side.

Sure enough, he found Lucy.

"Hey there, Naruto...is there anything you want help with?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I'm on a mission to travel to the Land Of Waves...apparently something strange has happened there." explained Naruto.

"Something strange?" inquired Lucy.

"They've suddenly stopped trading with us...and they didn't bother to explain why." clarified the chunin.

"That is rather odd." agreed the kunoichi.

"Tsunade said that I should bring friends with me...she said that she suspected something sinister has happened." explained Naruto.

"Yikes." murmured Lucy.

"Since you're about as strong as I am I figured you would be a good partner for the mission." noted the chunin.

"I suppose you were right...we do work rather well together." answered the kunoichi.

"I'm starting to see why people keep thinking that we're brother and sister." spoke Naruto.

"Well, we are brother and sister in a sense." noted Lucy.

"Yeah..." nodded the chunin. Since they were both interdimensional partners, they were technically related to each other, albeit not biologically.

"Right...should we bring someone else?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, we could bring Gray and Juvia...they're sitting right over there." said Lucy.

Sure enough, Gray and Juvia were sitting at a table nearby.

"Do you two want to go on a mission with us?" asked the chunin.

"Sure!" exclaimed Juvia.

"That sounds like fun..." noted Gray.

"Alright then! I think we're ready now!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura approached Naruto a few seconds later.

"We're all ready?" asked the kunoichi.

"We sure are! We're a five-man band! Well, three women and two men..." noted the chunin.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, they stepped through the interdimensional portal.

"So...where is the Land Of Waves?" asked Gray.

"I don't think it's too far from here..." answered Naruto.

Curious, he pulled out a map.

"Nope, it isn't...we're going to need a boat though." noted the chunin.

"I'll take care of it! I have an underwater breathing spell..." explained Juvia.

"Oh...never mind then." said Naruto.

Immediately, they began to head towards the Land Of Waves.

"I have to admit...this does bring back memories..." acknowledged Sakura.

"It sure does." agreed the chunin.

"The Land Of Waves sure sounds like a nice place." spoke Lucy.

"Well, I would imagine so...we went out of our way to make sure it was a nice place to live." noted Sakura.

"Yeah..." concurred Naruto.

"That was nice of you." spoke Gray.

"Yeah...of course, if I had known that Tazuna had been lying to us...I might have been more hesistant to go on that mission." noted the chunin.

"A-Rank Missions are not for genin." nodded Sakura.

"Yeah...I guess not." acknowledged Lucy.

"You think we could go on an A-Rank Mission?" asked Juvia.

"Probably...we're pretty tough nowadays." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he began to flex his muscles.

"Real mature, Naruto." spoke Sakura.

"What? I've been eating my broccoli!" exclaimed the former jinchuriki.

"Well, that's true..." noted Naruto.

**"I still think he's weak." **answered Kurama.

"What about me?" asked Lucy.

**"Well..."** murmured the nine-tailed fox.

Sure enough, a body of water was within sight.

"I guess we should get going now..." spoke Naruto.

Apparently, they were on the right path, because they could view the Land Of Waves from a distance.

However, something didn't seem quite right.

Curious, Juvia encased Naruto and his friends in bubbles so that they could bounce across the ocean.

"This is fun!" exclaimed Naruto.

"It sure is." nodded Lucy.

"Thank goodness Natsu and Hinata didn't go on this mission." noted Gray.

"Yeah..." agreed Juvia.

"I'm not really in the mood for bouncing." complained Sakura.

"Relax...I don't think this is going to take too l-"

Suddenly, Naruto noticed something that alarmed him.

"What the-" exclaimed the chunin.

As it turned out, there was a corpse floating in the water.

Sure enough, Lucy noticed this as well.

"OK...this is a bit disturbing." murmured the kunoichi.

"I'll say." nodded Juvia.

"I wonder what happened. Was this an accident? Or was this something else?" inquired Gray.

"Either way, it looks like he's dead..." spoke Naruto.

Curious, Sakura began to perform an autopsy.

"Hmm...he hasn't been dead for too long. I think something swept him out to sea." explained the kunoichi.

"What could that have been?" questioned Lucy.

**"I'm starting to feel a bit nervous...can we turn back?" **inquired Kurama.

"That doesn't sound like something you would say..." spoke the kunoichi.

**"I know..." **murmured Kurama.

"Hearing you say that makes me feel nervous too." noted Lucy.

Something evil had paid the Land Of Waves a visit, it seemed.

She let out a sigh.

"I guess we should keep going..." noted the summoner.

"Yeah...we do have a mission to complete after all." answered Naruto.

"We wouldn't let to let Tsunade down..." agreed Sakura.

"It's true...we wouldn't." nodded Gray.

"Let's keep going." said Juvia.

Little did they know that was just a sign of what was to come...

_Meanwhile..._

As soon as Hinata and Natsu stepped out of the interview room, they were immediately approached by some hungry autograph hunters.

"Is is true that you sacrificed yourself for Natsu?" inquired an autograph hunter.

"It's true, I did." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, he wanted her autograph.

"Um...sure." answered the kunoichi.

Likewise, the autograph hunters wanted Natsu's autograph as well.

"Sure!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Funny...I wasn't really expecting us to be this popular considering that we lost the race." noted Hinata.

"I know...it's really weird." agreed the male dragonslayer.

Apparently, the public was ecstatic to how much they were willing to sacrifice for each other.

"I'm starting to wonder if we're going to have more fans than Lucy and Shikamaru now..." questioned Hinata.

"We probably are." nodded Natsu.

"Wouldn't that be nice..." murmured the kunoichi.

"Yeah, it would." answered the male dragonslayer.

"I guess slow and steady really does win the race." noted Hinata.

"I guess it does." agreed Natsu.

"I wonder where Naruto is..." spoke the kunoichi.

"I think he went back home." noted the male dragonslayer.

"Really? I actually wanted to stay here a while..." answered the female dragonslayer.

"You do?" asked Natsu.

"Well, yeah...everyone here seems to be happy to see me these days...I might want to contact my father though." noted Hinata.

"You think he's worried about you?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

"Probably." answered the female dragonslayer.

Curious, she pulled out her pager.

"Let's see now...what is his phone number again?" asked Hinata.

She quickly remembered it.

"Oh, that's right...I should have memorized it by now." noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to dial the phone number.

Hiashi answered the phone a few minutes later.

"Hello?" asked the Hyuga clan member.

"I just wanted to see if you were worried about me..." spoke Hinata.

"Not at all! I think it's great that you went on a race...how did you do?" inquired Hiashi.

"Not so well..." answered the kunoichi.

"What place did you get?" asked the leader of the Hyuga clan.

"I got last place..." murmured Hinata.

"Oh dear..." murmured Hiashi Hyuga.

"To be fair, I did sacrifice myself for someone else." answered the kunoichi.

"Very good. That is the Hyuga way." said Hinata's father.

"That's true." nodded Hinata.

"Good to talk to you. I'm always proud of you." stated Hiashi.

Immediately, he hung up the phone.

"How sweet..." murmured Hinata.

"What did he say?" inquired Natsu.

"He says that I did the right thing...and that he's always proud of me." noted the kunoichi.

"I guess I won't have to have a talk with him then..." answered the male dragonslayer.

"Thank goodness." sighed Hinata.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Natsu.

"I don't know...maybe get something to eat?" asked the kunoichi.

"The cafeteria isn't so far from here...so, sure!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

Immediately, Natsu and Hinata entered the cafeteria.

This caused the chef to groan. Feeding one of them was hard enough...but having to feed two of them? He was going to have to work overtime.

Shrugging, he decided that he might as well get started.

To start off their meals, he handed them some chicken wings.

"Delicious!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Uh-huh!" bellowed Hinata.

Immediately, they began to eat the chicken wings ravenously.

"Say...maybe we should challenge each other to an eating contest..." suggested the male dragonslayer.

"But I might get fat..." worried the female dragonslayer.

"It's OK...we can always use a treadmill." noted Natsu.

"That's true." agreed Hinata.

Immediately, they waited for the chef to give them a second course.

This time, he gave them some hamburgers.

"Sweet!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

"Alright." smiled the female dragonslayer.

Once again, they finished their food in seconds.

"We might want to wipe off our faces..." noted Hinata.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Natsu.

Immediately, they pulled out napkins to wipe their faces with.

"I'm feeling thirsty now..." said Igneel's foster son.

"There's a vending machine right over there." pointed out the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga.

Immediately, Natsu put in some jewels to get himself a soda pop...which in this case was Dr. Pepper.

"Is there anything you want?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"I'd like some Sprite, please." answered the female dragonslayer.

Natsu put some more jewels in the vending machine.

"Here is your Sprite..." said Igneel's adopted child.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Hinata.

_Meanwhile..._

Things didn't get any better as they began to approach the Land Of Waves. Pretty soon, they began to encounter more corpses.

"OK...something is definitely wrong here." noted Lucy.

"What's going on?" asked Sakura.

"Hmm...something tells me that they weren't just terrible swimmers..." questioned Gray.

"You're right...I think we might have a drowner here..." noted Naruto.

"We might have an arsonist too..." questioned Juvia.

"What?" asked the chunin.

Curious, he noticed that there was a lot of smoke coming from the Land Of Waves.

"That's not good...did a fire suddenly break out?" inquired the chunin.

"If so...I hope that they're trying to put it out..." answered Juvia.

Oddly, the Land Of Waves' citizens weren't making an effort to put out the fire.

"That's pretty odd..." noted Gray.

Shouldn't they be trying to put out the fire?

"I sure hope they have a fire department..." questioned Lucy.

"I would imagine that they had one..." noted Naruto.

Curious, they decided to continue heading towards the Land Of Waves.

Eventually, they reached the bridge.

"Well, here we are...now to head to their town and-"

The five immediately gasped in shock.

The bridge had completely collapsed, and there was blood everywhere!

"What the hell?!" screeched Sakura.

"Who could have done this?!" bellowed Lucy.

"Naruto...is that you?" inquired a voice.

Curious, Naruto looked around, and gasped in shock.

It was none other than Tazuna...and he had no less than six kunai in his back. He was lying on what was left of the bridge.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he was beyond Sakura and Juvia's help. Even their healing abilities had their limits.

"What's going on?!" exclaimed the chunin.

"We were visited...by Kenichi." explained Tazuna.

"Kenichi?! The Dragonrider?! Scourge Of The Ninja Villages?! Last Ninja Of The Chikawa Clan?! You mean him?!" bellowed Naruto.

Tazuna nodded.

"Impossible! Everyone said that he was just a myth!" exclaimed the chunin.

"That's what we thought...until he came." said the elderly man.

_Things were going very well for the Land Of Waves. Thanks to the bridge, the Land Of Waves was now very prosperous._

_In fact, they had just successfully pulled off a very big sale._

_Best of all, Tazuna was now rolling in cash._

_He was almost a billionaire._

_"I'm so glad that I built this bridge..." spoke Tazuna._

_At that very moment, Inari paid him a visit._

_"Greetings!" exclaimed the preteen boy._

_"Good to see you!" bellowed Tazuna._

_"How are things going?" asked Inari._

_"Better than ever!" answered Inari's grandfather._

_"I'm so happy to hear that..." said the boy._

_"And it's all thanks to Naruto!" exclaimed Tazuna._

_"Yeah...Naruto rocks...and quite frankly, Gato sucked." noted the preteen boy._

_"It's true...he did." nodded the elderly man._

_"I'll see you later, grandpa!" bellowed Inari._

_"Goodbye!" exclaimed Tazuna._

_Immediately, Inari left, and he felt that it was the best day of his life._

_However, about fifteen minutes later...he began to hear the sound of wings flapping._

_"Hmm? That's odd...Konoha has never visited us by air before..." noted Tazuna._

_This was very strange._

_Curious, he looked up, and noticed that there was a dragon approaching them._

_All of a sudden, he began to feel rather nervous._

_"Um...I don't ever recall them using a dragon either..." thought Tazuna._

_This kept getting weirder and weirder._

_Curious, he began to wonder what was going on._

_Immediately, a man that he had never met before jumped off of the dragon._

_It was Kenichi Chikawa._

_He raised an eyebrow. Oddly enough, he could have sworn that he had heard of the man somewhere...weren't there rumors going around the Land Of Waves about a man riding a dragon?_

_Apparently, there was some truth in those rumors._

_"Can we help you?" asked Tazuna._

_"Oh, I'm here for only one thing..." answered Kenichi._

_"Only...one thing?" inquired the old man._

_"I'm here to kill you all and raze this land until nothing will ever prosper here again!" bellowed the ninja._

_"What?!" screeched Tazuna._

_"Shinsui!" bellowed Kenichi._

_Wondering what was going on, he suddenly noticed tentacles emerging from the water, causing him to gasp in shock._

_Immediately, they grabbed onto some unfortunate Land Of Waves villagers, causing them to scream in terror._

_They had been eaten by Shinsui, who eagerly enjoyed the taste of her victims._

_They were pulled down into the water...and then they knew no more._

_At this point, Tazuna had been stunned into silence._

_"Did you really think it was that easy to save your precious village, Tazuna? No bridge can save you from me...nothing can!" exclaimed Kenichi._

_Immediately, he had Kaishi pick up Tazuna and lift him up in to the sky._

_"Let's watch as I destroy your precious bridge, shall we?" asked the ninja._

_"No! Stop!" begged Tazuna._

_Shinsui struck the bridge with a tidal wave, sweeping away several more unfortunate villagers to their deaths._

_Tazuna tried to cover his eyes, but Kenichi reopened them._

_"Have you all lost hope yet? No? Alright then!" exclaimed the ninja._

_Immediately, he began to summon another creature._

_"Rainu! Kill!" bellowed Kenichi._

_A ferocious-looking lion appeared in a burst of electricity._

_Letting out a roar, lightning bolts electrocuted more of the villagers, reducing them to ash._

_"Oh my god!" exclaimed Tazuna._

_"Well, now for the bridge..." spoke Kenichi._

_"Nooooo!" screamed the bridge builder._

_Snapping his fingers, Raini and Shinsui worked in tandem to destroy the bridge...which they did within a few minutes._

_Kenichi smirked in satisfaction._

_Immediately, Tazuna began to cry._

_"Right then...I guess it's off to your hometown next..." said the ninja._

_Tazuna gasped in shock. Was the bridge only half of what he intended to do?_

_"Too bad you won't live to see me destroy it..." spoke Kenichi._

_Tazuna's eyes widened._

_Immediately, he dropped Tazuna onto what used to be the Great Naruto Bridge, causing him to break his leg in the process._

_He then opened his palm, and launched six kunai into his back, making him scream in pain._

_"It's so pleasurable to see you die nice and slow." noted Kenichi._

_It was only what he felt that he deserved._

_Dismissing Shinsui and Rainu, he decided it was time to use some different summons._

_"Wakaze! Chuma!" exclaimed Kenichi._

_Immediately, an enormous eagle and a colossal bear appeared with a sudden gust of wind and tremor respectively._

_"Kill everyone on this island!" bellowed the ninja._

_Wakaze and Chuma nodded, and they began to head straight towards town._

"I can't believe it..." murmured Naruto.

"Neither can I..." answered Tazuna.

He began to cough up blood.

"Naruto...I want you to stop Kenichi...or failing that, get as far away from him as you can..." spoke Tazuna.

"I will." nodded Naruto.

"Thank you...for saving the Land Of Waves...I couldn't have done it...without you." murmured the bridge builder.

With that, he drew his final breath.

"Tazuna? Tazuna!" screamed the chunin.

"Is he..." asked Sakura.

"Yes, he is." answered Naruto.

"Kenichi, you bastard!" screamed Gray.

Naruto began to cry.

Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder. This had hit her as hard as it had hit Naruto...though she wasn't crying as much.

"He...he said that Kenichi was going to attack the rest of the Land Of Waves too...Inari and Tsunami may be in danger..." said Naruto.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Juvia.

"I guess we can check for survivors...though personally I'm not counting on it." spoke the former jinchuriki.

Immediately, Lucy began to cry as well. Now she knew just how evil Kenichi was...and why they needed to stop him.

Sighing, they decided to continue onward...expecting even more bodies.

_Meanwhile..._

Hinata let out a sigh as she drank the Sprite that Natsu had provided.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I think something horrible has happened." said the kunoichi.

"What makes you say that?" inquired the fire dragonslayer.

"I just think that there was a great tragedy..." explained Hinata.

"I'm starting to feel it too..." murmured Natsu.

"You are?" asked the kunoichi.

"Yeah..." nodded Natsu.

At that very moment, Erza paid them a visit.

"What's the matter? I was expecting you to eat more than this..." questioned Erza.

"Hinata said that something terrible occurred..." explained Natsu.

"What happened?" asked the knight.

"I don't know for sure." answered Hinata.

"Hmm..." pondered Erza.

"Maybe we should head back to Konoha to investigate?" asked Natsu.

"I guess I'll go." said Hinata.

Immediately, she went to the interdimensional portal to head back to the world of ninja.

"Bye!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Goodbye." answered Natsu.

"Oddly enough I'm starting to feel it too..." noted Erza.

Natsu began to frown.

"What exactly is going on at the world of ninja?" inquired the fire dragonslayer.

"It can't be anything good..." acknowledged the knight.

"Yeah..." agreed the fire mage.

"Personally I wonder if I should head there myself..." spoke Erza.

"But you haven't been to the world of ninja before..." answered Natsu.

"Yeah..." acknowledged the knight.

"By the way, I think I've overcome Hinata's initial shyness as of late..." spoke the fire dragonslayer.

"That's a relief." nodded Erza.

"Yeah...I feel so much better now..." said Natsu.

Erza sighed in relief.

"Well, let me know if it starts flaring up again." spoke the knight.

"I will." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

Personally she wondered if Naruto was OK. She wouldn't want anything to happen to him.

She actually wanted to do a mission with him again to be honest. It was always that much more enjoyable with him around.

_At the outskirts of the Land Of Waves..._

"Well, it looks like a job well done." answered Kenichi.

From what he could see, he had left no survivors. Everyone was dead, and he was responsible for every single death.

However, he wanted to make sure.

"Why don't I send out a clone?" asked the ninja.

He was about to do so...when he remembered what had happened last time.

"Oh, that's right...I better send out two rather than one in order to make sure." noted Kenichi.

Immediately, he summoned two different copies of himself.

"Make sure that nobody's still alive, would you? I'm just double-checking..." said the ninja.

The clones nodded, and began to search for survivors.

"Well, I think I'm done here for the time being..." acknowledged Kenichi.

This time, he decided to use Shinsui as transportation...as she could hurtle through water like nobody's business.

"Where to go next..." thought the ninja.

Immediately, he leapt on top of the octopus and began to ride towards where his conquest would take him next.

"I don't know where to go next..." spoke Kenichi.

Once again, he began to flashback.

_"Where are we going?" asked one of Kenichi's friends._

_"Oh, just a small forest outside of town..." explained Kenichi._

_Sure enough, it was in sight._

_"Is there a particular reason you wanted me to come here?" asked the teenage boy._

_"Just one..." answered Kenichi._

_Immediately, Kenichi's friend began to feel rather nervous. Something just didn't seem right about this._

_Sure enough, they arrived at their destination._

_"There...now nobody can see us..." spoke Kenichi._

_Kenichi's friend raised an eyebrow._

_His suspicions were confirmed when suddenly Kenichi drove his fist through his chest._

_He collapsed on the ground and died instantly._

_Kenichi smirked in satisfaction. Now there were one less weak ninja in the world._

_Still, he hoped that he would be able to do more one day._

Of course, back then, not even he knew that he would go on to become a missing-nin, arsonist, and mass murderer.

It was always nice to have flashbacks like that.

Immediately, Kenichi sped off into the distance, crossing off the Land Of Waves on his map as he did so.

_Back at the Land Of The Waves..._

Things did not look any better at the urban part of the Land Of Waves itself. It looked like everybody had been killed.

"I feel sick..." murmured Juvia.

"So do I." nodded Gray.

Curious, Naruto decided to visit Inari, expecting the worst.

Sure enough, there was no sign of him or his mother.

Naruto let out a sigh.

"I guess that's it then..." spoke the chunin.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Naruto? Is that you?" asked Inari.

Naruto gasped in surprise.

"Inari! You're alive!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Yes...I am...I don't know where my mother is though." said the preteen boy.

"Me neither." answered Naruto.

"I can't believe that someone would do this..." spoke Inari.

_Inari wondered what was going on. He had heard screaming coming from the bridge._

_He personally wanted to go to investigate, but Tsunami held him back._

_She said that something bad was happening and that it was too dangerous._

_She was right on her ryo._

_"Kill them all! Leave no survivors!" bellowed Kenichi._

_Sure enough, Chuma was creating an enormous fissure to kill the citizens of the Land Of Waves._

_They were falling into the cracks in the earth one after another, causing them to scream at the top of their lungs._

_"Goodbye!" exclaimed the ninja._

_Inari couldn't believe what was going on. He felt like he was having a nightmare._

_Suddenly, he heard his mother scream._

_Curious, he looked around, and screamed as well._

_Wakaze had grabbed his mother with her talons._

_"Inari, I love you!" exclaimed Tsunami._

_"Mama!" bellowed Inari._

_Immediately, Wakaze took Tsunami away._

_Frantically, Inari fled to the basement. Hopefully Kenichi or his summons wouldn't find him._

_Still, he was worried about his mother's safety._

_Was she going to be OK?_

"I'm afraid that you were visited by Kenichi..." spoke Naruto.

"Kenichi Chikawa?!" bellowed Inari.

"Yes...I'm surprised that he paid the Land Of Waves a visit myself..." spoke the chunin.

"I don't believe it...when I first met Gato, I thought that he was the worst person that I have ever met...but now...I think that he was an angel!" exclaimed the preteen boy.

Immediately, he began to cry.

Naruto placed his hand on his shoulder.

"It's OK...we'll find you a new home..." spoke the chunin.

"Thank you...I appreciate it." answered Inari.

At that very moment, Sakura entered the household.

"Um, Naruto...I'm afraid that there's something that you need to see..." spoke the kunoichi.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Curious, he went outside...

...and gasped in shock.

Sure enough, there was Tsunami, ripped in half by Wakaze and one of her wind jutsus.

"No..." murmured Naruto.

"We need to tell Inari about this..." spoke Sakura.

"Yes, we do." nodded the former jinchuriki.

Immediately, Naruto went to tell Inari the bad news.

"She's...dead?" inquired the preteen boy.

"Yes...I suggest you cover your eyes when you go outside." said Naruto.

Lucy entered the house a few seconds later.

At this point, Inari was bawling.

Fortunately, she was there to embrace him.

**"Kenichi makes me sick." **murmured Kurama.

"I'm with you there." agreed Lucy.

Suddenly, they began to hear footsteps outside.

"Hmm?" asked Lucy.

Curious, she let go of Inari and went to investigate.

She gasped in surprise.

"Not again..." murmured the kunoichi.

Sure enough, Gray, Sakura, and Juvia were waiting outside.

"Has Kenichi sent another clone after us?" asked the ice mage.

"I think he's sent two of them after us this time." answered Lucy.

"What?!" bellowed Juvia.

Sure enough, there were two of them this time.

Immediately, Juvia went to protect Inari from the two clones, encasing him in a bubble.

"Will this...keep me safe?" asked the boy.

"Hopefully." answered the water mage.

Naruto, Lucy, Sakura, Gray, and Juvia got ready to fight.

Granted, they were able to defeat one clone...

...but would they be able to defeat two?

_Meanwhile at Mana City..._

Chiyoye happily drained the life of Mana City's citizens...

...only to notice that there appeared to be having a meeting at the town center.

"Curious..." thought the female mage.

She went to investigate, and gasped in surprise.

It was none other than her old mentor.

"Greetings, everyone. As we all know, my former apprentice Chiyoye Headstone is wreaking havoc on this city...fortunately, I have come here to stop her." explained Professor Fumbledore.

The civilians let out a sigh of relief.

"To be honest, I can't help but feel partly responsible. I taught her too much too quickly...if I ever take up another apprentice, I'll have to see where their loyalties lie. Chiyoye's only allegiance was to herself this whole time." spoke the professor.

The civilians sighed.

"But no matter. I can't run away from my past...I have to face it. It is time for me to deal with my former pupil...once and for all." said the elderly wizard.

However, at that very moment, one of the civilians noticed Chiyoye out in the distance.

He immediately spread this information to the rest of Mana City's citizens, who snarled at her in rage.

"What's this? They appear to have spotted me." noted the sorceress.

"Now now now. Let's not do anything hasty. I'm going to deal with her my-"

However, the civilians weren't going to listen to reason.

Immediately, they began to charge towards Chiyoye, ready to make her suffer for what she had done to their family and friends.

"Well well well. It looks like they're actually fighting back this time." acknowledged the necromanceress.

Immediately, she began to smile.

"Perfect." murmured Chiyoye.

Sure enough, one of the civilians lunged at her with an axe.

In retaliation, she incinerated him with a lightning bolt.

"This is still too easy." spoke the sorceress.

Of course, more civilians were beginning to attack, some from a distance.

"Trying to gang up on me, are you? I guess I'll have to do something about that." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to summon some of her undead...in this case, skeleton warriors.

Sure enough, this allowed her to gain the advantage.

"You're going to have to do better than that..." spoke Chiyoye.

Suddenly, one of the civilians began to drive a truck towards her.

"Oh dear...wouldn't want to be hitting me now..." noted the sorceress.

Immediately, she teleported towards a building, causing the truck to crash.

"Still too easy." smirked Chiyoye in satisfaction.

However, the civilians weren't done yet. This time, they were attacking her with a helicopter that was loaded with a turret.

Quickly, she shot it down with another lightning bolt.

She began to yawn shortly afterwards.

Looking down, she noticed that the civilians were entering the building she was in, hoping to reach the roof so that they could kill her.

Sure enough, there was a door on the roof that they could use to approach her.

"I guess I might as well come up with a strategy when they show up..." noted Chiyoye.

Curious, she noticed that there were several gargoyle statues on the roof...and suddenly, she got an idea.

"I know exactly what to do..." said the sorceress.

Snapping her fingers, the gargoyle statues came to life, becoming actual gargoyles.

"What is your request, mistress?" asked one of the gargoyles.

"Oh, it's rather simple...I want you to kill everyone that comes out of that door." explained Chiyoye.

Sure enough, the gargoyles began to surround the door, ready to ambush any unsuspecting citizens.

Immediately, they burst through the door, ready to attack Chiyoye...

...only to find themselves being clawed to death instead.

"Hahaha." laughed the necromanceress.

However, some of the citizens managed to break through. One of them even pushed her off the building.

"Yes! I killed her! She's-"

"No, I am not." interrupted Chiyoye.

Unfortunately for the civilians, their nemesis was capable of flight.

"Did you think I would teleport to the top of the building without a flight spell?" asked the sorceress.

"Well, that makes sense..." noted the civilian.

Chiyoye launched a fireball at the citizens, and then they were no more.

"Go ahead! Send out the military! See if I care!" exclaimed the sorceress.

Sure enough, police officers were arriving on the scene.

"Freeze!" bellowed one of the cops.

"As you wish." smirked Chiyoye.

Chiyoye snapped her fingers, and the cops were frozen to death in a block of ice.

"So much for their police force." said the necromanceress.

More police officers began to arrive on the scene.

One of them pulled out a loudspeaker.

"Come down with your hands up!" exclaimed the cop.

"Personally I think you should be surrendering to me..not like I'm going to grant you mercy." answered Chiyoye.

Casting another spell, an enormous zombie hand crushed the police officers to death.

"They think they can just put handcuffs on my wrists and shove me in a prison cell? Surely the police chief at Elm Town must have taught them something..." noted the sorceress.

Getting desperate, one of the police officers pulled out a sniper rifle.

In retaliation, she made his head explode.

"Trying to shoot me in the head, are you? Sorry, but it looks like I already beat you to the punch." noted Chiyoye.

Getting desperate, the remaining police officers put on their riot control gear.

"What a riot." smirked the sorceress.

Shrugging, she decided to head back down to ground level to confront them up close and personal.

Unfortunately, their police batons weren't doing any good against her at all.

Nor were their shields...they simply could not protect them from her powerful spells.

And to make matters worse, Chiyoye's gargoyles had joined the fray.

"Get them off us!" exclaimed the riot control force.

However, they were able to harm the gargoyles with their police batons.

"Well, I guess they aren't invulnerable...though they're serving me well regardless." acknowledged the mage.

The gargoyles seemed competent enough...though she still had a ways to go before she was ready to conquer Fairy Tail.

Now that she thought of it...was it possible that Fairy Tail had sent her former mentor to take her down?

If so, she was looking forward to battling him.

"I've been waiting so long for this..." said Chiyoye.

Maybe if she vanquished all the citizens, maybe Professor Fumbledore would battle her himself.

After all, that was his original intention...to battle her one-on-one.

"I suppose if I can reach him...my undead and my summons can make sure that this is a one-on-one fight..." spoke Chiyoye.

Personally she felt that she could slaughter Professor Fumbledore even if he had the entire city backing up...but she felt that it would be more exciting to save him for last.

Curious, she noticed that he appeared to be summoning a creature of some kind.

"Pegasus, attack!" exclaimed Professor Fumbledore.

"Oh, would you look at that. He's sending a pony after me." spoke Chiyoye.

Immediately, the pegasus began to fly towards the sorceress.

Chiyoye struck him with a wicked lightning bolt, but this didn't hurt him that much.

"Well, I didn't want things to be that easy..." acknowledged the necromanceress.

The pegasus charged straight towards Chiyoye, hoping to impale her with his horn.

This did not work out at all.

"Trying to attack me at close-range? Surely you know better than that." questioned the magician.

Immediately, she grabbed onto the pegasus and drained the life out of it.

She then reanimated it and began to use it as a mount.

"I've always wanted to ride one of these when I was little!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Professor Fumbledore snarled. He was well-aware that Chiyoye's greatest strength was her profound ability to use her enemies' resources against them.

Immediately, he decided he needed to summon something more powerful.

This time, he decided to summon seven dwarves.

"What's this? Let's see now...I'll call you Eviscerated, I'll call you Disemboweled, I'll call you Bloodstain, I'll call you Mutilated, I'll call you Decapitated, I'll call you Rotting Corpse, and I'll call you Butchered." taunted Chiyoye.

The seven dwarves began to glare at her. Off to work they went.

Granted, they would rather take a trip to the mines than actually hunt someone down...but Professor Fumbledore was counting on them.

They did not want to let him down.

"Gather round, boys!" exclaimed the leader of the dwarves.

Immediately, they got into a battle stance.

"Hmm...that's an interesting formation you've got there." noted Chiyoye.

Shortly afterwards, they began to pull out dynamite.

"Oh, what's this? It appears that you've got explosives..." spoke the sorceress.

Immediately, she used her undead pegasus to fly into the air so that they would have a harder time hitting her.

Sure enough, they began tossing the dynamite...but they were having a hard time hitting her.

"This is just too much fun..." murmured Chiyoye.

_This was a sad chapter, wasn't it? That's right...Kenichi actually destroyed the Land Of Waves. I believed I already foreshadowed this._

_In the next chapter...well...we're going to see some more action. I'm sorry if I made you all cry...but Kenichi and Chiyoye should have never been born..._

_Again, Merry Christmas!_


	38. Chapter 38: Teacher And Student

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto, Lucy, Sakura, Juvia, and Gray will be taking on Kenichi's two clones._

_Oh, and we're going to see how Chiyoye's duel with her old mentor turns out._

**Chapter 38: Teacher And Student**

Naruto launched a Rasengan at one of Kenichi's clones, but unfortunately it grabbed on and tossed it right back at him.

"What the heck?!" bellowed the chunin.

"Sorry, but it's not that simple. As Kenichi said, the Rasengan doesn't mean much to him..." answered Lucy.

Naruto let out a sigh.

"How am I going to fight him now?" asked the chunin. Without the Rasengan, he felt rather weak.

"Try summoning something? That's what I usually do whenever I found myself in a bad situation...like when some psychopath's trying to kill me." asked Lucy.

Naruto shrugged. That seemed as good of an idea as any. He really didn't want anyone to spill his blood.

Immediately, he pulled out some summoner keys.

"Which one should I use?" asked the chunin.

One of the Kenichi clones swung a sword at Naruto.

"I might want to hurry..." noted the former jinchuriki.

"Yeah..." agreed Lucy.

Sakura punched one of the clones in the face, causing smoke to leak out of him.

However, the other clone picked up Sakura and tossed him at Gray, causing them both to scream.

"These clones are strong..." noted Sakura.

"We can't really expect any less from Kenichi Chikawa..." acknowledged Gray.

"And here I thought that facing one of his clones was bad enough..." said Juvia.

"Yeah...I already faced one of these before and it was an experience that I'm not going to forget anytime soon." spoke Lucy.

"I'm not going to forget this battle!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Let's just hope that it isn't our last." murmured Sakura.

One of the Kenichi Clones began to summon a squid to attack Sakura. It vaguely resembled Kenichi's water summon, Shinsui.

Sure enough, it wrapped its tentacles around her.

"I'm going to ignore the implications here..." said the kunoichi.

"Hey! Let her go!" demanded Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned Virgo to rip the squid off of Sakura. Considering how strong she was, she seemed like a good candidate for the job.

"How may I help you, master?" inquired the maiden.

"I need you to remove that squid from Sakura...she wants to remain a virgin." explained Naruto.

Sakura sweatdropped.

"Right, of course..." nodded Virgo.

Immediately, she removed the squid from the kunoichi.

"Thank you..." said Sakura.

In retaliation, she punched the squid towards one of Kenichi's clones, causing it to latch onto his face.

However, the two clones still no showed no signs of slowing down their assault.

One of the clones grabbed onto Virgo and flung her at Naruto. Apparently, Sakura wasn't the only one with superhuman strength.

"Aaugh!" bellowed the chunin as he collapsed on the floor.

"Sorry, master!" apologized Virgo.

"It's fine...it wasn't your fault." answered Naruto.

The other clone then followed up by stabbing the maiden with a sword, causing her to burst into yellow mana.

Naruto let out a sigh. He wouldn't be able to summon her again for the time being.

He tried attacking the clones with some shadow clones of his own, but they were able to burst them into smoke somewhat easily.

Kenichi's two clones then followed by beginning to shoot at Gray, hoping to pump him full of lead.

"Hey!" exclaimed the ice mage.

Frantically, he began to avoid the bullets.

"They seem to have guns..." acknowledged Juvia.

"Mm-hmm." nodded Sakura.

Immediately, Gray set up an ice shield to protect himself from the bullets.

However, one of the clones was converting his arm into a one-handed flamethrower.

"They are so smart..." murmured Naruto.

Curious, he wondered if the clone was vulnerable to assault while he was doing so.

"Let's find out..." said the chunin.

Immediately, he began to charge up another Rasengan. Hopefully he wouldn't be wasting his chakra this time.

As it turned out, the clones were in fact vulnerable while they were changing their weapons. The clone was hit by the Rasengan and fell on the floor, much to Naruto's satisfaction.

However, he wasn't down for the count, and he was currently swallowing a pill in order to heal himself.

"Where did it get that pill?" inquired Lucy. She had seen the clone reach into his pocket...but other than that he had no idea where he had gotten those pills.

"I don't know..." answered Naruto. Did Kenichi's clones have ninja equipment on them? He wished that his shadow clones had something like that.

Curious, he wondered if he should try taking those pills away from the clones so that they couldn't heal themselves.

It would make life a lot easier for them.

However, when he walked up to one of the clones, he ended up being punched away.

"Darn it!" bellowed the chunin.

This was then followed by the clone burning him with his arm flamethrower.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot hot!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Are you OK, Naruto?" inquired Sakura.

"Well, none of the burns seem to be third-degree..." clarified the chunin.

Immediately, Sakura began to heal Naruto.

However, one of the clones tried to hit Sakura while she was distracted.

In retaliation, Juvia hit the clone with her three-armed punch.

"Having multiple pairs of arms is useful..." noted the water mage.

"I bet it is." agreed Sakura.

This must have harmed the clone significantly, because he was covering his face.

The other clone decided it was time to defend him.

"Darn it! He's trying to protect his ally from attack..." murmured Lucy.

"These clones are clever..." noted Sakura.

Personally Naruto wondered if Kenichi had decided to steal forbidden scrolls from his village. Then again, that wouldn't surprise him...he had heard that he was a missing-nin.

In fact, he had heard that he had wiped out his own village.

"I haven't heard of someone doing that since Itachi Uchiha..." thought Naruto.

Curious, the five of them began to wonder how they were going to slip past the clone's defense.

Gray tried shooting icicles, but it immediately blocked with a shield.

And to make matters worse, the clone was swallowing more pills in order to heal himself.

Lucy began to wonder why the clone wasn't using a miniature King Of Hell to heal instead.

Maybe each clone was a bit different? Rinnegan wielders did happen to have a lot of abilities...so maybe Kenichi didn't give these particular clones the abilities of his Naraka Path.

If this was the case, they might have to change their strategy each time they encounter a Kenichi clone...which they probably would in the future. He always did seem to catch them by surprise.

Hopefully he wouldn't keep running away from them forever and they would have a chance to bring him to justice, right?

Then again, they probably still weren't ready to fight him. Sure, they were getting stronger...but they needed to do some hardcore training if they wanted to stand a chance against him.

Getting a bit desperate, Naruto decided to try using his new Twin Rasengan technique.

This time, he succeeded magnificiently.

"Yes!" exclaimed the chunin, satisfied at his achievement.

Now that he thought of it...Jiraiya did say that he worked best whenever his life was in mortal peril.

"That's true...though he didn't need to shove me off a cliff just to demonstrate that to me..." noted Naruto.

Imagine what a bloody stain on the floor he could have become...and to think he was only thirteen years old back then!

"I might want to have a talk with Jiraiya the next time we train...I'll just have to beg him not to kill me." murmured the chunin.

Deciding that needed to stay focused, Naruto tossed his Twin Rasengan at the clone.

Sure enough, this caused him to topple over, allowing him to launch an attack on his injured comrade.

Unfortunately, he had already healed much of his injuries...though he still had smoke coming out of him nonetheless.

Much to his surprise, he found that Lucy was doing a Twin Rasengan as well.

"You can use the Twin Rasengan too?" inquired Naruto.

"I think I learned it when you did..." answered Lucy.

"Oh yeah...we're still interdimensional partners..." noted the chunin.

**"Aren't you a copycat." **remarked Kurama.

"I'm his interdimensional partner. Anything he can do, I can do too...except summon Celestial Spirits. I traded the celestial keys for animal contracts...and you, of course." explained Lucy.

**"Yeah...I bet he's throwing a party now that I'm gone." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Probably. Are you going to start giving me your chakra yet? I would imagine that you would..." noted the kunoichi.

**"I can do that...if you get really cheesed off." **explained Kurama.

"Why would I get cheesed off?" asked Lucy.

**"Well, maybe if one of your comrades got wounded...maybe then you'll get access to my chakra. Personally I'm looking forward to the seal getting weakened." **clarified the fox.

"Hmm..." thought the kunoichi. Maybe she should take deep breaths.

Lucy hit the injured clone with her Twin Rasengan, causing it to be wounded.

Sakura then followed by punching it in the face, causing it to burst into smoke.

"One down!" bellowed the kunoichi.

However, the other clone was not amused.

Immediately, he grabbed onto Sakura's arm and began to rip her soul out.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Fortunately, Naruto was able to stab the clone in the arm with a kunai to force him to let go, thus saving her life.

"Are you going to ask me for a kiss?" asked Sakura. At this point she was well-aware of Naruto's crush on her.

"I've...already found someone else." answered Naruto, thinking about Erza Scarlet.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Was Naruto actually over her? She...honestly didn't know what to say about that.

"Who is it?" asked Juvia.

"A girl with red hair..." explained the chunin.

Gray raised an eyebrow. Who could that possibly be? For some strange reason he got the feeling that he knew that person somewhere.

Was it a member of Fairy Tail?

"If we survive this...do you want any favors?" inquired Sakura.

"Just some ramen." answered Naruto.

Sakura shrugged. That seemed reasonable.

"I'd like some ramen too..." murmured Lucy.

**"Again, you're a real copycat..." **spoke Kurama.

"Again, I'm his interdimensional partner. I can't help it." answered the kunoichi.

Realizing that his attempt to rip out Sakura's soul had failed, Kenichi's clone tried to rip out Juvia's.

It was rather fortunate for Naruto and his friends that it took his clones a far longer time to rip out a soul than it did Kenichi...otherwise they wouldn't have a window of opportunity to save a potential victim.

However, Juvia had a way to counter that.

Immediately, she converted some of her body into water, causing the arm of the clone to get stuck.

Frantically, Kenichi's clone tried to remove his arm, but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

This gave Gray the opportunity to stab the clone in the back with an ice sword, causing it to screech.

He then followed by dropping icicles on his head, making it burst into smoke.

"Thank you for saving me, Gray!" squealed Juvia.

"Um...no, I didn't. You trapped it, remember?" inquired the ice mage.

"Huh? I guess I just have a big imagination then..." noted the water mage.

"It's not like that's a bad thing..." answered Gray.

Juvia began to blush.

"Of course, now that I said that...you're probably thinking about me stripping down, aren't you?" asked the devil slayer.

"But you do it all the time." pointed out the water mage.

"Well, that's true..." answered Gray.

"Yes! We managed to slay not just one, but two of Kenichi's clones! We're the champions!" bellowed Naruto.

"Don't get too excited, Naruto." warned Lucy. "The more of his clones we kill, the higher he's going to put us on his hit list. And of course, there's also the simple fact that he's still out there."

"Oh, right...I guess we shouldn't be celebrating then." noted the former jinchuriki.

"We don't want to be arrogant, since that's his defining trait. And besides, sometimes tells me he might try to create a stronger clone in the future..." questioned the kunoichi.

"A stronger clone?" asked Naruto.

"He probably likes to experiment." answered Lucy.

"Yeah...you're right...I'm actually starting to feel rather worried." noted Naruto.

"I'm with you there. We never know where he's going to strike next..." spoke Sakura.

"I hate him so much..." scowled Gray.

"So do I..." agreed Juvia.

"I guess we should get Inari to Tsunade for now...she'll want to know how our mission went." noted Naruto.

"Yeah...she will." nodded Sakura.

"We'll have to tell her about what had happened to the Land Of Waves...we shouldn't sugarcoat it." said Gray.

"As much as I would like to do that...I'd have to agree." spoke the water mage.

Immediately, Lucy went to fetch Inari.

"Are the clones gone?" inquired the preteen boy.

"Yes...you're safe now." answered the summoner kunoichi.

"Thank goodness...I'm glad that the carnage is over...I feel so bad about my grandfather and mother though..." noted Inari.

"I know it feels to lose the latter." sympathized Lucy.

Inari began to hug Lucy tightly.

"Right...we'll find you a new home. I don't think you can stay here..." noted the kunoichi.

"I'll probably need some therapy..." acknowledged the preteen boy.

"You probably will." answered the kunoichi. She wasn't there to see the carnage and she was still somewhat sickened by it herself.

Immediately, the six of them headed towards Konoha.

_Meanwhile..._

Kenichi grunted in frustration. He was able to sense that his two clones had both been slain...and that they had not succeeded in their task. Somehow, he got the feeling that someone had survived his massacre.

Granted, the Land Of Waves had been a much bigger target than what he usually went after...but it was a blow to his ego nonetheless. Up until now, he never recalled leaving any survivors...and that had never been his intention.

"At least he'll probably spread stories about me...tell people about how I had brutally slaughtered his family and friends..." thought Kenichi. That was a consolation prize, at least.

Maybe he could just hunt him down later? Once he set his eyes on his target, there was never any escape for them. He was just too fast...and too strong.

Of course, there was also the matter of the ninja that he had already encountered before surviving his wrath once again as well.

He thought that two clones should be more than enough to kill them...but he had thought wrong. They were still very much alive, and they were going to live to see another day. This did not do any favors to his self-esteem.

Personally, he was beginning to think that maybe he should just deal with them himself rather than continue to send his clones after them. That way they would stop plaguing his mind.

However, after he had exerted himself by destroying an entire land rather than just a clan, he didn't want to do all that much for the time being.

So, he decided that it was time for him to ignore the ninja that he had encountered twice and move onto something else...at least until later. There were places to go, weak ninja to kill.

"I'll kill them next time." he thought. The next time he encountered them, he was going to try something different rather than simply summon clones and move on to another set of victims.

Immediately, he began to head towards a deserted island, riding on the back of Shinsui.

Dismissing his water summon, he began to think of his next course of action.

Now that he thought of it...what if he tried attacking ninja across the sea?

That wasn't something that he had tried before (despite having a powerful water summon)...

...and it was something that sounded rather appetizing. Something told him that there were weak ninja out in the sea as well.

"I think I know who's I'm going to target next...small ships..." thought Kenichi.

A wide smile appeared on his face.

Summoning Wakaze (who naturally had the eyes of an eagle), he began to search for ships to sink.

Sure enough, he found a small boat nearby.

Giving the signal to her, Wakaze then used a flap of her wings to tear the boat to shreds with a powerful gust of wind.

This naturally caused the sailors onboard to drown. Unfortunately, they had forgotten to bring lifeboats.

Kenichi began to smile.

_A few hours later..._

Naruto, Lucy, Sakura, Gray, Juvia, and Inari all entered Tsunade's office, all looking rather depressed.

"What's the matter? And who's this that came with you?" inquired the Sannin.

"It's the Land Of Waves! It's been utterly devastated! Inari was the only survivor!" bellowed Naruto.

"I was afraid that this had happened...was it Kenichi?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes..." nodded Sakura.

Tsunade pounded her fist on the deck.

"Not again!" exclaimed the Sannin.

"Yes...again..." murmured Gray.

Once again, she was tempted to send Jiraiya...

...but he was her trump card. She didn't want to play him yet.

Inari began to sniffle.

"It's alright...we'll find you a new home. We always have room for another ninja..." answered Tsunade.

Inari wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"Maybe I'll introduce you to Konohamaru...he happens to remind me of you a bit..." noted the Sannin.

"Whose Konohamaru?" asked Inari, raising an eyebrow.

"The grandson of our late Third Hokage..." explained Tsunade.

"So...he lost his grandfather too, then?" inquired the boy.

"Yes...he did." nodded the Sannin.

Immediately, she pointed to the gravestone not too far from her office.

Inari frowned.

"I might be able to relate to him then." acknowledged the orphan.

"You can probably relate to me too...since you've lost both of your parents." noted Naruto.

"Yeah..." agreed Inari.

"Let me know if you need anything." answered the chunin.

"I will." nodded the boy.

"I...don't think I'm going to go on a mission for a while..." spoke Sakura.

"Me neither..." agreed Gray.

"Make that three." nodded Juvia.

"I'm heading back to my apartment." said Lucy.

Immediately, the five of them left Tsunade's office.

On the way there, Naruto happened to bump into Jiraiya.

"Hey there...do you want to do some training?" asked the toad Sannin.

"Not today..." answered Naruto.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Naruto seemed really upset about something.

Sighing, he decided to work on his novels for the time being.

Maybe he should include Naruto in one of his novels? Then again, he wasn't eighteen yet...he was still sixteen...so that might not be such a good idea.

"Why exactly is he so upset?" inquired Jiraiya.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, you've got seven dwarves, huh? I guess this makes things seven times as enjoyable for me." noted Chiyoye.

Casting a lightning spell, the seven dwarves began to scatter like dominoes.

In retaliation, they began to gather together again.

Curious, she noticed that they appeared to be building a tank.

"What's this?" inquired the sorceress.

Immediately, the tank shot a cannonball at Chiyoye, destroying her undead pegasus mount.

"So...you destroyed my mount...big deal! I can already fly without it." said the sorceress.

Of course, the tank was focusing on Chiyoye now, hoping to shoot her down.

"Hmm...that tank looks rather strong...maybe I should call for backup." she thought.

Immediately, she began to summon some of her undead forces to attack the tank.

Unfortunately for Chiyoye, the tank simply ran them over.

"Well then...I guess it's time to try something different." acknowledged the sorceress.

In retaliation, she activated the first stage of the cursed seal that Kimimaro had provided her.

"That's better! Now I can do this!" she exclaimed.

"What happened to her?" asked Professor Fumbledore. He had not seen that particular spell throughout his long career as a mage.

Scanning her using a detection spell, he discovered that she was pumping something other than mana throughout her body.

He wasn't quite sure what this mysterious energy source was...all he knew was that it was making her much stronger.

Using the first stage of the Cursed Seal Of Heaven, she was able to summon all of the Sound Four's personal summons at once.

Immediately, the Obsidian Golem, Kyodaigumo, the Doki, and the Rashomon Gate surrounded the dwarf tank.

Unfortunately for the seven dwarves, they were not a match for this many summons. In fact, they were pulverized, and their tank exploded.

Chiyoye laughed as she heard them all scream in unison.

"That's music to my ears!" exclaimed the sorceress.

Professor Fumbledore glared at Chiyoye with disgust. Even when she was still his student she was fairly sadistic.

He in fact had seen her cast a few spells on the students...which of course was only a sign of what was to come.

_Professor Fumbledore gasped in shock. His students were all lying dead on their desks._

_Someone had clearly murdered them._

_Curious, he noticed that there was a sticky note on his desk._

_Immediately, he read it, and gasped in shock once again._

_It was from Chiyoye Headstone._

_"Hello Professor Fumbledore. In case it's not obvious, I was the one that killed your students. Why do you ask? They had powers I wanted...so I drained the life out of them! It was simple as that! Now if you excuse me I'm off to join a dark guild..." read Professor Fumbledore._

_What had he done?_

_Professor Fumbledore collapsed on the ground in a heap._

Once again, he was rather perplexed by Chiyoye's summons. He had not seen anything like them in his entire lifetime.

He somehow got the feeling that they were from a different world entirely.

Chiyoye instructed the summons to attack Professor Fumbledore next. Fortunately, he had been paying attention and teleported out of the way.

"Are you trying to hide from me now? Personally I never imagined that you would run away from your past." taunted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she sent her obsidian golem to search for the wizard. It began to search for him, looking underneath several different objects.

"I really suggest that you don't try to hide. I've got four pairs of eyes alone with my spider summon!" exclaimed the sorceress.

Suddenly, Kyodaigumo began to lay an egg. It looked like she was about to give birth.

"Make that at least a dozen..." murmured Chiyoye.

Sure enough, the egg hatched, and dozen of spiders emerged from it, much to her delight.

Professor Fumbledore sighed. Chiyoye was right. There didn't seem to be much use hiding from her. Sooner or later she was going to find him...as she had indicated a few seconds ago.

He was starting to see how she managed to get so many victims.

Granted, he had some powerful illusionary techniques...but he wasn't sure that they would affect Chiyoye's summons the way they would effect a human.

Using a fire spell, he was able to burn away the spiders approaching him...but more kept on coming.

In retaliation, he began to summon some bats to attack the spiders.

Sure enough, they were doing the job well. They were swallowing them in their mouths and were enjoying the meal.

However, he ended up being grabbed by the obsidian golem shortly afterwards.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Professor Fumbledore.

"Now I have you! Just admit that I've surpassed you after all this time...you're powerless against me!" bellowed Chiyoye.

However, her former teacher was able to summon a frost giant to attack the obsidian golem, forcing it to let go so that it could wrestle with him.

"I'll crush you!" bellowed the frost giant.

Chiyoye sighed. For a moment, she thought that she had won.

No matter. She still had more summons where that came from.

"Kyodaigumo!" bellowed the sorceress.

Immediately, Kyodaigumo lunged towards Professor Fumbledore, hoping to poison him.

However, he quickly retaliated by summoning a giant bat.

"Well...it looks she's occupied too. So many summons...Doki!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

The Doki Trio began to stomp towards Professor Fumbledore. Pulling out their clubs, they prepared to crush him into dust.

"How many summons does she have?" inquired the former teacher. First a golem...then a giant spider...and now a doki. There didn't seem to be any real pattern.

Sighing, he summoned three elf archers to keep them busy. Pulling out their arrows, they began to shoot at the Doki while trying to keep their distance from them.

Rather than resume attacking Professor Fumbledore, the Doki tried attacking the elf archers instead. As they were rather agile, they were having a hard time hitting them.

"What a stalemate..." remarked Chiyoye. At this rate she was going to be unable to get any headway over her former teacher.

Suddenly, she noticed that Professor Fumbledore was charging up for a powerful spell.

Gasping, she immediately hid behind the Rashomon gate. Something told her that she didn't want to get hit by that spell.

The Rashomon withstood the blast...but in the process, it was destroyed completely. It would take some time before she could summon it again.

Professor Fumbledore teleported towards her a few minutes later.

Realizing that he was going to be a difficult opponent, Chiyoye realized what to do next.

"Well then...I guess it's time for me to go full power..." acknowledged the sorceress.

Activating the second stage of Kimimaro's cursed seal, her hair turned white and so did her skin.

Professor Fumbledore gasped in shock at his former pupil's sudden and horrifying transformation.

"Chiyoye?! What's happened to you?!" exclaimed the professor in astonishment.

"Let's just say I got a little makeover." answered the transformed sorceress.

Feeling terrified of Chiyoye's new appearance, Professor Fumbledore decided he needed to stop her more than ever.

Unfortunately for Professor Fumbledore, it appeared that activating the second stage of her seal had given her summons strength, and they were slowly overpowering his.

He needed to end this battle quickly.

Once again, Professor Fumbledore began to charge up a spell...

...but this time, Chiyoye was able to counter with one of her own.

"Let's see who wins this now, shall we?" inquired the sorceress.

"For the sake of Fiore...I have to stop you!" bellowed the professor.

"I'd like to see you try." answered Chiyoye.

Suddenly, a zombie hand sprouted from the ground and attempted to grab onto Professor Fumbledore.

He immediately jumped out of the way...

...only to end up being grabbed by another zombie hand.

"Wouldn't you know it...I can summon both hands now..." noted the sorceress.

Casting a sealing spell, Professor Fumbledore found himself unable to teleport away.

In the process of being grabbed, he ended up dropping his staff.

Immediately, he realized what a bad situation he was in.

"Oh no..." thought the professor.

"So much for me just being your pupil...if anything I should have been the one teaching you!" remarked Chiyoye.

At this point, Professor Fumbledore wondered if he should try reasoning with the sorceress rather than simply trying to kill her.

"Chiyoye...please...you don't have to use your powers for evil!" exclaimed Professor Fumbledore.

"I know, I know...you told me again and again...just because I'm a necromanceress I didn't have to be evil!" bellowed Chiyoye.

"I shouldn't have to keep reminding you then." noted the mage.

"You know...maybe you're right." acknowledged the sorceress.

Professor Fumbledore began to smile. Maybe he had successfully reached out to her.

Facing away from the professor, Chiyoye began to walk away from him.

"Maybe I shouldn't have slaughtered my hometown. Maybe I shouldn't have killed your students. Maybe I shouldn't have killed my parents. Maybe I shouldn't have betrayed Fairy Tail..." remarked the sorceress.

Professor Fumbledore let out a sigh of relief. It looked like she was finally showing remorse for her crimes.

Hopefully, she would be allowed to repent for them...though personally he wondered if anyone would forgive her for all the terrible things she had done. She did murder her own parents, after all.

"Or maybe..." said the sorceress.

Immediately, she turned towards him, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"...you've forgotten who I am!" bellowed Chiyoye.

Snapping her fingers, Chiyoye immediately crushed her teacher in the zombie hand keeping him prisoner, killing him instantly.

"Chiyoye...why?" whispered Professor Fumbledore as he died.

She cackled in delight shortly afterwards. Her teacher had died with his eyes wide open and his jaw dropped in shock. It was an image that she was going to savor.

Curious, she noticed her summons returning to her. Apparently, they had succeeded in slaying the rest of his summons as well.

Dismissing the zombie hands and her summons, Chiyoye then began to siphon her former teacher's life force.

Unfortunately, due to how old he was, she was unable to draw much life force from him.

"That's a disappointment." remarked the sorceress.

Immediately, she began to wonder if he had anticipated her trying to do so, and had deliberately waited until he became old so that she wouldn't inherit much of his power.

"I guess he's smarter than I thought..." noted Chiyoye.

Likewise, she decided to deactivate her cursed seal as well, causing her hair to turn black again and for her skin to return to its natural hue.

"That's better..." said the sorceress.

Shrugging, she decided that it wasn't a big deal that she wasn't able to drain her former teacher effectively. Though it was rather disappointing, she did get to drain the life out of everyone in Mana City.

"I guess I'll just have to look for another powerful wizard t-"

Suddenly, she noticed her former teacher's staff lying down on the ground, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

Examining it, she noticed that it was made of mahogany, and had a blue jewel attached to the top of it.

"So that's how he was able to cast those powerful spells." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to flashback.

_"Chiyoye, since you are my best student, I want you to have my staff." spoke Professor Fumbledore._

_"Your staff?" asked Chiyoye._

_"As soon as I retire, I want you to have this. I use it to cast my most powerful spells." explained her teacher._

_"So that's how you can use your magic..." explained the dark mage._

_"Well, I can use magic without my staff...but it's certainly a big help." noted Professor Fumbledore._

_"I see..." answered Chiyoye._

_Personally, she wasn't planning on waiting for her teacher to retire...she was just planning on waiting until he had taught her everything that he knew. He always did teach her so much so quickly._

_Perhaps she could try putting some poison into his drink while he wasn't watching? That seemed as good of an idea as any._

_Then again, she'd probably have to drink the poison herself in order to avoid suspicion...unless she wanted to come up with a different plan._

_"Hmm..." she thought._

_"Well, that's it for today. You can go back to see your parents again now." spoke Professor Fumbledore._

_"My...parents." murmured Chiyoye._

_Suddenly, she got an idea._

_"I'll...see you later." said the sorceress._

Chiyoye began to laugh. This was so wonderfully ironic.

Even though Professor Fumbledore had tried to stop her, he had ended up helping her instead. Not only that, but he was being forced to give up the staff that he had once wanted her to have once he retired from being a spellcaster.

Immediately, she picked up the staff.

A few seconds later, the mahogany it was composed of turned black, and the crystal that was being used to focus its power turned purple.

"That's more like it!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Curious, she noticed that there was a statue of Professor Fumbledore nearby. By the looks of it, the citizens of Mana City happened to admire him.

Smiling, Chiyoye decided that it would be as good of a target for her staff as any.

Focusing the mana in the staff, she immediately destroyed the statue in a single blast.

"Huh...this isn't too bad." noted the sorceress. She was starting to see why her former mentor carried it with him all the time.

Immediately, she began to wonder if she should use it against Naruto and Erza. It seemed like an excellent weapon judging from what her former teacher could do with it.

"It seems as good of a weapon to use against them as any..." said Chiyoye.

She had to admit...it was a long time since she had last encountered them.

Apparently, it was time for her to hunt them down. Granted, she hadn't been able to face them too well last time...but this time, things were going to be different. She just knew it.

"Where are they now?" inquired the sorceress.

Of course, she couldn't simply barge into the Fairy Tail guild and attack them now...after all, Fairy Tail now considered her to be an outlaw.

If she tried that, she would inevitably get arrested...or worse.

That clearly wasn't an option.

So...it looked like she was simply going to have to play the waiting game.

"I'll just wait for an opportunity to present itself..." she thought.

Shrugging, she decided to sit on a chair and use a crystal ball to spy on Naruto and Erza.

Sure enough, they happened to be rather safe...the former happened to be in the world of ninja...which she desired to visit.

"Too bad I can't use Fairy Tail's interdimensional portal..." noted Chiyoye. No doubt it would be heavily guarded...and she still wasn't strong enough to take on the entire guild.

Personally she didn't have to wait for an opportunity to absorb Naruto and Erza though. She actually found spying on people to be very interesting.

Besides, if an opportunity didn't start knocking on her door...she could always try looking for someone else.

She wanted to repay Erza for the stab wound she had given her though...it really hurt. She was also looking forward to hear Naruto scream again.

"Well, I'll keep an eye on this..." said Chiyoye.

_Meanwhile..._

Speaking of crystal balls, Levy noticed something that concerned her.

"What is it?" asked Elfman.

"The mana in the crystal ball has turned yellow..." explained the letter mage.

"That's not good..." answered the S-Class candidate.

Sure enough, Levy's shadow had a wide frown on her face. She knew what this meant as much as her mistress did.

"She must have received another power boost..." she acknowledged.

"Who did she kill this time?" inquired Elfman.

"Well, Makarov did mention something about sending her old mentor to deal with her..." explained Levy.

"She killed her own teacher?!" bellowed the beast mage.

"Apparently." nodded the bookworm. There just didn't seem to be an act that Chiyoye would not commit.

Curious, Makarov entered the room, and began to frown.

He let out a sigh.

"I was hoping that he could be my friend...but now he's dead. It's a shame...he seemed like a decent person." murmured the guildmaster.

Levy's shadow began to cry.

"I'm sorry." sympathized Levy.

"It's not your fault...you kept your eye on the crystal ball like I told you to, after all. Though I will admit that it is alarming that she's growing in strength once again." answered Makarov.

"What do you think she's up to now?" asked Elfman.

"I'm starting to wonder if she's going to hunt down Naruto and Erza again. They were the first ones openly revealed her true self to...and I think that she might have a grudge against them." questioned the guildmaster.

"Shouldn't they be safe here? I doubt Chiyoye can take on our entire guild alone...though I will admit that she's a lot stronger than we last saw her..." inquired Levy.

"Not necessarily...no doubt she's looking for an opportunity to kill and absorb them. If they end up alone, they're fair game." noted Makarov.

"You're right...they may be in danger." answered the letter mage.

"We might want to ask them not to stray too far from us..." questioned Elfman.

Levy nodded. The closer they were to them, the better.

"Anyways...I was thinking about heading to a casino so that we can...party..." said Makarov.

"How come?" inquired the letter mage.

"I feel like everyone needs some cheering up." explained the guildmaster.

"That's awfully generous of you!" exclaimed Elfman.

"I know..." nodded Makarov.

Immediately, he contacted Naruto on his pager.

"A...party? Um, sure." answered the chunin.

Naruto went to fetch his tuxedo...hoping that he wouldn't end up ripping it in the process.

It was only a matter of time before he suffered clothing damage again.

Likewise, he went to fetch his friends as well.

"A party? That does sound nice...but you seem upset about something." answered Hinata.

"Our last mission didn't go so well...everybody in the Land Of Waves died..." explained Naruto.

"I see..." nodded the kunoichi.

Naruto began to cry, so Hinata placed her hand on his shoulder in order to comfort him.

She succeeded.

"Thank you...I really needed that." said the chunin.

"You're welcome...that must have been terrible." answered Hinata.

"We did manage to kill two of Kenichi's clones though, so at least that's something." spoke Naruto.

"Did you already encounter one before?" asked the fire dragonslayer.

"I think Lucy did." answered the chunin.

"Did she make it out in one piece?" inquired Hinata.

"I think so." nodded Naruto.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll go get my dress." said the kunoichi.

Fortunately, since she was well-off, getting a dress was rather easy for her.

She came back a few minutes later.

"How do I look?" asked Hinata.

Unsurprisingly, she was wearing a sundress...that happened to have a picture of the sun on it.

"I think you're living up to your name..." noted Naruto.

"Heh heh. Yeah." giggled the kunoichi.

Next up was Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura! We're going to a party...are you interested?" asked the chunin.

"Oh, a party...sure." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she began to strip down.

"Sakura..." warned Hinata.

"Huh? Oh right...I should probably do that once I'm in the dressing room..." noted Sakura.

"Yeah..." agreed the fire kunoichi.

Immediately, she went to the dressing room.

She came back wearing a strapless pink dress a few minutes later.

"What do you think?" asked the kunoichi.

Naruto and Hinata applauded.

"Alright then." nodded Sakura.

Next, they went to fetch Shikamaru...as well as Choji and Ino. The former was relaxing on a chair and the latter were having some chicken wings with barbecue sauce.

"Why do you two keep eating?" asked the shadow ninja.

"Why do you keep sleeping?" inquired Ino.

Sure enough, Ino and Choji were both eating rather heavily.

"I'm not sure how the former remains so skinny..." thought Shikamaru.

"I just can't get enough of this!" exclaimed Ino.

"Me neither!" bellowed Choji.

It was a mystery to everyone in Konoha.

Immediately, Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura went up to them.

"Hey there! Do you want to attend a party?" asked Naruto.

"A party? Sure." nodded Shikamaru.

Ino and Choji nodded as well.

"Will there be food?" asked Choji.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Hinata.

Choji began to smile.

Curious, they noticed that Sai was nearby.

Naruto had to admit...he hadn't seen him in a while. When was the last time they had done a mission together?

Granted, he had done a mission with Sakura recently...but not with him. Had he forgotten that he had existed?

Shrugging, he decided to invite him to the party as well. It was the least that he could do.

"Do you want to go to a party, Sai?" asked Naruto.

"Sorry...I'm busy." apologized Sai.

"Alright then." nodded the chunin. It'd be nice if he could use the interdimensional portal with them sometime. He had a lot to show him.

"I'll let you know if I have time on my hands..." alerted Sasuke's replacement.

Kimimaro happened to be nearby as well.

"Do you want to go to a party?" asked Sakura.

"Sure, why not." answered Kimimaro. "I'll just wear my usual outfit..."

"Alright then." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, the seven of them entered the interdimensional portal.

"Here we go!" exclaimed the boy.

Hopefully, they would have fun at the party...even if Naruto and Sakura didn't have any fun on their mission.

_Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Do you feel sorry for Professor Fumbledore? If so, I don't blame you. I bet you probably want to strangle Chiyoye right about now._

_In the next chapter, there's going to be a party at the casino...and well, you probably know which Fairy Tail arc I'm spoofing._

_Peace!_


	39. Chapter 39: Erza's Past

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto and his friends are going to visit a casino...but things are going to go wrong. Why do you ask? Well...let's just say that Erza's past is going to haunt her._

_Yes, that's right...we're spoofing the Tower Of Heaven Arc! I already did this with Phantom Lord, I know..._

**Chapter 39: Erza's Past**

Naruto played poker at the casino, though he was still a bit depressed. Granted, it was rather nice that they got to visit the Akane Resort, but he couldn't quite get the Land Of Waves out of his head.

All of a sudden, he knew exactly why Kenichi needed to be stopped.

"Royal flush!" exclaimed Cana.

"Darn it! You must be cheating!" bellowed Gray.

"Maybe I am...heh heh..." answered the card mage.

"Are you really cheating?" asked Droy.

"What? No no no. I was only kidding." answered Cana.

"You wouldn't do that to me...right?" asked the plant mage.

"No no no. I wouldn't." nodded the card mage.

Droy let out a sigh of relief.

"Congratulations...Cana...looks like you're rich." answered Naruto.

Immediately, Cana moved the pile of poker tokens towards her.

"I'm going to spend it all on beer!" exclaimed the alcohol lover.

"Shouldn't you be spending it in moderation?" asked Droy.

"You're right...why don't you spend some of this on food?" inquired Cana.

Immediately, Cana handed it to Droy.

"Huh? Thanks." answered the plant mage.

"I do admit...there's a lot of food here." noted Cana.

"Yeah..." agreed Droy.

"I'm actually tempted to eat some myself...then again I might get fat." answered the plant mage.

"You'll get along mightily well with Droy then." noted Gajeel.

"Gajeel!" exclaimed Cana.

Droy began to blush.

"I only got a regular flush..." noted Naruto.

"That's too bad." answered Droy.

Naruto began to sigh.

"Is something the matter?" asked Cana.

"It's the mission I went on...a madman came along and murdered people I knew personally..." answered the chunin.

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Droy.

"I know. And to think I thought he was simply a myth and a legend. Turns out he's real and that everything he did in all those stories were true." noted Naruto.

"So...he's the Chiyoye Headstone of your world then?" inquired Cana.

"Yeah, pretty much." answered the chunin.

"I don't want to run into either of them..." noted Droy.

"Nobody at this casino does." said Naruto.

"Even I feel wary about those two now that I think of it...imagine all the people that they've killed by now." murmured Gajeel.

Droy began to feel very nervous, considering the fact that he was still a bit afraid of Gajeel after he beat him up.

"Yes...and the number's still growing." acknowledged the chunin.

"How many people have they killed? A hundred? A thousand? A million?" inquired Cana.

"I hope that they haven't killed a million people yet...but I'd say they've really gone to town as of late." noted Naruto.

Cana let out a sigh.

"When will the bloodshed end?" questioned Droy.

"Hopefully we can become strong enough to stop them...then again, we'd need to hunt them down first." acknowledged Naruto.

"Right..." nodded Gajeel.

At that very moment, Lucy walked up to them.

"Hey there! Are you playing poker?" asked the teenage girl.

"Yes...do you want to play strip poker?" inquired Cana.

**"Please say yes, please say yes!" **exclaimed Kurama.

Lucy and Naruto began to blush.

"I only want to play strip poker with Sakura...then again I'd bet she and Gray would excel at it." explained Gajeel.

"Do you now?" asked Naruto.

This time, it was Gajeel's turn to blush.

"Never mind." answered the iron dragonslayer.

"Well, it was nice playing with you guys. I wonder where Erza is?" inquired the chunin.

"I think she's trying out her new dress." explained Lucy.

"Her new dress?" inquired Droy.

"Yeah...she just went to the clothing store." spoke Cana.

Curious, Naruto began to look around...and discovered that Erza was nearby.

"Erza! Look at you!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Hey there, Naruto." said Erza.

Sure enough, Erza was wearing a red and purple dress and high heels to go with it.

"You look beautiful!" exclaimed Naruto.

Erza began to blush.

"Aren't you a little flatterer..." answered Erza.

"Thank you...but I'm not little." contradicted the chunin.

"Sorry if I offended you by calling you small...you are a head shorter than I am though." noted the knight.

"Well, that's true..." admitted Naruto.

"So...do you want to dress up? I noticed that you're still wearing your orange jumpsuit..." acknowledged Erza.

"My orange jumpsuit? Oh, that's right...wouldn't want people to tell that I'm an escaped fugitive." noted the chunin.

"It's no fun at wizard jail." agreed the knight.

Immediately, Naruto went to the men's dressing room.

"If you want you can use the women's dressing room...I wouldn't mind getting dressed with you." answered Erza.

Naruto began to blush.

"Are you sure about that?" asked the chunin.

"Well, I suppose you don't have to do that if you don't want to..." noted Erza.

"I'm...still a bit hesistant to do that." answered Naruto.

"Take your time then." said the knight.

Naruto entered the boys' dressing room and came out wearing a tuxedo.

"How do I look?" asked the chunin.

"Like a million bucks." answered Erza.

Naruto once again began to blush.

"And once again your cheeks have turned red around me." noted the knight.

Naruto began to chuckle nervously.

"Er, yeah..." nodded the chunin.

"So...are there any games you would like to play?" inquired Erza.

"Maybe a game of blackjack?" asked Naruto.

"A game of blackjack, you say...sure, why not." answered the knight.

"Alright!" exclaimed the chunin.

Immediately, the duo sat down and began to play the game.

"Let's see now...I've got a fifteen." answered Naruto.

"I've got a seventeen." said Erza.

"Darn it!" bellowed the chunin.

Immediately, Naruto handed Erza some jewels.

"Thanks." spoke the knight.

Elsewhere, Shikamaru was taking a snooze.

"Zzz..." murmured the shadow ninja.

"Shikamaru, don't you want to play bingo with us?" asked Choji.

"I think one of us is going to win this time..." said Ino.

"Just let me rest my eyes for a minute..." spoke Shikamaru.

"Um, sure..." nodded Choji.

Immediately, Shikamaru woke up, yawning in the process.

"This is quite the vacation, huh?" asked the shadow ninja.

"It sure is!" exclaimed Choji.

"It's not every day we get to visit a casino like this." noted Shikamaru.

"That's true." nodded Ino.

"So, this is the Akane Resort, huh?" asked Choji.

"It looks that way." answered the shadow ninja.

"I wonder if the guildmaster will take us here again..." noted the Akimichi ninja.

"It's a possibility." acknowledged Ino.

"If so, I'm looking forward to it!" exclaimed Choji.

"Me too." nodded Shikamaru.

Sure enough, Makarov was playing bingo as well.

"Please say 13, please say 13!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"We've got a seven here!" bellowed the lady in charge of the bingo game.

"Bingo!" shouted Ino.

"Darn it! I was hoping that I could win!" complained Juvia.

Makarov groaned. He was hoping that he could win too. Then again, there were some games that you lost, and some games that you won.

"Congratulations, Ino Yamanaka. Here is your prize." answered the lady.

Immediately, the lady handed Ino some prize tokens.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ino.

"What should we spend it on?" asked Choji.

Ino shrugged.

"You want to relax at the beach? I'll be wearing my purple bikini top..." explained the kunoichi.

Choji began to giggle.

"I'll be wearing my swim trunks." answered the Akimichi member.

This time, it was Ino's turn to giggle.

Immediately, they walked outside the resort building.

"Maybe I should get a suntan..." noted Shikamaru.

Sure enough, Kimimaro was already outside the resort building,

"This beach sure is nice." noted the bone ninja.

Nearby, Hinata and Natsu were in their swimsuits, splashing each other in water.

"So...are you two having fun?" asked Kimimaro.

"Yes, we are." nodded Natsu.

"Never better!" exclaimed Hinata.

"That's nice." answered the bone ninja.

Personally, he found it in a bit ironic that two fire dragonslayers were playing in water together. Then again, water wasn't harmful to them in itself.

He was a bit surprised that Juvia wasn't playing in the water. Then again, she happened to be indoors at the moment.

Maybe she would stop by later? Then again, she'd most likely want to bring Gray with her. They would have so much fun at the beach.

At the casino, Sakura noticed that Gajeel and his friends were playing poker.

"So, are you playing poker?" inquired Sakura.

Droy nodded.

"Oddly enough Gajeel suggested that you play strip poker with him..." acknowledged Cana.

Sakura began to glare at Gajeel.

She then cracked her knuckles.

"It's clobbering time!" exclaimed the kunoichi, taking off her shirt and leaving herself in her sarashi.

"Here we go again." said Droy, recalling how this had already happened once before.

Immediately, Sakura picked up the table and began to fling it in Gajeel, who immediately latched onto it.

"Darn it! I was about to win!" exclaimed Droy.

"We're fighting again? Perfect!" bellowed Gajeel.

Tossing the table aside (which resulted in it smashing to pieces), Gajeel hit Sakura with an Iron Dragon's Roar.

"Oof!" bellowed Sakura.

In retaliation, she began to toss icicles at Gajeel, one of which cut him in the cheek.

"I always did like a challenge..." noted Gajeel.

"If it's a challenge you want, it's a challenge you shall get!" exclaimed Sakura.

Immediately, Sakura pulled out an ice sword.

In retaliation, Gajeel turned his arm into a club.

This naturally resulted in a swordfight.

At that very moment, Levy arrived on the scene.

"What's going on?" asked Levy.

"Gajeel and Sakura are fighting again." answered Cana.

"I bet fifty jewels on Gajeel!" exclaimed the bookworm.

"I'll bet fifty jewels on Sakura then." said the card mage.

"I have to admit...Sakura is so sexy in her sarashi..." murmured Gajeel.

"What?" asked Sakura.

"Never mind." answered the iron dragonslayer sheepishly.

Unable to gain an advantage over each other in a swordfight, Sakura and Gajeel resorted to pummeling each other with their fists instead.

"Sakura may be a girl...but she hits like a man." thought Gajeel.

"Lady Tsunade said I was a boxing champion!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I can see that..." answered the former member of Phantom Lord.

"I wonder if Natsu and I are going to get into a fight like this..." noted Gray.

"Well, you are her interdimensional partner." acknowledged Levy.

"That's true." nodded the ice mage.

Immediately, Sakura grabbed onto Gajeel and lifted him up by the shirt.

"Looks like I win this time." remarked Sakura.

Suddenly, she ended up ripping off Gajeel's shirt.

"Now I know how Naruto feels..." thought the iron dragonslayer.

Curious, he noticed that Sakura appeared to be staring at his bare chest.

"What? My eyes are up here!" asked Gajeel.

"Whoops! I guess I'm being a bit of a hypocrite today..." noted the kunoichi.

The former member of Phantom Lord began to snicker.

This time, the duo began to wrestle each other to the ground.

"What a wrestling match..." noted Gray.

"I know..." agreed Levy.

At this point, the battle had escalated to an enormous ball of cartoon violence.

"Would you look at that..." spoke Cana.

"Darn it! Now we can't see what's going on!" exclaimed Levy.

"I'm going to pulverize you!" bellowed Sakura.

"Not if I pulverize you first!" shouted Gajeel.

"I wonder whose going to be the victor?" asked Gray.

Droy shrugged.

Curious, they noticed that the dust was beginning to disappear.

"C'mon! I want to see who wins!" exclaimed Cana.

"Me too!" agreed Levy.

When the smoke settled...

...Sakura and Gajeel were on top of each other, kissing each other on the lips.

Blushing furiously, both of them began to detach from each other.

"How did that happen?" asked Gajeel.

"I don't know..." answered Sakura.

"Well, that was a good fight! Let's do this again sometime!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"Um, sure..." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel shook each other's hands.

They then began to walk away.

"I don't get it...who won the fight?" asked Gray.

"I can't tell..." answered Droy.

"Well, I guess neither of us are getting jewels then." noted Cana.

Levy shrugged. At least it was an entertaining fight to watch.

"Well, I suppose we might as well find another table..." acknowledged Gray.

"Wait...how many tokens did we have?" asked Levy.

"I honestly don't remember..." answered Droy.

"Darn it! Now we're going to have to start over!" pouted Cana.

"I'm afraid so..." nodded the ice mage.

Shrugging, they decided they might as well gather up their cards.

Meanwhile, Erza was beginning to feel rather sleepy.

"Well, that was a good game. I'm going to take a good nap." answered the knight.

"I'll see you later then!" exclaimed Naruto.

As it turned out, there was a bed nearby.

Immediately, Erza went to sleep.

"Erza's so cute when she's sleeping..." thought the chunin.

Suddenly, he noticed that Erza was tossing and turning.

"Hmm? Is she having a nightmare?" asked Naruto.

As it turned out...yes, she was.

_Erza was stuck building a tower. She had been enslaved by a very nasty man...who wanted to build a tower to the moon!_

_Well, maybe not the moon._

_"Work faster!" exclaimed a nearby slavedriver with a beard._

_"But this is so hard..." complained Erza. Why couldn't she have a break every once in a while? Was that really too much to ask?_

_Feeling that Erza wasn't meeting her enormous quota, the slavedriver attacked her with his whip._

_"Ouch!" exclaimed the would-be S-Class mage._

_"What did I say?" asked the slavedriver._

_"Alright! I'll keep working!" bellowed Erza._

_"You'd better." answered the cruel man._

_"It's OK Erza...I'm sure that we'll get out of here eventually..." said her old friend, Jellal._

_"But they've got an electric fence...if we try to climb over it, we'll get zapped." pointed out Erza._

_"Well, I'm sure we'll find a way around it eventually." answered the boy._

_"Are you plotting an escape attempt?!" bellowed the slavedriver._

_"No no no. It's just wishful thinking, that's all!" exclaimed Jellal._

_"You had better keep it that way." answered the man._

_"One of these days I would like to strike him with that whip..." thought Erza._

Curious, Naruto began to wake Erza up.

"Wake up!" bellowed Naruto.

"Huh? What?" asked Erza.

"I think you were having a nightmare..." answered the chunin.

"Um...yeah..." nodded the knight.

"Do you remember what it was about?" inquired Naruto.

"It was...about my past." spoke Erza.

"Your past?" asked the chunin.

Erza let out a sigh.

"You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to...I was just curious." answered the former jinchuriki.

"Well, I might as well tell you now...you see...I used to be a slave." spoke the redhead.

"A slave?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah...I got kidnapped and forced to build a tower...a tower that can be used to resurrect the dead..." explained Erza.

"A tower that can resurrect the dead? Sounds like Chiyoye Headstone..." noted the chunin.

"Well, in order to resurrect the dead, they needed a sacrifice...so yeah." answered the knight.

"I see." nodded Naruto.

"Eventually, I decided to take my chances and tried to leave the tower...but unfortunately I ended up getting caught. They cut my eye out and told me that if I ever tried escaping again, they'd beat me so hard that I wouldn't be able to walk." noted the knight.

"Ironically, that's what I want to do to them right about now..." remarked Naruto.

"If it makes you feel any better...the man that cut my eye out got stoned to death by the slaves shortly afterward...nobody mourned his passing so none of the slaves got penalized for it." explained Erza.

"They didn't?" asked the chunin.

"Well, Jellal got punched in the face...I cried for a few minutes." answered the knight.

"Whose Jellal?" inquired Naruto.

"An old friend of mine...who unfortunately got brainwashed." explained Erza.

"He got brainwashed?" asked the chunin.

"They got the feeling that he was plotting an enormous slave revolt...so they brainwashed him to be completely and utterly obedient." answered the S-Class Mage.

"That's sad..." remarked Naruto.

"On the plus side, I managed to escape shortly afterwards...I didn't have a home since my parents were killed by the slavers...so I decided to join Fairy Tail." explained Erza.

"I happen to be an orphan too..." answered the chunin.

"You are?" asked the knight.

"Yeah...my parents sacrificed themselves to seal the nine-tailed fox inside of me..." said the former jinchuriki.

"I'm so sorry." sympathized the S-Class Mage.

"Personally I'm glad that I didn't have to do the same in order to seal the nine-tailed fox inside of Lucy...and that she's happy to be a jinchuriki." noted Naruto.

"That was a relief, wasn't it?" asked Erza.

"Yeah...back when I was still a jinchuriki, people wouldn't give me the time of day. They thought I was a bloodthirsty monster or something. Of course, there were a few exceptions...but other than that, they kept away from me." explained the chunin.

"That's sad." remarked the Requip mage. Now that she thought of it...their backstories were rather similar.

"Yeah...I started pulling off pranks in order to get people's attention...so I got into trouble a lot." noted Naruto.

Erza began to giggle.

"Of course, now that you think of it...you probably wouldn't like it if I tried pulling off pranks on your guildmates. I heard that you were rather strict." acknowledged the chunin.

"It's true...I wouldn't. After hearing your backstory though...I probably wouldn't mind too much." noted the S-Class mage.

This time, it was Naruto's turn to giggle.

"So, um...let me know if you need anything." answered the chunin.

"Alright...I'll let you know. Let me know if you need anything too." said Erza.

"Alright then." nodded Naruto.

Once again, Erza back to sleep. This time, she was sleeping much more soundly.

"Looks like my job is done." thought the chunin.

Immediately, he left to go look for his friends.

Sure enough, he bumped into Lucy.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Hi!" greeted Lucy.

"So, how's your nine-tailed fox doing?" asked the chunin.

"Pretty good. He's mostly keeping to himself. At the moment he's asleep." answered the kunoichi.

**"Zzz..." **murmured Kurama in his sleep.

"I hope you're enjoying the present I gave you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yes, I am. It's like having a friend that never goes away. How about you?" inquired Lucy.

"I sure am! I just love being a Celestial Mage! I have loads of friends that never go away!" bellowed the chunin.

Considering that he was friendless back when he was a young boy, he was very glad about the change of events.

"That's good." nodded the current jinchuriki of Kurama.

Suddenly, Kurama began to yawn.

"Well, would you look at that. It looks like he's waking up." answered Lucy.

Immediately, Kurama noticed his former host body.

**"Well, would you look at that...if it isn't for my former host...I am so glad to be out of his body." **noted the nine-tailed fox.

"You had places you wanted to visit, right?" asked the kunoichi.

**"Your world intrigues me...so yes." **answered Kurama.

"Glad you're enjoying your vacation..." noted Lucy.

**"I am...admittedly." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"So...you're having a chat with Kurama?" asked Naruto.

"As I said, it's like having a buddy that never goes away." answered the kunoichi.

**"I am not your buddy, and I never will!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Search your feelings. You know it to be true." said Lucy.

Kurama groaned.

Naruto began to laugh.

"I'll see you later then." spoke Naruto.

**"Good riddance." **answered Kurama.

"Don't talk to him like that!" demanded Lucy.

Kurama grumbled.

Naruto immediately left to go eat some delicious ramen.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed Shikamaru.

"Hey there! How are you doing?" asked Lucy.

"Doing fine. You?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Pretty good. I'm hoping that Kurama will lend me his power someday. I might have a chance against Kenichi if he gives me enough." noted the kunoichi.

**"Don't even mention that name." **spoke Kurama.

"I'm not exactly fond of him either." acknowledged Lucy. Personally she thought that Kenichi was worse than Kurama could ever be. At least the latter had somewhat of an excuse for his behavior considering that humanity used him as a tool for destruction. Kenichi basically killed people on a whim.

"Maybe he will someday." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"What an eventful day that will be." noted Lucy.

"I know..." nodded the shadow ninja.

"But for the time being, I guess I'll just have to stick with Naruto's Rasengan." said the kunoichi.

"The fact that you can use Naruto's Rasengan is a feat in itself." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"I know...it feels so weird having access to so many of his abilities." noted Lucy.

"I bet he feels the same way." spoke the shadow ninja.

"Still, it did make me a lot stronger than before, so I'm not going to complain too much." said the jinchuriki.

**"You'll receive my power in due time. Don't whine about it." **stated Kurama.

"Yeah...I already know that." answered Lucy.

"Personally I wonder what you would look like when you're accessing Kurama's chakra." questioned Shikamaru.

"Maybe I'll grow fangs?" asked the kunoichi.

"Well, that's what Naruto typically did." noted the shadow ninja.

"Sheesh...I hope I don't scare people." said Lucy.

"Well, you probably will..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Yeah..." nodded the kunoichi.

"Oddly enough you don't seem to have Naruto's whisker marks on your cheeks..." questioned the shadow ninja.

"I don't? That's rather odd...I thought I was inheriting everything from him...even his love of ramen." noted the kunoichi.

"Then again you probably don't need them." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Yeah...I probably don't." nodded Lucy.

Still, Lucy wondered if they were going to suddenly appear on her face one day. It would be interesting if Shikamaru saw her like that.

"Hmm..." thought the kunoichi.

Curious, she noticed that Elfman and Mirajane were at the slots.

"C'mon! C'mon!" exclaimed Elfman.

Elfman ended up getting three lemons.

"Yes!" cheered the S-Class candidate.

"Not too bad. Do you think you can get the jackpot?" inquired Mirajane.

"Maybe I can. I'll just have to keep spending tokens." noted the beast mage.

"I wish you luck, brother." said the S-Class mage.

"I wish you luck too." answered Elfman.

"I wish I had a brother or sister..." thought Lucy. Unfortunately, her mother was already dead, so she was stuck being an only child forever and ever...unless her father remarried.

Then again, it was probable that nobody wanted to marry her father anymore considering that he became rather cold after the death of his wife.

It was a bit of a shame, really.

**"Are you thinking about your father again?" **asked Kurama.

"Yes...what was your father like?" inquired Lucy.

**"Well..." **said the nine-tailed fox.

_"Greetings, tailed beasts! I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, son of Princess Kaguya! Due to the fact that she mutated into a ferocious ten-tailed beast...I decided to divide her into nine different creatures...why do you ask? So she won't cause as much destruction..." explained Hagoromo._

_**"A wise decision." **__remarked Isobu._

_**"Why did you name me after the main character of Dragon Ball Z?" **__inquired Son Goku._

_"Well, Son Goku is practically my grandfather..."____answered the first jinchuriki._

_**"Fair enough..." **__nodded the four-tailed beast._

_**"How long do we have to stay here?"**__ asked Matatabi._

_"Relax. This meeting shouldn't take too long...and then you can be on your way..." answered Hagoromo._

_**"I want to explore the world! It sounds awesome!" **__exclaimed Chomei._

_**"I want to cover the world with sand." **__said Shukaku._

_**"I'd rather cover it with poison..." **__contradicted Saiken._

_"Now now now. Don't do anything hasty. Mind you, you're all eventually going to merge back together again." noted Hagoromo._

_"__**Wait, what?!"**__ exclaimed Kokuo._

_**"We're going to merge back together?"**__ inquired Gyuki._

_**"Whoopee." **__remarked Kurama._

_"I'm not sure when it's going to happen, but it's going to happen eventually." explained the man._

_**"So, is the meeting over?" **__asked the nine-tailed fox._

_"Yes. You can go on your way now." answered Hagoromo._

_Immediately, the tailed beasts went on their merry way._

"So, your creator was a sage...who split you along with your eight siblings?" asked Lucy.

**"Pretty much...though personally I've never really considered them to be my brothers and sisters...at least not until now." **explained Kurama.

"Wait...if your creator told you not to attack humanity, why did you do it anyway? Don't you think you should have listened to him?" inquired the kunoichi.

**"Humanity kept using me to wage wars." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"They did?" asked Lucy.

**"Yes...they treated me like a weapon rather than a person...though technically I'm an animal." **spoke Kurama.

"Oh dear..." murmured the jinchuriki.

_"Yes! Today we're going to use the nine-tailed fox to destroy a village!" bellowed a warmonger._

_Kurama could immediately tell that he was a terrible person. Why do you ask? Because he had an eyepatch over his right eye and a goatee._

_**"Not again..." **__said Kurama._

_"Yes! Raze the city to the ground!" screamed the sadistic man._

_**"I wish I had Kakuo's willpower..." **__murmured the nine-tailed fox._

_"I just love the sound of screaming!" bellowed the warmonger._

_**"I'd love to hear the sound of you screaming." **__retorted Kurama._

_Eventually, the village was destroyed._

_"Done and done!" bellowed the sadist._

_**"This is the second time this month this has happened..." **__complained the nine-tailed fox._

"So...humanity enslaved you?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...they did it to me so many times. They just couldn't resist harvesting my power." explained Kurama.

"I'm...sorry to hear that." sympathized the kunoichi.

**"I don't need your pity." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"You...sure?" asked Lucy.

**"Well, maybe...a little." **answered Kurama.

"It's OK! I'm not going to use you a tool of destruction, I promise! I'll treat you the exact same way I treated my Celestial Spirits...which is pretty much how Naruto is treating them." noted Lucy.

**"You won't?" **asked the nine-tailed fox.

"Of course not! Why would I want to destroy a village anyway? Violence doesn't solve problems!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, a tear exited Kurama's eye.

"Was that...a tear?" inquired the jinchuriki.

**"I just had something in my eye, that's all!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Uh-huh, sure." answered Lucy.

Curious, Kurama began to wonder if having Lucy as his new host was going to be so bad. She was a lot more preferable to Naruto, after all.

Immediately, he began to doze off.

"Have fun in Dreamland, I suppose." said Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

"This vacation is awesome! We should go on vacations like this more often." noted Happy.

"Yeah, maybe we should!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Nothing can possibly go wrong!" bellowed Gray.

Suddenly, a group of mages burst down the door.

"Again...I really have a big mouth." noted the ice mage.

"Tempting fate, are we?" asked a mage with an eyepatch.

"Who are you guys?" inquired the fire mage.

"My name's Sho!" exclaimed the mage with blonde hair.

"My name's Wally!" bellowed the mage wearing a top hat.

"My name is Simon." greeted the mage with an eyepatch.

"And my name is Millianna! Meow!" squealed the mage that resembled a cat.

"Why are you all here?" asked Natsu.

"We're looking for Erza Scarlet. Have you seen her?" inquired Sho.

"Sure, I think she's-"

"Natsu, I think that they want to kidnap her!" bellowed Gray.

"What makes you say that?" asked the fire mage.

"Have you taken a look around lately?" inquired the ice mage.

Curious, Natsu used the Byakugan that Hinata had generously provided him...

...and gasped in shock.

Throughout the casino there were several knocked out security guards!

"They're not here to just have a chat with her. They want to abduct her!" bellowed Gray.

"Right you are!" exclaimed Millianna.

"We're going to bring her to Jellal so that he can sacrifice her and revive Zeref!" shouted Sho.

Happy screamed like a little girl.

"Zeref?!" bellowed Gray.

"We...er...can't let you do that." answered Natsu.

"We were expecting some resistance." acknowledged Wally.

Immediately, he summoned some Legomen to attack Natsu and Gray.

"Good lord! We're being attacked by child's playthings!" exclaimed Gray.

The Legomen began to toss LEGO bricks at Natsu and Gray, which ironically wasn't fun at all.

"Ouch!" bellowed the fire mage.

"Oof!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Jellal said that you were a dragonslayer, right? Well then, I've got just the thing for you then." noted Wally.

Immediately, he summoned a LEGO car to run Natsu over.

Already, he was beginning to feel rather dizzy.

The LEGO car ran over Natsu, flattening him like a pancake.

"Ugh..." murmured the fire mage.

"We're getting clobbered here!" exclaimed the ice mage.

Simon punched Gray in the face, causing him to fall down.

"Aah!" screamed Happy.

Immediately, Happy attracted Millianna's attention.

"You are so adorable! Yes you are, yes you are!" squealed the cat lover.

"Um..." murmured the cat.

"I'm going to take you home with me!" exclaimed Milliana.

"Help!" screamed Happy.

The foursome resumed their search for Erza, along with the evil Legomen.

"Are those Legomen? I played with those back when I was five." questioned Levy.

"Me too." nodded Jet.

Immediately, the Legomen began to hurl LEGO bricks at Jet and Levy as well.

"It's sad when you're attacked by your own toys..." noted Levy.

"Yeah..." agreed Jet.

Levy attempted to attack the Legomen using the word "Boom", but unfortunately the Legomen protected themselves from the explosion by building a wall made out of LEGOS.

"Darn it! Those Legomen are smart." acknowledged the bookworm.

"They sure are." nodded Jet.

Sho tossed some playing cards at Jet and Levy, and they found themselves trapped inside playing cards.

"Let us out of here!" screamed the speed mage.

"The spell will wear off eventually. Keep your shirts on." answered Sho.

Elfman and Mirajane were attacked by Team Jellal next.

"Yes! I won the jackpot!" exclaimed Elfman.

Suddenly, one of the Legomen pulled out a LEGO rocket launcher and blew up the slots machine.

"Noooooo!" screamed the S-Class candidate.

"What gives?" asked Mirajane.

Looking around, she discovered that Legomen were attacking.

"Out of all things..." said the S-Class mage.

Immediately, Mirajane shot a darkness spell at them, causing the Legomen to fall apart.

"Well, that takes care of t-"

Unfortunately, the Legomen began to rebuild themselves.

"Sheesh...things aren't going to be that simple, aren't they?" asked the S-Class Mage.

"I'm afraid not." nodded Wally.

"You call that a darkness spell? This is a darkness spell." spoke Simon.

Immediately, Simon shrouded the room in darkness.

"Where did everyone go?" asked Elfman.

"I don't like this." said Mirajane.

This was then followed by Simon hitting Elfman and Mirajane with an explosion spell, sending them both flying.

"Let's move on." said the darkness mage.

"Let me go!" demanded Happy.

"But you are so adorable!" exclaimed Millianna.

"Well, that's true..." nodded the Exceed.

Personally he wondered if he should look into a mirror and see if he was still adorable as ever. He probably was.

Of course, he had to break free of Millianna's grip first...and since she had an iron grip, that wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Where could Erza possibly be?" asked Simon.

"It looks like she's hiding." noted Wally.

"Considering that we're planning on kidnapping her, I can't really blame her." shrugged Sho.

Curious, Millianna used her animal-like senses to search for Erza.

"It looks like she's sleeping." acknowledged the catgirl.

"Well, that makes abducting her a lot easier." spoke Simon.

"Yeah...wouldn't want her to slash us to ribbons." noted Sho.

Suddenly, all four of them found themselves unable to move.

"What the-" exclaimed Simon.

"Why can't we move?!" bellowed Millianna.

As it turned out, they had been caught by Shikamaru's shadow jutsu.

"Sorry...but I can't let you kidnap my friends now...it wasn't too long ago that Lucy got snatched by the Element 4..." noted Shikamaru.

Speaking of Lucy, she arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

"Let us go!" demanded Sho.

Naturally, Shikamaru's shadow jutsu allowed Happy to break free of Millianna's grip.

"See you later!" bellowed the Exceed.

Millianna groaned.

"Well, I've managed to save one person so far..." noted Shikamaru.

"Way to go, Shikamaru!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Thanks..." answered the shadow ninja.

Unfortunately, their victory was short-lived. Much like Juvia before him, Wally found a way to break free from Shikamaru's shadow jutsu.

Immediately, he converted himself to polygons and teleported next to Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, look out!" warned Lucy.

"Huh?" asked the shadow ninja.

This was then followed by Wally pulling out his polygon rifle and shooting Shikamaru in the leg.

"Gah!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy.

Once again, Shikamaru found his shadow jutsu being dispelled.

"Not again!" shouted the shadow ninja.

"Let's see how you like being restrained! Meow!" bellowed Millianna.

Immediately, Millianna summoned magical tubes that wrapped themselves around Shikamaru and Lucy, effectively restraining them.

They both began to blush upon realizing how tightly they were tied together.

"Right...is that everybody?" asked Simon.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Sho.

"Styling!" exclaimed Wally.

Immediately, Simon, Sho, Wally, and Millianna broke into the room, trying to be as quiet as possible.

They stuffed Erza into their trusty bag of kidnapping, and began to leave the casino.

However, their kidnapping was not unnoticed.

"Oh no! Erza's being kidnapped!" exclaimed Naruto.

Unsurprisingly, he wanted to rescue her.

Carefully following the four abductors, Naruto noticed that they appeared to be driving a boat. On the crow's mast was a flag with the Tower Of Heaven's symbol on it.

Carefully, he stowed away on the boat, hiding inside a barrel.

"I wonder where they're taking her..." thought Naruto.

Immediately, the boat sped off across the ocean.

_Meanwhile..._

"Graykins! Are you OK?" asked Juvia.

"I think so." nodded Gray.

Immediately, Juvia stuffed Gray inside her body so that she could heal him.

He was rejuvenated within a few minutes.

"Thanks." answered the ice mage.

Curious, she noticed that Natsu happened to be injured as well. Strangely, he appeared to be covered with tire tracks.

"Ugh..." murmured the fire mage.

"Wally took advantage of his motion sickness." explained Gray.

"Who's Wally?" asked Juvia.

"He's part of a team that wants to kidnap Erza...I think she might be in danger." noted the ice mage.

"What?! We have to rescue her!" exclaimed Juvia.

"We better make it snappy. They want to use her as a sacrifice so that they can revive Zeref." explained Gray.

"What?!" exclaimed the water mage.

"You heard me correctly. If they succeed...not only will we lose one of our best mages...but one of the most dangerous mages to ever walk Fiore is going to be returned to life." spoke the ice mage.

"Now we need to stop them more than ever!" bellowed Juvia.

"Yes...you're welcome to help me try to rescue her." said Gray.

"Consider it done!" exclaimed the former member of Phantom Lord.

Immediately, Natsu, Gray, and Juvia went to look for as many members of Fairy Tail as they could find. They knew that they did not have much time, so they couldn't gather anyone.

Sure enough, they came across Gajeel and Sakura...who were having an arm wrestling match.

Eventually, they began to gasp for air.

"Why are we equal in everything we do?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"I don't know." shrugged Tsunade's apprentice.

"We need your help! Erza's been kidnapped!" exclaimed Natsu.

"What? She has?" asked Gajeel.

"We don't have much time! They're getting away!" screamed Gray.

"I guess we should help then." noted Sakura.

"By the way, where's Naruto? I haven't seen him all day..." answered Gajeel.

Curious, Natsu used his Byakugan to search for him.

As it turned out, he was trying to rescue Erza.

"I think there might be hope. Naruto's stowed away on her abductors' boat so that he can save her!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Aww...how sweet." answered Sakura.

"Right...should we go and rescue her now or should we get more people?" asked Gajeel.

At that very moment, Hinata arrived on the scene.

"What's the matter? I heard your voices and noticed that you were worried about something." noted the kunoichi.

"Erza's been kidnapped." explained Natsu.

"What?! She has?! Oh no!" bellowed Hinata.

"We desperately need your help." said Gray.

"OK, I will!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Thanks..." spoke Natsu.

Curious, they noticed Ino and Choji were present as well. They were trying to release Shikamaru and Lucy, who were both blushing furiously.

"I wonder what's gotten into them?" asked Ino.

"I'm not sure." answered Choji.

Immediately, Gajeel turned his arm into a sword and cut the magical tubes.

"What exactly happened back there?" inquired Lucy.

"You got tied together...tightly." explained Gajeel.

Once again, Shikamaru and Lucy began to blush.

"So...I take it we're going to rescue Erza? Would you mind if I came up with our strategy?" asked Shikamaru.

"Sure, why not. You're a genius!" exclaimed Choji.

"Thanks." answered the shadow ninja.

"Then again, so is Lucy." noted Ino.

"You flatter me." remarked Lucy.

"I guess I'll make her my second-in-command then." spoke Shikamaru.

"You flatter me too!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Last but not least, Team Shadow Gear arrived on the scene.

"What's going on? It feels like Akane Resort's turned into Bedlam!" bellowed Levy.

"In a sense, it has." answered Hinata.

Sure enough, Levy's shadow was very unhappy.

"What's going on?" asked Jet.

"Erza has been kidnapped. We need to rescue her." explained Shikamaru.

"They want to use her as a sacrifice...so that they can bring Zeref back to life!" bellowed Gray.

Team Shadow Gear gasped in shock.

"I...guess we can't dawdle then." noted Levy.

"It's true, we can't." agreed Droy.

"Who's Zeref?" asked Shikamaru.

"The most dangerous wizard of all time." explained Lucy.

"Oh...I guess we should try to rescue her as soon as possible." noted the shadow ninja.

"I think we have enough mages. Let's go!" exclaimed Natsu.

"I'm right with you!" shouted Hinata.

"Can I come along too?" asked Kimimaro.

Curious, they noticed that Kimimaro was also present.

"Um, sure..." nodded Juvia.

"Wait for me!" exclaimed Happy.

"I suppose you can come along too." said Hinata.

Immediately, the fifteen of them went to their boat and began to speed off into the night.

It was going to be one heck of a rescue mission.

_Meanwhile..._

Chiyoye gasped in pleasant surprise. It appeared that Erza had been abducted and had therefore been separated from her companions.

Immediately, she began to laugh evilly.

She finally had the opportunity that she was waiting for.

Using the crystal ball, she was able to determine where her abductors were headed.

As it turned out, they were heading towards the Tower Of Heaven, which they would use to resurrect Zeref.

Now all she had to do was dress up as one of Zeref's devoted zealots, infilitrate the tower, find Erza, and latch onto her to complete the life-draining process.

"This is almost too easy." thought Chiyoye.

Using the crystal ball, she was able to determine the Tower Of Heaven's precise location.

Casting a teleportation spell, she warped there on the spot.

_Oh no! Erza's been kidnapped! And to make matters worse Chiyoye is taking advantage of the situation._

_In the next chapter, Naruto's going to try to rescue Erza, and so are the rescue party. But things aren't going to be that simple, of course...Jellal's got friends...and three mercenaries on his side._

_Oh...and he's got a never beforeseen character on his side too. He happens to be an OC. Heh heh._

_He also happens to have two demon bodyguards...so some bozo doesn't assassinate him. It pays to be careful like that._

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going to invade the Tower Of Heaven._


	40. Chapter 40: The Tower Of Heaven

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...our heroes are going to split up into teams in order to help Naruto save Erza._

_Also, Naruto will encounter Jellal...and his two demonic bodyguards. Yes, he has bodyguards in this fanfic._

**Chapter 40: The Tower Of Heaven**

Unaware that they had a stowaway, Erza's friends stopped their boat at the Tower Of Heaven harbor.

It had been a rather nice trip...but all good things had to come to an end sooner or later. Besides, they had a mission to complete.

Exiting the boat along with their abductee (who surprisingly was still asleep), the four decided to take a glance at the Tower Of Heaven.

Of course, this was where Jellal wanted to take Erza...so that he could use her as a sacrifice to revive Zeref. This was the place that she needed to go...and where the Lacrima was located.

"Well, it looks like we're here. It was a rather nice trip." noted Simon.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Wally.

"We had to the dungeon now, right?" asked Sho.

"Of course!" bellowed Millianna.

Immediately, the four took Erza to the dungeon.

"Erza's heavier than I remembered her to be..." questioned Simon.

"I know!" exclaimed Sho.

"We don't have to carry her too far, right?

However, Naruto popped out of the barrel shortly afterwards.

"Looks like the boat's stopped..." noted the chunin as he rubbed his head.

To be honest, he was feeling a bit seasick. It was a good thing that the boat wasn't moving that fast, or he might have vomited all over the barrel.

Stepping outside the boat, he noticed that there was an enormous tower a short distance away from him.

"So that's where they took her...phew! This tower is huge!" exclaimed Naruto.

In fact, he was having a hard time seeing the roof. In order to see it, he had to step on his tippytoes.

Something told him that finding Erza wasn't going to be easy...

...but he wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't try to save her life. It just wasn't in his nature.

"Here I go!" exclaimed the former jinchuriki, leaping his way towards the entrance.

Unfortunately, there were several security guards in front of the tower. They clearly didn't want anyone that wasn't friends with Jellal to go inside.

"What's this? It appears that we have an intruder!" bellowed one of the guards.

Immediately, they pulled out an assortment of medieval weapons.

"Oh dear...looks like the tower is guarded." noted the ninja.

One of the guards swung a scythe at his head.

In retaliation, he hit the guards with a Rasengan and knocked them down like dominoes.

However, they slowly got back up, and one of them shot at him with a crossbow.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Naruto. That crossbow bolt had pierced his shoulder. Thankfully, it was only a graze.

"Maybe I need to even the odds..." acknowledged the chunin.

Immediately, he began to summon some clones to attack the security guards...who rapidly found themselves overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, one of the guards took out the clones with a flail, though he got a kunai to the face shortly afterwards for his trouble.

"Personally I would use more state-of-the-art weapons..." shrugged Naruto. Then again, maybe Fiore wasn't as technologically advanced as Konoha was, considering that they relied on magic instead of chakra.

Opening the door, he stepped inside and glanced at his surroundings.

"Hmm...this place is rather neat. I kind of wish I had a tower like this." noted the chunin.

Sure enough, the tower looked rather exquisite...yet also rather quaint.

"Right...it's time for be a hero." said the former jinchuriki.

Taking a deep breath, he began to search the tower for the S-Class Mage that he was very close to.

"I hope that I'm not already too late..." noted Naruto. They mentioned something about using her as a sacrifice.

_Meanwhile..._

"Congratulations, Jellal! Everything is going to plan!" exclaimed Millianna.

"Is it now?" asked the dark mage.

As it turned out, Jellal was communicating with them on an intercom.

"We have Erza! She should be ready for sacrifice! This'll teach her to betray us." acknowledged Sho.

"I honestly wish that she hadn't done that." noted Simon.

"So do I. That was totally uncool!" exclaimed Wally.

"Very good. You can go on and do your business now. I'm going to go pay her a visit..." answered Jellal.

"Yes, master." nodded Simon.

Immediately, Jellal sat on his chair, satisfied at the turn of events. His friends had done the job well.

Now all that was left was to take Erza to the Lacrima...and then the job would be done. Zeref would come back to life, and everyone would be happy...except for Erza herself of course, since she would be dead.

"Here's hoping that she doesn't haunt me from behind the grave..." thought Jellal. Considering that she was once one of his closest friends...that wouldn't be too unlikely.

Fortunately, he had the Ghostbusters' phone number ready...though he wasn't sure if they had a boat that they could use to travel across the sea. He had only seen their car...and heard their rather unusual siren.

Suddenly, he heard a strange voice that sounded like a cross between a boy and a girl's, and glanced at the camera monitors.

He discovered that there was an intruder snooping his way throughout the tower.

Not only that, but he had gotten mud all over the carpet. He had had that dry-cleaned just yesterday. Now he was going to have to start all over again.

"Erza? Where are you? Are you there? Erza! Hello?" asked Naruto.

"Oh dear...it looks like someone's come looking for Erza Scarlet. A close friend of hers, no doubt." acknowledged Jellal.

Shrugging, he decided to give him a warning for the time being. If that failed, he would permit his loyal henchmen to do everything necessary to prevent him from interrupting the resurrection ritual.

He had gotten too far to give up now. After all, if the Tower Of Heaven suddenly exploded...he would have to rebuild it from scratch. The slaves certainly wouldn't be looking forward to that.

It seemed just like yesterday that the spirit of Zeref had contacted him and told him that he was the only one that could bring him back to life.

Normally, he wouldn't be interested in listening to him...but he promised him that he would use his power for good instead of evil. After all, he could create life just as easily as he could extinguish it.

As such, he had started rewarding the slaves for successfully building the Tower Of Heaven rather than punish them with their failure as the previous slaveholders had done...partly because he knew how a whip felt.

Immediately, he began to rub his face.

Now that he thought of it...didn't they brainwash him to serve them obediently? He couldn't remember it that well. All he remembered was them swinging a pendulum at his face.

No matter. They were all dead now. The slaves had resorted to cannibalism and had devoured the slavedrivers due to the fact that the slaveholders weren't feeding them enough...so he made sure that they well-fed.

Granted, he had never given them shoes (forcing them to walk around barefoot) and had made them keep their slave uniforms...but they were never fond of footwear or underpants anyway. They liked to go commando.

"Right...I guess I'll go pay him a visit." noted Jellal.

Suddenly, two enormous demons sat next to him in a burst of black and red smoke respectively.

One of them was black as ink, while the other was red as blood. The black demon had a tail with a blade on it, while the red demon had a tail with an orb on it.

Also, the black demon happened to be male and the red demon happened to be female.

"Hmm? How'd you two get here? I don't remember you being in the Tower Of Heaven arc..." questioned the dark mage.

Immediately, the black demon handed Jellal a note.

"Congratulations, Jellal! The supreme author of this fanfic has gifted you with two demons to help you defeat your enemies! They will serve as your loyal bodyguards!" read Jellal.

"Well, it looks it's my lucky day." noted the space mage.

The red demon handed Jellal a note as well.

"The black demon happens to be a ninja, while the red demon happens to be a mage. Use them wisely!" read Jellal once more.

"What's a ninja?" questioned the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, the black demon began to run around the room really fast.

"You're...a demon that can move really fast?" asked Jellal.

The black demon shrugged. That was close enough.

"Right...would you mind coming with me to go visit the intruder? I'm worried that he might attack me. He seems...a bit desperate to rescue his loved one." acknowledged the S-Class Mage.

The black and red demon both nodded.

"Thanks." answered Jellal.

Immediately, he teleported out of the room along with the two demons.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well, she's definitely not in the foyer. I guess I need to keep looking elsewhere." noted Naruto.

Suddenly, Jellal and the two demons materialized at a nearby balcony.

"What the-" exclaimed the chunin.

"So...you're the one whose sneaking your way throughout my tower. I can't say I approve of that." spoke the space mage.

Curious, Naruto recalled Erza telling him about her childhood friend. Was that really him in the flesh?

"Give me back Erza, Jellal!" demanded the chunin.

"That is something that I cannot do. You see...I intend on using her as a sacrifice." explained Jellal.

"What?!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Using the Lacrima at the top of the tower, we can use her to bring life back to Zeref." continued the former slave.

"Zeref? Who's Zeref?" asked Naruto.

"You haven't heard of him? You should know! He's the most dangerous mage of all time!" exclaimed Erza's childhood friend.

"Oh...I don't think I can let you resurrect him then." noted the chunin.

"You think you can stop me?" asked Jellal.

"Yes, I can!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto tossed a kunai at Jellal.

Much to his surprise, the black demon standing to Jellal's right not only intercepted the kunai, he flung it right back at him.

Frantically, he moved aside so that it wouldn't hit him in his beloved neck and die an ironic death.

Realizing that kunai weren't going to be effective, Naruto tried using his Rasengan next.

However, the red demon blocked it using her force field spell.

"Well, at least you didn't try to kill me." said the chunin.

This was then followed by the red demon tossing a fireball at him.

"Never mind." answered Naruto as he dove out of the way.

"I have to admit...these demon bodyguards are really efficient." thought Jellal.

"So...you thought you could just kill me just like that, did you? You think you can single-handedly thwart my entire operation...well, you were wrong on both accounts." clarified the space mage.

Naruto sighed. Things weren't going to be that easy, weren't they? He should have known better than that.

"Mind you...I wouldn't try to stop me if I were you. You see, Zeref has his own cult of devoted worshipees." explained Jellal.

Sure enough, several of Zeref's zealots made their appearance. They were chanting ominously, and it was creeping Naruto out.

All of them appeared to be dressed in black robes...though their facial features were quite different. Some of them were wearing scary-looking masks, some of them were wearing hoods.

"Yes...let's sacrifice this boy to Zeref. He is our god...we cannot fail him..." murmured one of the zealots.

Naruto began to shiver with fear. He was glad that he had taken a deep breath when he had gone into the Tower Of Heaven...which despite its name was turning out to be the Tower Of Hell.

Unlike the security guards he had encountered earlier, most of them appeared to be wielding magical weapons, namely staffs and wands.

"They're not too happy that you're trying to thwart my plans to bring Zeref back from the dead...they've been waiting for the opportunity for quite some time now." explained Jellal.

"Are you some sort of gelatin mage?" asked Naruto.

"No, I am not. Why do you-oh, very funny." answered the space mage.

"Good...I was worried that you were going to trap me inside a blob of Jello." answered the chunin.

Jellal shrugged. That actually would be a rather nifty spell to have...even if the prison was edible.

"Right then...I'd suggest you leave while you still have the chance. The more you stick around in the tower, the more aggressive the zealots are going to get." warned the space mage.

"Thanks for the warning...but I'm not going to rest until I've rescued Erza!" bellowed Naruto.

"We'll see if you can pull it off." answered Jellal.

Immediately, Jellal and his two demonic bodyguards teleported away.

"You know...this reminds me a bit of a video game I played...it involved saving the president's daughter...I think?" asked Naruto.

He couldn't quite remember what the name of the game was.

Suddenly, one of the zealots tossed a fireball of darkness at him.

"Yikes!" bellowed the chunin.

"Don't let him rescue the girl...otherwise all is lost..." murmured the zealot.

"Why do you keep talking like that?" asked Naruto.

"We don't have an outdoors voice, OK?!" bellowed one of the cultists.

"But you just shouted just now." pointed out the former jinchuriki.

"I did? Weird?" questioned the cultist.

"Wait, where were we?" asked a mask-wearing zealot.

Once again, the zealots began to chant ominously.

"Sheesh...being in Zeref's servitude must have really gone onto their heads..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he began to wonder if they were doing more inside the Tower Of Heaven rather than simply sacrificing Erza Scarlet.

That wouldn't surprise him.

Curious, he noticed that one of the zealot's robes happened to be covered with blood...which appeared to be quite fresh.

"This isn't a good sign..." thought the teenage boy.

He needed to rescue Erza...

...and fast.

_Meanwhile..._

"It looks like this is the place." noted Lucy.

"It's huge..." acknowledged Levy.

"I know...looks like somebody had a lot of time on their hands..." said Shikamaru.

"I'll say!" agreed Choji.

"I'm starting to feel a bit scared..." worried Ino.

Immediately, Choji gave Ino a hug.

"Thank you..." said the kunoichi.

"Right...let's go in there and pound their faces!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"Yeah...like he said." nodded Sakura.

"Let's not be hasty. It'd be foolhardy to go inside the Tower Of Heaven without a plan. In case it's not obvious...the tower happens to be guarded. Guarded by security guards...and cultists." explained Shikamaru.

Sure enough, another boat arrived. On the boat were several people looking to be a part of Zeref's cult.

As a token of good will, they had brought some supplies on them.

"Welcome!" exclaimed a cultist dressed in purple. Apparently, cultists wearing purple robes happened to serve as ringleaders for this cult. Perhaps they were the cult's founders? Then again, maybe it was founded by Zeref himself.

It was a bit mysterious.

He in fact was handing the visitors black robes...which signified that they were initiates.

"You may now go to our altar and worship Zeref! Today's the day that we're going to be bring him back from the dead!" exclaimed the man.

"This is terrible..." murmured Happy.

"I know...we need to come up with a plan." answered Levy.

"Right...Hinata and Natsu...can you scan the tower with your Byakugan?" asked Shikamaru.

Hinata and Natsu nodded.

Sure enough, they could see everything. Erza had been locked away in a prison cell...there were slaves in the tower's dungeons...there was a man monitoring everything from a camera monitor room...

...and much to their surprise, Naruto was trying to rescue Erza.

"It looks like Naruto got here before us." acknowledged Hinata.

"He sure did!" exclaimed Natsu.

"So...did you find anything interesting? You did mention something about Naruto being here..." asked Lucy.

"Well, there's a giant crystal at the top of the tower. There also happens to be slaves too...and a man dressed in robes. He must be some kind of wizard." explained Hinata.

"Interesting..." noted Kimimaro.

"Right...here is the plan. Happy, Ino, Choji...your mission is to cause a distraction so that everyone else can do their jobs unimpeded." explained Shikamaru.

"That's a good start." nodded Choji.

"You can count on us!" exclaimed Happy.

"We won't let you down!" answered Ino.

"Gray and Juvia...your mission is to infilitrate the tower from underwater. I'm sure that there's a drain somewhere." ordered Shikamaru.

"So...we're going through the sewers?" asked Juvia.

"Yes, you are." nodded the shadow ninja.

Gray shivered with revulsion...but he agreed to his mission.

"Hinata and Natsu...your mission is to cause as much havoc as possible in order to throw the enemy forces into chaos." continued the shadow ninja.

"What?" asked Hinata.

"You want us to work together?" inquired Natsu.

"Do you two hate each other?" asked Shikamaru.

"Er, no...quite the contrary...we were just a bit surprised at the occurrence, that's all." answered Hinata.

"I figured you two would work together since you're both fire dragonslayers. Sakura and Gajeel, your mission is to free the prisoners." said the shadow ninja.

"We're on it!" bellowed Sakura.

Gajeel began to flex his muscles.

"Team Shadow Gear, your mission is to prevent our enemies from receiving reinforcements. The less they receive, the better." answered Shikamaru.

Team Shadow Gear saluted Shikamaru.

"Kimimaro...your mission is rather simple. You just go out there and take down as many of our enemies as you can." explained the shadow ninja.

"Yes, of course." answered the bone ninja.

"As for Lucy and myself...well, we're going to find out what exactly they're planning here. I doubt that it's anything good." stated Shikamaru.

"You want us to work together?" asked Lucy.

"Why do you ask?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"No reason." answered the kunoichi.

Curious, Shikamaru noticed that Lucy now had a wide smile on her face.

"Right...this is our plan. Any questions?" asked the shadow ninja.

"Shouldn't one of us be trying to rescue Erza?" inquired Gray.

"I believe Naruto's already going to handle that. We're just trying to help him every way we can." clarified the Nara clan member.

"I found this interesting book detailing unison raids at the Akane Resort..." noted Levy.

Curious, Erza's rescue team began to look at the book. It was rather interesting.

"Apparently...if two mages's hearts are in sync...they can combine their magic to form powerful spells." said Jet.

"You mean...like us?" asked Droy.

"Possibly." answered the speed mage.

"You think it will work for ninjas too?" asked Hinata.

"It might..." noted Juvia.

"I'm looking forward to using that kind of spell!" replied Natsu.

"Me too!" bellowed Happy.

"Right...you all understood your jobs, right?" asked Shikamaru.

Erza's rescue team nodded.

"Good. Let's head to the tower now and save Erza, shall we?" inquired the Nara clan member.

Everyone nodded.

Immediately, the fifteen mages (and ninjas) headed straight towards their destinations.

_Meanwhile..._

Erza woke up from her slumber, happy to have such a satisfying dream.

Of course, it involved Naruto...and him being shirtless.

However, she was rather surprised that she was no longer in her bed.

"Huh? Where am I?" asked the knight.

Immediately, she realized that she was a prison cell.

"OK...I knew I shouldn't have jaywalked down the street." noted Erza.

Curious, she began to take a closer look...and noticed that she appeared to be in a tower of some kind.

"Wait a minute..." answered the knight.

Could this be the exact same tower that she was forced to work at as a child?

It just couldn't be.

"What's going on here?" asked Erza.

"You're about to become a human sacrifice, that's what." answered Sho.

Erza gasped in surprise. Sure enough, her old friend was standing there.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked the knight.

"You should know. I can't believe you betrayed us like this..." spoke the card mage.

"Betray you? What are you talking about?" inquired Erza.

"Isn't it obvious? You left us to die!" exclaimed Sho.

"What?! No, I didn't!" bellowed the knight.

"Spare your lies! Jellal came and told us everything!" shouted the blonde.

"Jellal?!" screeched Erza. Was he still alive after all this time?

Then again, so was she.

"I hope you've had a nice life...because tonight's going to be your last!" bellowed Sho.

Immediately, he disappeared in a burst of playing cards.

Erza let out a sigh. It appeared that not only was Jellal alive...he had manipulated her friends against her.

Not only that, but he was planning on using her as some sort of human sacrifice.

Now that she thought of it...wasn't that what the Tower Of Heaven was for? To use human sacrifices to bring back people back from the dead?

It looked like she was going to have to go pay Jellal a visit and try to straighten things out with him...or failing that, stab and slash him to death with her sword.

But before doing that...she had to find a way out of her prison cell.

"How do I do that?" asked Erza.

Curious, she noticed that in the zealots' excitement of their master returning to them...they had left her cell completely unguarded.

"Well, it looks like today's my lucky day...then again, I'm not lucky enough to not be in this mess." acknowledged the knight.

Personally, she wondered if her friends had come to rescue her. That was what she would do for them, after all...in particular Naruto.

"Why didn't I participate in that rescue mission to save Naruto from Phantom Lord? Granted, I was rather busy at the time." questioned Erza.

Shrugging, she decided that now was a good time to break out.

Immediately, she began to kick at the door, causing it to shake.

"Well, it doesn't seem too sturdy...then again, I do have super strength." noted the knight.

In just a few minutes, she was able to bust down the door.

"Well, so much for the prison cell. All that's left now is to go pay Jellal a visit. What's gotten into him, anyway? I thought we were friends...then again, he did get brainwashed." pondered Erza.

However, her breakout was not unnoticed.

Immediately, a few security guards came to investigate the noise.

"Get back in your cell!" exclaimed one of the guards.

"Well...since you asked so nicely...no." answered the knight.

Immediately, the guards pulled out some daggers, hoping to stab her into unconsciousness.

"Remember...we need her alive!" warned one of the guards.

"Yeah...I kind of already know that." replied Erza.

Unfortunately for the security guards, their daggers were no match for Erza's sword, and they were knocked out within a few minutes.

"Now...where could Jellal possibly be?" asked the knight.

Immediately, she began to think to herself where he would possibly be hiding.

"Well, I suppose if I were for him, I'd be all the way at the top of the tower. That way he could have a birds' eye view of everything." noted Erza.

Shrugging, she decided to look for the nearest staircase.

Incidentally, there was one nearby.

"Well, it's time to start a very long climb." acknowledged the S-Class Mage.

No doubt she was going to have go through a lot of security guards...

...and a lot of Zeref's devoted fanboys.

"Why do so many people worship Zeref?" inquired Erza. Don't they know how dangerous he is? He could wipe them out in a heartbeat!

Then again, part of her wished that she had that sort of power herself. It would solve a lot of her problems.

"Here I go." said Erza as she climbed up the steps.

_At the upper levels of the tower..._

"So...we're looking for answers, right?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...why exactly do they want Erza so bad? I doubt they're kidnapping people for no reason." nodded Shikamaru.

"Yeah...I can't help but shake the feeling there's something sinister at work here." questioned the kunoichi.

Curious, they noticed that there was a book.

"What's this?" inquired the kunoichi.

As it turned out, it was Jellal Fernandes's diary.

"Shikamaru...I think you should take a look at this!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hmm?" asked the shadow ninja.

Sure enough, it appeared that this diary would tell them what they wanted.

"I guess we should start reading." noted the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, as soon as they flipped the first page, an alarm went off.

Thankfully, only a few security guards appeared.

"Who do you think you are? That's Jellal's private diary!" exclaimed one of the guards.

"For that, we're gouging your eyes out!" screamed another guard.

"Sheesh. Jellal must really not want people reading his diary." noted Lucy.

"It looks that way." answered Shikamaru.

"That's why I keep my diary under lock and key." explained the current jinchuriki of Kurama.

**"I wonder what it has to say?" **asked Kurama.

Lucy began to blush. Hopefully Kurama wouldn't tell everyone about how she felt about Shikamaru.

Fortunately, Shikamaru was able to catch the guards using his shadow jutsu.

"Let us go!" demanded the guards.

"They're all yours now." said the shadow ninja.

Lucy whipped the guards into submission, and they were knocked out cold.

"Let's read the first page." spoke Shikamaru.

_Dear Diary,_

_The Tower Of Heaven is finally complete! I have to say I've been looking forward to this._

"So...this monument is known as the Tower Of Heaven?" inquired Lucy.

"It looks that way." nodded Shikamaru.

Curious, they wondered if they should keep reading.

Lucy flipped to the second page...

...and another alarm went off.

"Not again!" exclaimed the shadow ninja.

"It seems that every page is booby-trapped." noted Lucy.

"Yeah..." nodded Shikamaru.

This time, three zealots came in.

"Do not let them read Master Jellal's diary..." murmured one of the zealots.

"OK...they're really creeping me out." said Lucy.

"Me too." agreed Shikamaru.

Immediately, one of the zealots pulled out a staff.

"And they've got magic." noted the female ninja.

The zealot initiates began to summon demons.

"This can't be good." said Shikamaru.

Thankfully, since they were only initiates...they couldn't summon powerful demons. In fact, they could only summon imps.

"That's a relief." noted Lucy.

Nonetheless, the imps were going to be somewhat of a threat.

Immediately, one of the imps began to pull on Lucy's hair.

"Let go!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Hey! Nobody touches Lucy's hair!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"Except for maybe me." he thought.

Immediately, Shikamaru forced the imp to let go of Lucy.

"Thanks..." answered the kunoichi. Fortunately, none of her hair was yanked out and she didn't end up bald.

However, the initiates were summoning more demons.

"We might...want to make them stop." noted Lucy.

Shikamaru nodded, and latched onto the initiates using his shadow jutsu.

Once again, Lucy whipped the zealots into submission.

"I have to admit...we sure work well together." noted the current jinchuriki.

"Yeah...we do..." concurred Shikamaru.

Once again, they began to read from the diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today I was visited by Zeref. Or rather his spirit. It was rather...horrifying._

"Yeah...I would imagine it would be horrifying." acknowledged Lucy.

**"Zeref doesn't scare me." **stated Kurama.

"That's because you haven't met the guy." answered the jinchuriki.

**"Oh, right..." **recalled the nine-tailed fox.

Once again, they began to flip through the pages.

This time, they were attacked by two ogres.

"Uh-oh..." said Lucy. For some strange reason, it appeared that Jellal had ogres under his employ.

Immediately, one of them ripped off the green dress she was wearing.

"Oh, man!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Fortunately, she was able to wrap what was left of it around her chest.

Shikamaru took out the ogres with his Shadow Strangle jutsu a few minutes later.

"Darn it! Again with the clothing damage..." said Lucy.

Curious, she noticed that Shikamaru was staring at her bare stomach and shoulders.

"What?" asked the kunoichi.

Noticing what he was doing, Shikamaru immediately began to blush.

"Sorry!" apologized Shikamaru.

"No no no, it's fine. You can stare at my torso...just remember, my eyes are up here." answered Lucy.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief.

**"Can I stare at your torso?" **inquired Kurama.

"Sorry, I haven't known you as long." stated Lucy.

Kurama groaned.

"I guess we should keep reading." answered Shikamaru.

Once again, they began to flip the pages of Zeref's diary...though Shikamaru seemed more interested in staring at Lucy's body.

"Let's find out what they're planning..." said Lucy.

_At the middle levels of the tower..._

As Shikamaru had instructed them to do, Hinata and Natsu were causing chaos throughout the building.

Several security guards were trying to stop them...but they were getting clobbered.

"This is too easy!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Don't keep saying things like that. It will only make things harder." warned Hinata.

"Oh, right..." remembered the fire mage.

"I'm just giving you advice, that's all." explained Hinata.

"Right...of course." nodded Natsu.

Curious, Natsu noticed that Hinata was not actively attacking the security guards like he was.

"Do you...want to join in?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"I'd love to...but I would rather play it safe." answered Hinata.

Immediately, she began to trace the ground with her finger, creating a ring of fire around herself.

"There! Now I'm safe..." stated the female dragonslayer.

Sure enough, one of the security guards attempted to attack Hinata...only to find themselves being burned by the ring of fire for their trouble.

"They aren't that smart..." thought the kunoichi.

Natsu of course was trying to destroy everything he could find. This seemed to be rather effective, as the guards were standing to panic.

"We need backup!" bellowed one of the Tower Of Heaven's defenders.

Sure enough, they were starting to retreat.

"Alright!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Natsu, can I ask you something?" asked Hinata.

"Sure!" nodded the male dragonslayer.

"Why are you holding back? Your portfolio said that you should be able to do more than this..." questioned the kunoichi.

"Oh...about that. You see, when I work with another mage...I have to surpress my power so I don't end up burning them." explained Natsu.

"Oh...do you now?" asked Hinata.

"I've had some accidents in the past." stated the fire mage.

_Natsu was working with Lucy to take down a troll._

_"I'll light you up!" bellowed Natsu._

_However, in the process, he ended up burning away Lucy's clothes._

_"Natsu!" screeched Lucy._

_"Whoops!" exclaimed the fire mage._

_A few days later, the exact same thing happened while he and Gray were fighting an ice demon._

_"Darn it, Natsu!" bellowed Gray._

_"Sorry, Gray!" apologized Natsu._

_"Sheesh!" exclaimed the fire mage._

_And only a week later, it happened again with him and Erza while they were fighting a dragon._

_"Natsu!" screamed Erza._

_"Oops!" exclaimed Natsu._

_"How are you doing today?" asked the knight._

_"Thank goodness for Erza's lack of modesty." thought the fire mage._

"Oh...that makes sense." acknowledged Hinata.

"Yeah...wouldn't want any more mishaps." noted Natsu.

"Well, Natsu, as much as I appreciate the concern...I don't think you're going to have to worry this time." stated the female dragonslayer.

"Huh?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"Due to the fact I'm your interdimensional partner...I happen to be completely and utterly immune to fire." explained Hinata.

"Wait, what?" inquired Natsu.

Curious, Natsu held out a fireball in front of Hinata's face.

She immediately consumed it in order to rejuvenate herself.

"Oh..." acknowledged Igneel's foster son.

"I'm starting to see why Shikamaru wanted us to work together..." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Me too." comprehended Natsu.

Immediately, he decided it was time to stop holding back.

"Let the burning begin!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

"That's the Natsu I know." answered Hinata.

"And love..." she thought.

Sure enough, Natsu was burning everything in sight.

"Mind you...you might not want to use so much magic...you don't want to run out of mana." noted Hinata.

"I can always eat some of your fire." answered Natsu.

"Huh. Oh yeah...we are one effective duo." acknowledged the kunochi.

"We sure are!" exclaimed the male mage.

Sure enough, some zealots had arrived on the scene.

"Don't let them burn this tower to the ground...don't let them burn the tower to the ground..." murmured the zealot.

"Why do they keep chanting like that?" asked Natsu.

"Your guess is as good as mine." shrugged Hinata.

Fortunately, the initiates weren't very smart and were casting fire spells.

"They aren't thinking things through, are they?" inquired Natsu as he pummeled them with his fists.

"No, they are not." anwered Hinata.

However, more experienced zealots had arrived on the scene. Judging from the white robes they were wearing, they happened to be acolytes.

This is of course was a step up from initiate...though they didn't seem to be high-ranking members of the cult.

They were a tad bit more dangerous, as one of them casted a polymorph spell to turn Natsu into a frog.

"Ribbit!" bellowed the polymorphed dragonslayer.

"Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata.

Realizing that he was at a disadvantage, he immediately leapt into the confines of Hinata's fire barrier.

Fortunately, since Hinata was essentially a princess back at her world, she was able to turn Natsu back to normal by kissing him on the forehead.

Oddly enough, she enjoyed it despite how slimy Natsu was at the moment.

"Thanks..." murmured Natsu.

Once again, the duo resumed their mission.

_At the Tower Of Heaven sewer system..._

"So...we're sneaking our way in through the sewers?" asked Gray.

"That's what Shikamaru wanted us to do, yes." answered Juvia.

"I suppose it's a plan...but this sewer's rather disgusting." noted the ice mage.

Suddenly, a sewer rat bit him on the hand.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the devil slayer.

Fortunately, the sewer rat was not rabid.

"Ugh..." murmured Gray.

"Are you OK? If you want I can kiss your hand to make you feel better!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Whoa there, Juvia! You're starting to be a stalker again!" warned the ice mage.

"Sorry! I was just asking!" apologized the water mage.

"It's fine...thanks for the concern." stated Gray.

"You're welcome!" cheered Juvia.

Curious, they noticed that there appeared to be giant sewer rats inside the sewers.

"Sheesh..." murmured the ice mage.

"What have they been putting in the water here?" inquired Juvia.

"I don't know...but it can't be anything pleasant." acknowledged Gray.

"It can't." agreed the water mage.

Unsurprisingly, the giant sewer rats began to attack them.

Fortunately, Juvia was able to control the water and use it to attack the giant sewer rats.

"They're rather vicious, aren't they?" questioned Gray.

"I'll say!" nodded Juvia.

Thankfully, they were more bark than bite.

However, they encountered some more security guards a few minutes later. They were carrying some flashlights.

"Why do we have to guard the sewers?" inquired one of the guards.

"Someone has to do it..." answered yet another guard.

"They've got security guards down here, too?" questioned Gray.

Immediately, Gray and Juvia dove into the water in order to avoid them.

Thankfully, the latter was able to purify the water so they didn't get mutated like the unfortunate sewer rats.

"Funny, I thought I heard somebody." questioned one of the security guards.

"It was probably nothing." answered another security guard.'

Immediately, the security guards began to walk away.

"Looks like we've escaped detection..." noted Gray.

Juvia let out a sigh of relief.

"However, we're going to need to be careful if we want to infilitrate the tower..." acknowledged the ice mage.

"Yes..." agreed the water mage.

Carefully, the two of them began to traverse across the water to avoid being detected.

Suddenly, a sewer mutant emerged from the water. Incidentally, he happened to be rather muddy and looked rather muscular. Also, he was very ugly.

"What gives?!" exclaimed Gray.

"I'm really starting to not like what's going on here..." stated Juvia.

Apparently, somebody had dumped quite a few chemicals into the sewers.

Immediately, the sewer mutant began to spew out some sticky goo.

Juvia began to blush furiously upon being glued together to Gray.

"Um..." murmured Gray.

The sewer mutant then began to pummel them with his fists.

"Agh!" bellowed Juvia.

"Oof!" shouted the devil slayer.

This mutant was rather strong, no doubt about it.

Immediately, Juvia shot some bubbles at the sewer mutant, since he smelled rather bad.

Grimacing, the sewer mutant began to spew out some more sticky goo.

However, this time they were ready.

"Can you wash off the sticky goo?" asked Gray.

"But I like being stuck together like this! Besides, we can still use our arms and legs freely!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Fine..." answered the ice mage. To be honest, part of him enjoyed this too...though he wasn't as ecstatic about it as Juvia was.

Besides...what exactly was the goo made of?

Gray shot some icicles at the sewer mutant, causing him to roar.

This attracted a few security guards.

"I can't believe there are intruders all the way in the sewers! This is the last place I would look for them!" bellowed a guard.

Immediately, they pulled out an assortment of medieval weapons.

Oddly enough, the sewer mutant paid little attention to the guards, instead continuing his assault on them.

"Weird..." thought Gray.

Immediately, the sewer mutant began to pick up the guards and toss them at Gray and Juvia.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Yikes!" bellowed the water mage.

Fortunately, they were able to avoid them...though one of their helmets hit Gray in the face.

"Ouch!" bellowed Gray.

"It's OK Gray! I'll make it better! I promise!" exclaimed Juvia.

"But we're glued back to back..." pointed out the ice mage.

"Oh, right..." answered the water mage.

Immediately, Juvia began to stuff Gray into her body, causing the goo to disappear in the process.

"You feel so good!" exclaimed Juvia.

Gray let out a sigh. At least Juvia's body was warm and comfortable.

_At the lower levels of the Tower Of Heaven..._

"So...this is where they're keeping the prisoners?" asked Sakura.

"It looks that way." nodded Gajeel.

Sure enough, there were guards in place to make sure none of the slaves got away.

Immediately, the guards noticed them.

"What's this? It appears that we have intruders...either that or some of the slaves have escaped." noted one of the guards.

Of course, the guards pulled out medieval weapons.

Unfortunately for them, Gajeel was able to eat every single one of their weapons, causing them to scream like little girls.

"I was under the impression that they were a bit more...masculine." answered Sakura.

"It's so hilarious to watch them scream like that." stated Gajeel.

"Er...yeah." nodded the kunoichi.

The guards began to run away.

"That's right! Run back to your mothers!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"They're probably going to send in for reinforcements..." warned Sakura.

"Big deal! I can take on everyone in this tower!" bellowed Gajeel.

Of course, as soon as Gajeel had said that, more guards appeared.

However, they appeared to be more heavily armored, as they were carrying shields.

Gajeel tried tossing knives at them, but they blocked the knives using said shields.

Curiously enough, their weapons appeared to be enchanted.

"I guess these must be higher-ranking guards..." noted Sakura.

"We're the squires!" exclaimed the squires.

"So...the guards our comrades encountered earlier...they were initiates?" questioned the kunoichi.

The squires nodded.

"Why are Jellal's minions medieval-themed?" inquired Gajeel.

"I don't know...this tower happens to be rather medieval in itself...though it does happens to be magical." questioned Sakura.

Once again, Gajeel tried to eat their weapons...

...only to get hit by a burst of magical energy for his trouble.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the knight.

"It appears that these guards aren't going to be so easy to defeat..." noted Sakura.

"Bring it on!" belllowed Gajeel.

Immediately, he turned his arm into a club and began to whack the guards into submission.

However, he ended up being hit in the face for his trouble.

"Ergh!" screeched the iron dragonslayer.

"Would you...like me to heal you?" asked Sakura.

"I can take on everyone in this tower myself...but sure." answered Gajeel.

Oddly enough, he actually seemed to enjoy having Sakura touch him.

"Are you...enjoying working with me?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I don't really need your help...but yes!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"That's nice." answered Sakura.

Personally she enjoyed working with Gajeel too...though she wished that he wasn't so arrogant. She began to doubt that he could take on everyone in this tower by himself. There were so many zealots and so many guards...it was a good thing they brought as many people as they could.

Immediately, Sakura began to punch the squires into submission, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"Where are the slaves?" questioned the kunoichi.

On cue, they noticed some of the slaves dusting off the floor.

"Hey there! We're here to free you!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Free us? Um, sure." answered the slaves.

Immediately, the slaves began to exit the tower.

As it turned out, Sakura had built a boat for them made out of ice.

"Well, that takes care of them...but I think there might be more slaves in the tower." said Sakura.

"Why did we have to get stuck babysitting?" inquired Gajeel.

"What's so bad about children? You were a child once." answered the kunoichi.

"I don't remember it too well..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

"Yeah...there are some memories in my childhood I don't care to remember either...people kept making fun of my large forehead..." spoke Sakura.

"I actually like your large forehead..." questioned Gajeel.

Sakura began to blush.

"Um...thank you?" answered the kunoichi.

"You're welcome?" shrugged the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Gajeel began to sniff around to search for more slaves.

There were a few more right down the corridor.

"How many slaves are there in this tower?" questioned the iron dragonslayer.

"Considering how large this tower is...probably quite a few." answered Sakura.

Gajeel let out a sigh. How many kids was he going to have to babysit?

And to think he wasn't going to get paid.

He got to work with Sakura though, so at least that was something.

Suddenly, they found themselves being attacked by hobgoblins.

"Funny...I played football with a goblin the other day..." noted Gajeel.

However, they were much more aggressive than their goblin cousins that Naruto had encountered back on his first mission for Fairy Tail.

Speaking of which, there were also some goblins present...though they fled like cowards when they realized how strong Sakura and Gajeel were.

"This mission is so much fun...even if I have to babysit." noted the iron dragonslayer.

"Good to see you're enjoying this." answered Sakura.

"You bet I am!" exclaimed Gajeel.

_Outside the Tower Of Heaven..._

"So...our mission is to serve as a distraction, right?" asked Ino.

"I think that was what Shikamaru told us..." nodded Choji.

"How do we do that?" inquired Happy.

"Well, there appears to be some rocks nearby." noted Ino.

"That seems as good of a strategy as any." shrugged Choji.

Immediately, the trio began to toss stones at the Tower Of Heaven.

"How long do we have to keep doing this?" asked Happy.

"Until everyone else is done with their missions, I suppose." answered the kunoichi.

Sure enough, a guard initiate came by to pay them a visit.

"Hey! You can't just go around and toss stones at our tower like that!" bellowed the guard.

Immediately, Happy hit him on the head with a rock...and knocked him out cold.

"So far, so good." stated Ino.

Once again, they began to toss rocks at the tower.

This time, a troll came by.

"What gives?" asked the troll.

Ino, Choji, and Happy tossed rocks at the troll...

...only for him to regenerate from his wounds.

"Oh dear..." murmured Choji.

"I'll kill you!" screeched the troll.

"I thought these only existed at internet forums..." questioned Ino.

"Apparently not." answered Choji.

If only they would stay there.

Immediately, the troll punched Ino in the face.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

This made Choji rather angry, and he latched onto the troll using vines.

"Let go!" demanded the troll.

Ino then followed by punching the troll rapidly in the face, knocking him out as well. Much like Jet and Droy, Ino and Choji worked very well together.

Of course, this made Happy feel a bit like a fifth wheel...or in this case, a third wheel on a bicycle. If only he had fancy powers like the rest of his comrades.

Then again, having the ability to fly was no small coop in itself.

As usual, the three of them began to toss rocks at the tower.

However, they began to wonder if they should try something different.

"Maybe we could pose as pizza delivery people?" asked Ino.

"Well, we do have some leftover pizza..." noted Choji.

Immediately, he pulled out a pizza box.

"Now let's drug the pizza so that everyone eating it will pass out!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"But I wanted to eat some of the pizza..." complained Happy.

"Sorry...I don't think cats should be eating pizza anyway..." questioned Ino.

"Awww!" pouted the Exceed.

Immediately, they began to knock on the door...making sure to hide the unconscious guard and the troll as they did so.

This time, a squire guard showed up.

"What do we have here?" asked the squire.

"We've got pizza for you!" exclaimed Ino.

Immediately, the squire picked up the pizza. He did not recall ordering pizza that day...but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Thank you!" bellowed the guard.

Stepping inside the tower, he decided to share it with his friends...unaware that he had fallen for a trap.

"So far, so good!" exclaimed Ino.

"Now what should we do?" asked Choji.

"Dress up as clowns and perform a circus act?" shrugged Happy.

Ino and Choji nodded.

"I was...joking." answered the Exceed.

Immediately, they began to inflate a big top, which attracted the guards' attention.

"What's going on out here?" asked one of the guard initiates.

"It's working! Keep going!" bellowed Choji.

Ino, Choji, and Happy continued inflating the big top.

This time, a few zealots began to show up.

"I want to join the circus...I want to join the circus..." murmured one of Zeref's loyal worshippers.

Within a few minutes, the big top was completely inflated.

"Now then...what should we do next?" asked Ino.

"Let's put on our clown costumes, shall we?" inquired Choji.

Happy sighed as he put on a jester hat. Why did people take everything he said so literally?

Sure enough, they began to apply makeup to their faces.

"Where are the clown noses?" asked Choji.

"They're right over there." answered Ino.

Immediately, Choji put on his clown nose and began to honk it.

"Clowns always gave me nightmares back when I was a kitten..." complained Happy.

"Relax! We're going to try not to scare anyone!" exclaimed Ino.

"I hope not..." answered the Exceed.

Immediately, the trio stepped out of the big top.

Already, the zealots and security guards were pulling out bags of popcorn.

Some of the acolytes and the squires were suspicious...but other than that, nobody suspected a thing.

The trio began to juggle some fruits and vegetables, trying to juggle as many as they possibly could.

"This is fun!" exclaimed Ino.

"I...guess." answered the Exceed.

"We should do things like this sometime." noted Choji.

Ino nodded in agreement.

_At the Tower Of Heaven harbor..._

"So...we need to prevent our enemies from receiving reinforcements...right?" inquired Jet.

"That's what Shikamaru told us." nodded Levy.

Sure enough, another ship was arriving.

"I take it we need to make it sink?" asked Droy.

"Yes." nodded Levy.

Immediately, she began to write down the word "Fire."

Sure enough, the ship burst into flames.

"Well, that takes care of one of those ships..." noted the letter mage.

"Maybe we should try to destroy the entire harbor?" asked Droy.

"That...actually seems like a good idea." nodded Jet.

Immediately, Droy began to expand himself like a balloon and began to destroy everything.

However, their efforts were not unnoticed by the sailors, who pulled out some heavy-looking anchors.

"Stop that!" bellowed one of the sailors.

They began to pummel Droy into submission.

"I could use a little help here..." asked the plant mage.

"On it!" exclaimed Jet.

Immediately, he transferred his mind to one of the sailors, and began to attack them.

"What's going on?!" exclaimed the sailors.

Apparently, one of them had turned turncoat.

Immediately, the sailors began to turn on each other.

"These psychic abilities are so useful." thought Jet.

Personally he was starting to wish that he had acquired these abilities sooner...imagine what he would be able to do once he had completely mastered them.

However, there was a problem...how were his comrades going to tell him apart from the other sailors? Now that he thought of it...they all looked rather similar...as evil minions tended to do.

Shrugging, he decided to return to his regular body for the time being.

"That's better." spoke Jet.

Personally, he wondered if he could use this to spy on Levy.

Immediately, he began to blush.

However, he eventually decided that he respected Levy as a person and that he should not do so.

Besides...he had seen her wink at him the other day.

Immediately, the sailors boarded one of their boats and began to shoot cannonballs at them.

Fortunately, Levy's shadow helped protect them from the blasts.

However, they were knocked off their feet regardless.

"It looks like they're pulling out the big guns..." noted Droy.

"Considering the threat we are to this harbor...that's not much of a surprise." acknowledged Levy.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Jet.

Once again, Levy tried setting the ship on fire...

...only for one of the cannonballs to knock the pen out of her hand.

"Darn it! Now how I am I supposed to write?" asked the letter mage.

Levy's shadow handed the pen back to her.

"Thanks..." answered the blue-haired girl. She was a bit dismayed that being Shikamaru's interdimensional partner had turned her into a slacker...but having a shadow that would do her bidding was very nice.

Once again, she began to write the word "Fire", setting the battleship on fire.

"You're sinking our battleship!" screamed one of the sailors.

"Was there anything else you thought we were trying to do?" asked Levy.

"Oh, right..." acknowledged another sailor.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the sailors were putting out the fire. They had brought many emergency buckets.

"Things aren't going to be that easy, are they?" asked Droy.

Levy shook her head.

"I wonder if I should board that ship and try to take down as many sailors as I can..." questioned Jet.

"I know! Why don't you try transferring your mind to the sailor steering the boat?" asked Levy.

"Good idea." nodded the psychic mage.

Immediately, he used Ino's mind transfer jutsu to do just that.

He then began to steer the battleship towards a nearby rock.

"Where are you going?!" exclaimed one of the sailors.

He crashed the ship into a rock, causing extensive damage to the hull.

"Aargh!" bellowed the unfortunate seamen.

He switched his mind back with himself shortly afterwards.

Sure enough, the ship was beginning to sink.

"Yes!" cheered Levy.

However, another ship was on its way.

"I guess we better hurry." noted Droy.

"It might have more sailors on it..." acknowledged Jet.

Suddenly, a piranha bit Levy on the foot.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the letter mage.

"Are there dangerous sea creatures in the water?" inquired Droy.

Suddenly, a tentacle latched onto him.

"I'll take that as a yes..." answered the plant mage.

"Let him go!" demanded Jet.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they were now under attack by a variety of sea creatures.

Oddly enough, they seemed to be mutated in some way.

Who was dumping chemicals into the water? Levy was pretty sure that there was a law against that.

Deciding that she needed to stay focused for the time being, she decided that she could ponder that later.

Immediately, she began to write down the word "Lightning".

_At the upper levels of the tower..._

"So...Shikamaru wants me to work alone...well, I do happen to be a one-man army." noted Kimimaro.

Sure enough, Shikamaru had directed him to where the guards and zealots were most abundant.

Immediately, he was attacked by a cyclops.

"Raarrrghh!" exclaimed the one-eyed monster.

"A cyclops?" questioned Kimimaro.

Suddenly, he attempted to smash him with his club.

Fortunately, he was quick and leapt out of the way.

"You're an awfully strong fellow, aren't you?" asked Kimimaro.

"Me actually weak by cyclops standards..." explained the cyclops.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized the bone ninja.

"Me crush you!" bellowed the ogre-like creature.

Kimimaro stabbed the cyclops in the eye, causing him to cry like a little girl and run away.

"I still feel a bit sorry for him..." noted the last member of the Kaguya clan.

Once again, he found himself being attacked.

"What's this now?" asked the former Sound ninja.

This time, he was under attack...by an adorable kitten.

"Seriously?" inquired Kimimaro, raising an eyebrow.

An evil kitten that could shoot deadly laser beams out of his eyes.

"Oh." comprehended the bone ninja. That made sense.

"Meow!" purred the evil kitten.

"Who gave this kitten the ability to shoot lasers out of his eyes?" asked Kimimaro.

He was starting to wonder if there was some sort of mad scientist at the Tower Of Heaven. It did seem technologically advanced even if the interior was old-fashioned.

There wasn't really much of an explanation for an evil laser-shooting kitten other than that.

Normally he wouldn't attack a kitten (even when he was in his prime), but he decided he needed to defend himself.

So, he kicked the kitten out the window.

"Meow!" screamed the evil kitten as he fell outside the Tower Of Heaven.

"I'm sure he'll survive...he still has eight lives left." noted Kimimaro.

At that very moment, several initiate guards and zealots came in.

"And here's the welcoming party." he thought.

"Get the bone man!" screamed one of the guards.

"I'm going to make a xylophone out of his ribcages..." murmured one of the zealots.

"Sheesh." said Kimimaro upon hearing what the zealot intended to do to him.

Then again, he could pull out his ribcage and use it as a xylophone without mutilating himself.

Pulling out a bone and using it as a sword, he began to slash the guards into submission.

He may not have his Cursed Seal Of Heaven anymore...but he was a force to be reckoned with nonetheless.

If only Orochimaru had treated him as a partner rather than simply a means to an end. He always thought of him as a father figure...but clearly he thought wrong.

"Darn it, Orochimaru...why did you have to use me as a pawn?" questioned Kimimaro.

These thoughts continued to fill his head as he continued fighting.

"Well, time to impress my fangirls..." noted the bone ninja.

Immediately, he began to take his shirt off.

"Hey! No shirts, no shoes, no service!" screamed one of the guards.

"I don't actually work here." explained Kimimaro.

"Oh, right...well, you're still not allowed to take your shirt off here!" bellowed the security guard.

"Go ahead...try and dress me. I dare you." answered the bone ninja.

Immediately, the guards shot him...and he found himself wearing a pink bra.

"Dang! This actually looks pretty good on me! Now if only were a girl..." exclaimed Kimimaro.

The guards began to sweatdrop.

_Elsewhere..._

Curious, Jellal noticed that Naruto was still snooping throughout the tower.

Not only that, but he had taken out several of his initiates.

"Erza, I'm coming for you!" exclaimed the chunin.

He let out a sigh.

"What should I do with him?" asked Jellal.

"Allow me! I'll take care of zis dummkopf!" said a voice.

Looking around, Jellal noticed that there appeared to be a mad scientist in the camera monitor room with him.

He was wearing glasses and a lab coat, as well as a pair of black gloves and black boots. He also had blonde hair, and for some strange reason had a picture of a bunny on his labcoat.

"I don't remember you being in the Tower Of Heaven arc...then again, I don't remember the two demon bodyguards being here either." questioned the space mage.

The two demons scratched their heads curiously.

"My name is Dr. Usagi! Allow me to take care of zis! He shall be an excellent test subject! Mwahahaha!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Very well." answered Jellal.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi left to go deal with Naruto.

"Well, that takes care of him." spoke the space mage.

Suddenly, he noticed that Erza had escaped from her prison cell.

"Oh dear...it seems I should have kept her well-guarded..." noted Jellal.

Immediately, he communicated with Dr. Usagi on his intercom.

"Can you recapture her too while you're at it? I don't want her escaping." asked the space mage.

"Yes! She shall be an excellent test subject as well! I can't vait!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Sheesh...first the two demons and now a mad scientist. What's next? A monkey playing a tuba?" inquired Jellal.

Suddenly, he began to hear a tuba playing.

Jellal groaned.

_What a big chapter this turned out to be. In the next chapter, Naruto will encounter Dr. Usagi...and his twisted experiments, of course._

_Oh, and he will reunite with Erza. Hooray!_


	41. Chapter 41: Mad Science

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...Naruto's going to continue his journey to rescue Erza...and wouldn't you know it, he's going to get reunited with her! Whoopee!_

_But first he's going to have a chance encounter with Dr. Usagi._

**Chapter 41: Mad Science**

After dealing with some acolytes (who nearly turned him into a mouse), Naruto was feeling rather confident in himself.

Surely he could rescue Erza, right? She was counting on him...and quite frankly, so was Fairy Tail.

Speaking of Fairy Tail, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that his friends were in the tower with him, helping him defeat Jellal and his cronies.

Immediately, a smile appeared on his face.

Then again, it was probably just wishful thinking.

However, at that very moment...Naruto encountered something rather...strange.

For some strange reason, there were two robots making their way towards him.

"Huh?" asked the chunin.

Immediately, the robots scanned some nearby guards.

Acquiring their genetic signature, they were able to determine that they were friends rather than foes.

"Uh-oh...it looks like they're on Jellal's side..." noted Naruto.

Sure enough, one of the robots began to scan him.

They recognized him as an intruder...and pulled out some machine guns.

Naruto gulped.

"Prepare to be terminated." said one of the robots.

"They can talk?" asked the chunin.

Frantically, Naruto ducked for cover to avoid getting shot.

He then hit one of the robots with his Rasengan, causing it to fall over. By the looks of it, it had been badly damaged.

Of course, he probably could have used his new Twin Rasengan technique...but he wanted to conserve his chakra for later.

The remaining robot took its partner to the repair ward.

"Well, that was rather convenient for me..." noted Naruto.

However, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that there were more robots were that came from.

"Hmm..." thought the chunin.

If so, he was going to have to stay on his toes.

Personally, he was a bit surprised that he was dealing with homicidal robots...considering that he typically only fought them in video games.

Then again, this was starting to remind him of a video game.

"Am I stuck in some sort of video game world?" questioned Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to continue looking for Erza.

Suddenly, he heard some evil laughter.

"Who's there?" asked the chunin.

"It is I! Dr. Usagi!" bellowed a nearby voice.

"Hmm?" questioned Naruto.

Looking around, he discovered that there was a mad scientist nearby.

"Oh brother..." murmured the chunin.

"So, you thought you could snoop around zis tower whenever you felt like it, did you? Vell, you thought wrong!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Oh dear.." thought Naruto. Apparently, he was in cahoots with Jellal.

Immediately, two more robots appeared to attack the chunin.

"Get him, my mechanical monstrosities!" exclaimed the scientist.

"Two more robots? Well, I already managed to take down one of them..." noted Naruto.

However, these two more robots appeared to be rather aggressive, as they wasted no time in attacking.

"Give it up! Zhey have state-of-ze-art technology! I suggest zat you surrender! Maybe zat way I'll go easy on you!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"I'm not desperate yet." answered the chunin.

"Soon, you will be! Hahahahaha!" laughed the mad doctor.

Immediately, he ran away, leaving Naruto alone to deal with the robots.

"Weirdo." murmured the former jinchuriki.

Fortunately, he was able to quickly reduce the robots to scrap metal.

"He's going to have to do better than that..." thought Naruto.

Curious, he began to look around, and noticed that there appeared to be more robots up ahead.

"Well, time to send more robots to the scrapyard." noted the ninja.

Still, there didn't seem to be any sign of Erza.

Where exactly was she?

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy and Shikamaru continued flipping through the pages, hoping to find more information about the tower and Jellal.

As they did so, the former noticed that Kurama was giggling.

"You're having a field day now that I'm wearing a bandeau, aren't you?" inquired Lucy.

**"You bet I am!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Well, anything to keep you pacified." stated the current jinchuriki of Kurama.

Something told her that he was going to pray for her to suffer clothing damage every time she went on a mission.

_Dear Diary,_

_What's this? It appears that Zeref wants me to bring him back from the dead!_

"Bring him back from the dead? Is that even possible?" questioned Lucy.

"I don't know..." answered Shikamaru.

"I wonder if I could do that someday..." noted the kunoichi.

"You probably shouldn't...you might end up creating zombies..." questioned the shadow ninja.

"You're probably right." nodded the jinchurki.

Once again, they began to flip through the pages.

This time they were attacked...by a giant spider.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Lucy.

"This isn't good..." murmured Shikamaru.

Immediately, they began to wonder how that spider had gotten so big. It appeared that they may have a mad scientist on their hands.

Sure enough, the giant spider wrapped them up in webbing, trapping them both in a cocoon.

Once again, Lucy and Shikamaru began to blush upon realizing how tightly they were tied together.

**"You do realize that I'm eventually getting out of here, right?" **asked Kurama.

Immediately, the giant spider left to go look for more victims to add to her web. Apparently, she didn't look for blood when she was thirsty.

"So...should we try to free ourselves?" inquired Lucy.

"In a minute..." answered Shikamaru.

"Heh heh...yeah...that sounds like a plan." nodded the kunoichi.

Shrugging, the two of them decided to relax in their surprisingly comfortable cocoon.

"Where do you think that giant spider is going?" questioned Lucy.

"It's probably going off to hunt down our friends..." noted Shikamaru.

"That's not good..." thought the kunoichi.

"We might need to find a way to get ourselves out of here..." answered the shadow ninja.

"I'm not really in a hurry, but sure..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, she pulled out a kunai and began cutting against the webbing. Thankfully, it wasn't resistant to kunai like Kidomaru's spider webbing was.

However, it was going to take them a while to break free.

In the process, Lucy ended up touching Shikamaru's hand.

"Whoops!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Shikamaru's face turned red.

**"Lucy's got a boyfriend, Lucy's got a boyfriend!" **taunted Kurama.

"Real mature, Kurama." answered Lucy.

**"Search your feelings. You know it to be true." **stated the nine-tailed fox.

"Very funny." said the jinchuriki, rolling her eyes.

"Is your nine-tailed fox acting up again?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yes, he is." nodded Lucy.

"Being in this tower must make him feel excited." answered the shadow ninja.

"Thank goodness that giant spider doesn't appear to be poisonous..." noted the kunoichi.

"Still...who do you think engineered that giant spider?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Probably a scientist with way too much time on their hands." stated Lucy.

"Yeah...probably." nodded the Nara clan member.

Fortunately for Lucy and Shikamaru, they managed to break their arms free.

Immediately, the latter began to stretch out their arms.

"It's a shame...I was actually thinking about going to sleep in there..." complained Shikamaru.

"But we have a mission to do." answered Lucy.

"Oh, right...how could I forget about that?" questioned the male ninja.

"It was starting to slip my mind too." noted the kunoichi.

This time, Shikamaru's foot touched Lucy's leg.

Immediately, she began to blush.

"This giant spider is really setting off our hormones..." noted Shikamaru.

"Yes...she is." nodded Lucy.

"You think our friends are going to encounter that thing?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"Possibly." answered the kunoichi.

Eventually, they were able to break free, and they were once again able to examine the diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_What's this? It appears that Zeref wants me to use the Tower Of Heaven to resurrect him. How about that?_

"So that's why he's holed up at a tower like this..." noted Lucy.

Flipping through the pages...they were attacked...

...by a robot.

"Intruders are reading Master Jellal's diary...they must be terminated." said the robot.

"Oh dear..." murmured Shikamaru.

"They have robots in this tower?" questioned Lucy curiously.

"Apparently, they do." answered the shadow ninja.

Sure enough, the robot began to open fire at them, forcing them to take cover.

"They seem to have guns!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I wish I had a bulletproof vest..." noted Shikamaru.

"Me too." nodded the kunoichi. Maybe she could go to the store and buy them if they successfully completed the mission?

That seemed like a plan.

_Meanwhile..._

"Did you take care of the boy?" asked Jellal.

"Well, I sent my robots after him." explained Dr. Usagi.

"Well, they're getting slaughtered out there." explained the dark mage.

"What?" asked the mad scientist.

Jellal's red demon bodyguard directed Dr. Usagi to the security cameras.

"Oh no! You're right! The robots aren't working at all! Zis is bad!" exclaimed the mad doctor.

"Do you have anything other than robots?" asked Jellal.

"Well, I did release a giant spider from my laboratory..." explained Dr. Usagi.

"You have a laboratory? Where?" inquired the dark mage.

"Deep below ze Tower Of Heaven!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

"I didn't know that was there..." questioned Jellal.

"I just built it yesterday! Zere I can do my research!" bellowed the scientist.

"That sounds like a good place to do it..." noted the mage.

"It certainly is! I've got plenty more experiments where zat came from!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"That's a good sign." acknowledged Jellal.

"Right now I'm trying to bring back ze dead back to life!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"That's what we're all trying to do." said the space mage.

The black demon nodded.

"I found a corpse lying outside ze Tower Of Heaven!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"A corpse? What was that doing there?" inquired Jellal.

The red demon shrugged.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi pulled out the corpse, causing both of Jellal's demon bodyguards to cover their noses.

Sure enough, it was surrounded by flies, and appeared to be decaying.

Jellal felt mildly disturbed.

"I have no idea! But I figured it was good of a test subject as any. I shall bring zis bag of bones back to life using lightning! Hahahahaha!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Right...can you take it out of my room? It smells really bad." complained Jellal.

The two demon bodyguards nodded.

"Yes yes, of course! I was going to do zat anyway!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Good." answered the space mage.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi took the dead body towards his laboratory.

"Dr. Usagi may have a few test tubes short of a chemistry set...but at least he appears to be a valuable asset." noted Jellal.

Curious, he looked at the basement to see if Dr. Usagi's claims were true.

Sure enough, he did seem to have a fair amount of experiments.

"Not bad..." thought Jellal.

Dr. Usagi immediately entered the laboratory.

Oddly enough, each of the experiments seemed to adore him, as they all became rather excited upon realizing that he had entered.

Pressing a few buttons, he began to release some of them.

"Is he sure about this?" questioned Jellal.

Then again, they did appear to be on Dr. Usagi's side (and by extension his), so he decided he shouldn't complain too much.

Still, he had to wonder if he had actually gone to medical school. He didn't see a medical license everywhere in that laboratory.

"Hmm..." thought Jellal.

"You'll keep me safe if Naruto decides to attack me again...right?"

The two demon bodyguards nodded.

Jellal let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, he was starting to get a bit worried. Naruto seemed rather strong.

Curious, he decided to see how Erza was doing.

Immediately, he began to get worried...he and Erza were heading towards the exact same location.

It was only a matter of time before they were reunited.

Hopefully, Dr. Usagi would be able to deal with Naruto before then.

"The boy's in good hands...right?" asked Jellal.

Shrugging, he decided that maybe it was time for him to hire some mercenaries. He happened to have quite a few jewels in his pockets at the moments...so maybe it was time to hire them.

"Who should I hire?" asked the space mage.

Immediately, he pulled out a phonebook detailing a wide variety of assassins.

Shrugging, he decided to hire Trinity Raven. Why do you ask? He thought that the name suited him.

Picking up the phone, he began to dial their phone number.

"How may I help you?" asked Ikaruga.

"I'm looking for mages to protect my tower...I've gotten a few intruders as of late and I was wondering if you could straighten things out." inquired Jellal.

"Sure." nodded the samurai mage.

"Thank you." answered the leader of the Tower Of Heaven army.

Sure enough, Ikaruga began to counter her two partners, Vidaldus Taka and Fukuro.

"Are you ready for an opportunity of a lifetime?" asked the samurai.

Fukuro nodded.

"You bet I am!" exclaimed Vidaldus.

"Alright then...let's get going." said Ikaruga.

Immediately, the three of them sped off towards the Tower Of Heaven.

Strangely enough, it wasn't too far from their hideout.

_Meanwhile..._

Natsu and Hinata heard an inhuman screech...and wondered where it was coming from.

As it turned out, it was none other than the giant spider.

"Oh dear..." murmured Natsu.

Apparently, someone had sent her to stop them from making fires.

Immediately, the giant spider began to spew webbing at Natsu...

...who immediately burned it away with his fire abilities.

"Well, looks like we don't have to worry about her tying us up with her webbing..." noted Hinata.

Personally, this reminded her of her battle with Kidomaru.

Realizing that using her webbing on Natsu wasn't going to do any good, she decided to try crushing him instead.

"Look out!" warned Hinata.

Fortunately, Natsu was able to move out of the way.

However, the giant spider was still attacking them.

"How did she get so big?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

"I don't know." answered Hinata.

Personally she wondered if she was going to have nightmares about this if they ever made it back to Fairy Tail with Erza. Then again, she didn't get scared too easily these days.

Immediately, Natsu punched the spider in the face, causing her to recoil.

However, she was beginning to lay eggs.

"Uh-oh! I think she's pregnant!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Who impregnated her then?" asked Natsu.

"I don't know...don't ask me." answered the female dragonslayer.

Sure enough, the eggs were hatching into itsy bitsy spiders...that wanted to bite Natsu and Hinata in the face.

Fortunately, they weren't too smart...as they were charging straight towards Hinata's fire barrier.

"Um...I would try to put out the fire first." suggested Hinata.

The itsy bitsy spiders seemed rather confused.

"You...don't know how to put out a fire?" questioned the kunoichi.

The itsy bitsy spiders shrugged.

"Well, you should probably learn that...it would do you a lot of good in the future." stated Hinata.

The itsy bisty spiders decided that maybe they should call 911 instead.

In the meantime, Natsu was still fighting the giant spider.

"I am not spider food!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

The giant spider wondered if maybe there was something else on the menu.

Surely there was a mage out there that was less feisty than Natsu was.

Curious, she noticed that her offspring were completely unable to attack Hinata due to her fire barrier.

Sighing, she decided to leave the Tower Of Heaven and head elsewhere.

"Well, looks like we're doing pretty good so far." noted Hinata.

"The tower is burning!" cheered Natsu.

"It sure is." nodded the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga.

Still, they began to wonder how their comrades were doing.

Surely they were doing their jobs well too, right? They seemed to be just fine over their end, considering how much of the tower was now ablaze.

"Our mission is to keep causing chaos, right?" asked Natsu.

"I believe so, yes." answered Hinata.

"Then let's keep burning things!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

"Of course." agreed the fire kunoichi.

The more of the tower they set on fire, the better.

After all...that was what fire dragonslayers were for.

"Sheesh...the tower really is starting to smoulder." noted Hinata.

Immediately, one of the zealots began to dial 911.

"Oh no, you don't." stated the kunoichi.

Quickly, she tossed a fireball at the telephone, burning it.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" asked the zealot.

"Scream like a little girl?" inquired Natsu.

Immediately, the zealot began to scream like a little girl.

"I was just joking." stated the male dragonslayer.

"I'm a girl and not even I scream that high." noted Hinata.

The zealot sweatdropped.

"Do you always scream like that?" asked Natsu.

The zealot nodded.

"That must be embarrasing..." noted Hinata.

The zealot nodded once again.

"Hmm..." thought the fire kunoichi.

Immediately, the zealot ran out of the tower in terror.

"Alright! It looks like we're causing them to retreat!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Yes...but our mission isn't over yet. Let's keep burning the tower!" commanded Hinata.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the fire mage.

Once again, the duo resumed their mission to cause chaos.

So far, they seemed to be doing their job very well...if the zealot was anything to go by.

Personally they wondered if even the fire department could stop them now. Then again, they didn't know any mages that happened to be firefighters, though they personally happened to know a water mage.

Suddenly, a few initiate guards appeared...and they were carrying water balloons.

"Put out the fire!" exclaimed one of the guards.

'I don't think so..." answered Hinata.

Together, Natsu and Hinata tossed fireballs at the guards.

However, at that very moment, a robot came by and began shooting at Hinata.

Unfortunately, it was able to shoot above her fire barrier.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Hinata.

"You OK?" asked Natsu.

"I think so." nodded the Hyuga kunoichi.

However, the robot was focusing fire on Natsu next.

"Where are those robots coming from?" inquired the fire mage.

"I don't know...but something tells me that they're going to be a problem for us." noted Hinata.

"I guess so..." nodded Natsu.

_Meanwhile..._

Naruto ended up encountering Dr. Usagi once again...and he began to sigh.

"Not you again." answered the chunin.

Curious, he noticed that there was a corpse on an operating table nearby. For some strange reason, it happened to have green skin and screws on its head. Did Dr. Usagi like playing with corpses?

If so, he was feeling rather creeped out.

"What are you up to this time?" asked Naruto.

"I'm going to bring life back to ze dead!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Alright then..." nodded the chunin.

"Meet Clobberstein!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Clobberstein? You mean like Frankenstein?" asked Naruto.

"Yes! Zat is right!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"I see that you like watching horror movies..." noted the chunin.

"I sure do! Zhey are awesome!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Well, I have watched a few myself." answered Naruto. The last one he watched made him soil his pants.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi began to zap the corpse with an electrical device...which injected about a thousand volts into it.

"You sure you aren't going to fry it?" asked the former jinchuriki.

"I know vhat I'm doing!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

"I hope so." answered Naruto.

Sure enough, the corpse was beginning to show signs of movement.

"Oh boy." thought the chunin. It looked like Dr. Usagi's invention was working.

Immediately, Clobberstein rose from his operating table.

"He's alive! Alive! Vhich is more than I vill be able to say about you in just a few minutes! Hahahahaha!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

Clobberstein began to crack his knuckles.

Once again, Dr. Usagi fled for the hills.

"What a nutcase." thought Naruto. Personally he wondered if he should try chasing after him.

But for now, he had to deal with what was in front of him.

Immediately, Clobberstein began to attack Naruto with lightning generated from the screws on his head.

"Yikes!" exclaimed the chunin. Unfortunately, it appeared that Dr. Usagi had given his creation the ability to control electricity...which of course he was using as a deadly weapon.

Frantically, he avoided the lightning strikes by jumping across the room. Unfortunately, Clobberstein appeared to be one tough cookie.

Immediately, he went over and punched him in the face, sending him flying.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Naruto.

He let out a sigh. Things were so much easier back when he still had his nine-tailed fox...whether he liked it or not.

Shrugging, he decided to summon a Celestial Spirit.

This time, he ended up summoning what appeared to be a snowman.

Curious, he noticed that he had used a silver key this time, rather than the golden keys that he had been using earlier.

"How many keys does Lucy have?" questioned Naruto. She certainly appeared to have a lot of them.

"Hi there!" exclaimed Plue.

"Strange...I thought you were in a different anime...did you use an interdimensional portal too?" inquired the chunin.

"That's because my anime was made by the same author as Fairy Tail!" bellowed the snowman.

"That explains it." nodded Naruto. Personally he wondered if the two animes were somehow connected.

Immediately, Plue began to attack Clobberstein...

...only to get, well, clobbered.

Plue quickly deflated.

"Nooooo!" screamed the chunin.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Plue was no match for Clobberstein.

"Speak to me!" screeched Naruto.

"Don't worry...I'll be back...in the next arc..." said Plue.

"Why?!" exclaimed the jinchuriki.

Immediately, Plue disappeared in a burst of yellow energy.

"I'll make you pay!" screamed Naruto.

Trying to avenge his comrade, Naruto hit Clobberstein with his Twin Rasengan.

This seemed to be effective, as he heard the science experiment grunt in pain.

However, he threw the operating table at Naruto in retaliation, who just barely avoided it.

"Sheesh! This guy is strong!" exclaimed the chunin.

He was starting to wonder if he need some help.

Frantically, he tried summoning another spirit...

...only for Clobberstein to take the purse containing his summoner keys.

"Oh no..." thought Naruto.

Immediately, he tossed the bag aside where he couldn't reach it.

"This isn't good." stated the chunin. How was he going to fight the beast without his summoner keys?

Getting desperate, he tried summoning some clones.

Unfortunately, Clobberstein took them all out with his lightning.

"Is this the end?" thought Naruto.

However, at that very moment, help arrived.

Suddenly, Clobberstein found himself being stabbed with a sword.

"Hmm?" asked Naruto.

This was then followed by him being slashed.

"Is that..." inquired Naruto curiously.

Finally, Clobberstein found himself being stabbed through the head...and then he was a goner.

Clobberstein collapsed on the floor...and he realized who his savior was.

"Erza...is that you?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, it's me." answered Erza.

Immediately, he began to hug her tightly.

"Whoa!" exclaimed the knight.

"Thank goodness you're still alive! I was worried that you had already been sacrificed!" bellowed Naruto.

"Thanks for the concern...I broke out of my cell, don't worry." stated the S-Class Mage.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted the chunin.

"About that...I was thinking about confronting Jellal, actually." said Erza.

"Were you now?" asked Naruto.

"Well, he was a childhood friend of mine...so I figured that it was my responsibility to stop him." noted the knight.

"Well, you do have a point..." answered the chunin.

"But since you care about me so much...I guess I should let you tag along." stated Erza.

"Yes!" cheered Naruto.

"Let's go pay him a visit, shall we?" inquired the knight.

"Yes, of course!" nodded the chunin.

Immediately, the duo began to search for Jellal.

_Meanwhile..._

Jellal let out a sigh.

"Vhat's the matter?" asked Dr. Usagi curiously.

"Not only has your experiment been slain...but Erza's reunited with an old friend of hers...now we're going to have to deal with them both." explained the space mage.

"That's not good..." noted the scientist.

Curious, Jellal looked at the camera room, and gasped in surprise.

It appeared that the boy in an orange jumpsuit was just a sign of what's to come.

"Good grief! This tower is filled with intruders! Are there any other experiments you have?" inquired Jellal.

"Vell, zere is one..." explained Dr. Usagi.

Curious, Jellal noticed that there was a large humanoid creature nearby. He appeared to be in a containment pod.

Taking a closer look, he noticed that the creature had glowing red eyes, a claw for a right hand, sharp-looking teeth, and was wearing a black trenchcoat, gloves, and boots.

Nearby was an assortment of weapons...that appeared to be designed specifically for the creature.

"What do you call it?" asked Jellal.

"Vell, I vas originally going to call him Nemesis...but wouldn't you know it, zere was already a creature named that out on the ze black market." explained Dr. Usagi.

"Dang." answered the space mage.

"So...I decided zat I shall call him Avenger instead!" bellowed the scientist.

"That seems as good of a name as any." answered Jellal.

"All zat's left now is to give him some orders, and then ve vill be all set!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Sounds like a plan." nodded the space mage.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi began to type on a keyboard attached to the container.

He typed down the sentence "HUNT DOWN FAIRY TAIL MEMBERS".

Sure enough, the container began to drain.

Shortly afterwards, Avenger broke out from the glass.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured Avenger.

"Very good! Be a devil and hunt down ze intruders for us vill you? It vould be much appreciated." answered Dr. Usagi.

Immediately, Avenger began to leave Jellal's room to do as his master ordered him to.

"You think he can pull it off?" asked Jellal.

"I designed him for zat specific purpose...so yes!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Alright then." nodded the space mage.

Nonetheless, he got the feeling that maybe he should have his henchmen join the fray. Trinity Raven should be at the Tower Of Heaven any second now.

The only question was who should deal with each of the intruders.

"Hmm..." thought Jellal.

For now, he decided to see if Avenger would do the job.

In the meantime, he had another job for Dr. Usagi to do.

"Hey, Dr. Usagi...would you be a dear and recapture Erza for me? As you probably know already, I need to use her to bring Zeref back to life." explained Jellal.

"I am on it, Meister Jellal!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"By the way, do you happen to be from Germany? I notice that you had a German accent..." answered the space mage.

"Vhy, yes I am!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Thought so." answered Jellal.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi set out to recapture Erza. Hopefully she would stay in her cell this time.

Then again, probably not.

_Meanwhile..._

"It looks like we've found more slaves." noted Sakura.

Sure enough, there were more slaves nearby. They were currently relaxing in their cells.

Immediately, Gajeel and Sakura began to unlock the doors, causing them to open.

"Hmm?" asked a slave boy curiously.

"You're free to go!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Go on, get out of here!" ordered Gajeel.

"But we don't want to leave..." answered a slave girl.

"Wait, what?" asked the kunoichi.

"How do we know that we can trust you, anyway?" inquired a slave boy.

"What makes you think we're not trustworthy?" asked Sakura.

"Well, you happen to be stripping down in front of us...don't you know that's harmful to minors?" inquired said slave boy.

Suddenly feeling rather embarrassed, Sakura put her clothes back on.

"Not only that...but your partner looks rather scary." noted the slave girl.

"Don't worry...he's a lot nice on the inside than he looks on the outside." answered the kunoichi.

"But he's scowling at me..." complained the slave boy.

"What did he do to you?" asked Sakura.

"He called me ugly!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Sakura sighed.

"Listen, there's no need to worry. We both happen to be part of Fairy Tail...see?" explained Tsunade's apprentice.

Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel showed them their guild marks to show that they could be trusted.

"Well, OK...maybe we can trust you...but we don't want to leave!" exclaimed the slave boy.

"You don't?" asked Sakura.

"Jellal provided us with so many health benefits! Besides, he said that it's a dark and scary world outside!" bellowed the boy.

"Oh please! The world doesn't scare me! If anything it should be afraid of me!" noted Gajeel.

"Well, I can't say the same for the slaves." acknowledged Sakura.

"Meh. I guess they're a bunch of babies." answered the iron dragonslayer.

"Don't worry about it. The world isn't all bad. In fact, there are a lot of good things about it. You should be more idealistic." pointed out the kunoichi.

"Maybe we should...but I'm not sure that it's safe..." noted the slave boy.

At that very moment, several knights burst into the room. By the looks of it, they were the next step up from squires...considering they were dressed in full body armor.

"Step away from the slaves!" exclaimed the knights.

"You might want to run..." warned one of the slave girls.

"Those knights don't scare me! I bet there are little boys underneath that armor!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"Very funny, Gajeel." answered Sakura.

"We're fully grown men!" bellowed one of the knights.

"Oh please! I bet you're still wearing diapers!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Immediately, the knights began to charge towards the iron dragonslayer.

"You sure that was such a good idea?" questioned Sakura.

"Yes, come towards me!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Sure enough, the knights began to lunge towards them.

They had their armor eaten for their trouble.

"Good lord! We're in our underpants!" screamed the knights.

Sakura began to giggle.

Immediately, the slaves began to laugh at the unfortunate soldiers.

The knights ran home to their mothers.

"Well, that was too easy..." noted Gajeel.

"Yeah...it was." answered Sakura.

"We still don't want to leave though." stated the slaves.

Sakura sighed. How was she going to get the slaves to leave the tower?

Immediately, she began to think of what to do.

Finally, she came to a solution.

"Did you know that there's more than one world?" asked the kunoichi.

"What?" asked a slave girl.

"There happens to be another world...one that's populated by ninja rather than mages..." noted Sakura.

"I thought ninjas were only in cartoons..." stated a slave boy.

"Well, not in the world I'm from. I happen to be a ninja myself." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, she used a transformation jutsu to make herself resemble a slave.

"Wow! You weren't kidding!" bellowed a slave girl.

"Nope, I was not." answered Sakura.

All of a sudden, the slaves wanted to investigate this world for themselves.

"Alright, you have us convinced." said a slave boy.

"Yes!" cheered Sakura.

"We don't have all day. Let's get moving." stated Gajeel.

The slaves immediately nodded, and they began to make their way out of the dungeon.

As they did so, they encountered a robot, who immediately opened fire at Sakura and Gajeel.

However, Gajeel simply opened his mouth and ate the bullets.

"It's rather nifty that's your bulletproof." noted Sakura.

"It sure is!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Rapidly, Gajeel pounded the robot into scrap metal.

"That tin can was no match for me!" bellowed Gajeel.

"It sure wasn't." nodded Sakura.

_Elsewhere..._

Kimimaro slashed his way through some robots, wondering why exactly were there so many of them. He was under the impression that robots did not grow on trees...at least, trees that weren't mechanical.

Then again, there might be a factory in the tower somewhere. That would make a lot of sense considering that the robots appeared to be mass-produced.

Suddenly, he noticed that some of the robots happened to have blue armor...

...as it turned out, Dr. Usagi had realized that his robots were getting horribly slaughtered, so he decided to build some upgraded ones that could endure and dish out more punishment.

They were more heavily armored...and they happened to be have laser crosshairs for more accurate aiming.

Not only that, but they had more powerful guns that could shoot at a farther distance than the regular robots.

Dr. Usagi referred to them as Version 2.0., due to the fact that they were significant improved over their prototype.

"Looks like the robots are getting upgraded..." noted Kimimaro. Apparently, he wasn't going to be able to destroy the robots so easily anymore.

"We are better than ever." said one of the upgraded robots.

"Dr. Usagi has given us new power." murmured another upgraded robot.

"So that's the man whose building you..." comprehended Kimimaro.

"Prepare to be terminated." stated one of the blue robots.

Sure enough, he was having a harder time dealing with them than the regular ones, as they reacted more quickly to his attacks.

Nonetheless, he was still able to reduce them to scrap metal, though he took a deep breath shortly afterward.

"Hmm...I appear to be bleeding a bit." noted Kimimaro. Did one of the bullets hit him in the shoulder?

Hopefully he wouldn't have to visit the infirmary when the mission was over...he had already been infected by a deadly disease as it was.

At that very moment, several knights appeared...as well as some adept zealots.

Sure enough, they were dressed in red robes, unlike the lesser acolyte zealots that dressed in white.

"Get him!" bellowed one of the knights.

"He must suffer for spilling our blood...he must suffer for spilling our blood..." murmured one of the adept zealots.

Once again, he was having to deal with stronger version of the foes he had faced not too long ago.

"Why are things suddenly getting harder?" questioned Kimimaro. Granted, things had been a bit too easy for him up until recently...but this still intrigued him.

Immediately, the adept zealots began to whistle for initiate zealots to help them defeat the intruder.

Kimimaro sighed. It looked like these particular zealots could call for reinforcements to make life harder for him.

Sure enough, the initiate zealots began to attack Kimimaro...who quickly cut them down.

However, one of the adept zealots attacked him with a lightning bolt spell.

"Taste the power of our magic..." murmured one of the adept zealots as he cast the spell.

"Lousy upgraded enemies..." thought Kimimaro as he evaded the lightning bolt. Apparently, he wasn't the only one that learned from his mistakes before trying again.

Strangely enough, they didn't look much different from the initiates...they just happened to wear different clothing.

Two more Version 2.0 Robots appeared, ready to defend the Tower Of Heaven from the former member of Orochimaru's army.

"Again with the upgraded foes..." murmured the bone ninja, taking cover behind a statue.

At this rate he was going to have to face some Version 3.0 Robots that had been painted red instead of blue.

Once again, he let out a sigh.

Was Jellal just not very creative? He was under the impression that he had more originality than that.

Shrugging, he decided to continue fighting...the more of Jellal's minions he took out the better, right?

He wanted to make things easier for everyone else...namely his friends.

"How many have I taken out so far, anyway? A hundred? A couple hundred? A thousand?" inquired Kimimaro.

He was starting to lose count.

One of the knights swung his sword at Kimimaro, who immediately parried it with a bone sword of his own.

Immediately, he converted his arm into a bone drill and began attacking the knights with it.

Fortunately, their armor wasn't too difficult to cut through, even though it was made of steel.

"Here's hoping that I don't end up spending all my chakra..." noted Kimimaro. Though admittedly he did have large chakra reserves, every ninja had their limit.

If he ran out of chakra, he would be up a creek without a paddle.

_Outside the Tower Of Heaven..._

"So...how long do we have to keep doing this?" asked Jet.

"Until we've rescued Erza, I suppose." answered Levy.

"I wonder how long that's going to be...I'm hungry." stated Droy.

"Sorry to hear that..." sympathized the letter mage.

Suddenly, the water began to bubble.

"Hmm?" questioned Jet.

At that very moment, a sea serpent emerged from the water, causing the trio to scream.

Taking a closer look, Levy noticed that not only did it have sharp fangs, it had green scales protecting it, and unsurprisingly had a rather serpentine tongue. Also, it happened to have glowing red eyes, which unnerved her somewhat.

It did not look friendly at all.

"Uh-oh!" exclaimed Jet. It looked like they were in a heap of trouble. Who would have thought that there were vicious sea serpents in the waters.

"Good grief..." murmured Shikamaru's interdimensional partner. It seemed that they were in a pickle once again.

Immediately, the sea serpent began to spit out destructive water spheres at them.

"Look out!" warned the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

Thankfully, nobody was hit by the destructive water spheres...albeit not from lack of trying.

However, the sea serpent was getting ready for another attack.

"A sea serpent? Sheesh! We must be really unlucky today. This reminds me of a bit when we had that fateful encounter with Gajeel." noted Droy.

"It looks that way." nodded Levy. Were they going to get beaten to a pulp again? Then again, the sea serpent didn't seem as strong as Gajeel was, though it looked rather fierce nonetheless.

"I'm not going to be sea serpent food!" bellowed Jet.

Immediately, he began to toss kunai at the sea serpent, causing it to roar in pain. Those sharp knives really stung...though thankfully its scales helped to protect it from the assault.

This was then followed by Levy attacking the sea serpent using her shadow.

However, the sea creature knocked them away using its tail.

"This is one tough snake." noted Droy.

"Yes!" exclaimed Levy.

Sure enough, the sea serpent was beginning to spew an ice-cold breath...which froze Levy solid.

"Oh no! Jet!" bellowed Droy.

Immediately, he used his plant magic to wrap up the sea serpent's mouth so that it couldn't do again.

However, it was beginning to struggle.

Writing down the word "Fire", Levy was able to thaw out Jet.

"S-so c-cold..." murmured Jet as he began to shiver.

"Sorry that you got frozen." sympathized the letter mage.

"I h-hope that it d-doesn't happen again..." stated the speed mage.

"Me neither." nodded Levy.

"Make that three!" exclaimed Droy.

Immediately, he punched the sea serpent in the face, causing it to become rather...dizzy.

"On the plus side...I think we have an opportunity to attack it now." noted Levy.

This time, Jet tossed a paper bomb at the sea serpent...right when it opened its mouth.

The paper bomb exploded, causing the sea serpent to scream.

"Looks like we wounded it!" exclaimed Jet.

"Yes!" cheered Droy.

Levy then finished it off using Shikamaru's shadow strangle jutsu, causing it to collapse into the ocean.

"Well, hopefully we won't have to encounter another one of those." spoke the letter mage.

Droy and Jet concurred.

"Then again there might be more creatures like that in the water...I'm not rather familiar with this particular ocean." stated Levy.

"You're not?" asked Droy.

"I may be smart, but I'm not omniscient." answered the letter mage sheepishly.

"Well, that's true..." answered Jet. Nonetheless, people tended to call Levy a know-it-all regardless. Why exactly did she spend so much time reading books?

_Elsewhere outside the Tower Of Heaven..._

Unfortunately, it appeared that the zealots and the security guards were getting tired of Ino, Choji, and Happy's circus act.

In fact, they were starting to take action.

"We're bored with the circus! Give us something else!" exclaimed one of the knights.

Suddenly, he went up to them and deflated their circus tent with his sword, much to their surprise.

"Oh man!" bellowed Choji. There was no way that they were going to be able to inflate the circus tent again with that gaping hole in it.

It was a shame, considering that tent was a rental. Would they be able to pay it off?

"Hmm..." thought Ino. Was there something else that they could to stall for the team?

Immediately, the trio began to think of another thing that they could.

"Maybe we could start a play?" suggested Choji.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Ino.

"Romeo and Juliet, perhaps?" inquired Happy.

"Sure...but where are we going to find a stage?" questioned the kunoichi.

Fortunately, there appeared to be stage nearby that they could use.

"Now let's go get some costumes!" exclaimed Choji.

Ino began to cheer. She was looking forward to wearing a dress...especially in front of Choji.

"Who am I going to play?" asked Happy.

"Mercutio?" inquired Ino.

"But he dies a horrible death...his swordfight with Tybalt goes horribly wrong and he gets killed..." murmured the Exceed.

"Well, that's true..." nodded Choji.

"Do you want to play as Paris?" asked Ino curiously.

"But he's the villain...and he ends up dying too. Romeo stabs him to death with his sword." pouted Happy.

"Again, that's true." nodded Choji.

"Hmm..." thought Ino.

Shrugging, she wondered if Happy would like to play the role of the Prince.

Happy nodded.

And so, the trio of them began to perform the play. Thankfully, they memorized their lines pretty well so that none of the audience members would throw tomatoes at them.

Considering that there was an entire crate of tomatoes nearby, that wasn't a bad idea.

"What exactly were they going to do with those tomatoes anyway? Were they craving ketchup?" inquired Ino.

"Apparently. I'd like some ketchup myself..." noted Choji, rubbing his stomach.

"Maybe some catsup?" asked Happy.

"Very funny, Happy." answered the psychic kunoichi.

"What? I was being serious!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Oh. Never mind then." spoke Ino.

Fortunately, Ino and Choji were able to create copies of themselves to play the roles of the other characters in the play.

Eventually, the play ended, and the audience members immediately applauded.

"Encore! Encore!" exclaimed one of the zealots.

Sure enough, the zealots and the guards both wanted them to do another play. They couldn't get enough of them, it seemed.

"So far we're doing a good job..." noted the kunoichi.

"But how long are we going to be able to keep this charade?" asked Choji.

Happy shrugged. The longer they distracted them, the better.

"Let's just keep going." stated Ino.

"Alright..." nodded the Akimichi clan member.

Once again, they began to perform.

"Should we do another Shakesphere play?" asked the psychic kunoichi.

"Yes!" bellowed one of the guards.

This time, they decided to perform Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark. That seemed as good of a play as any.

However, they weren't going to pour any poison in anyone's ears. That would suck, especially for them.

Instead, they poured root beer into Happy's big ears.

"My brain is freezing!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Oh dear." murmured Ino.

"Are you...going to be OK?" inquired Choji.

"I...think so." answered Happy.

Ino and Choji both sighed in relief. Wouldn't want any unneccessary casualties.

_At the sewers..._

After taking out the sewer mutant (by whacking him on the head with a shovel), Gray and Juvia entered the basement.

"Sheesh...this basement is kind of creepy." noted Gray.

"I know..." nodded Juvia.

Personally, they wondered what exactly they were going to find in there.

"Stay alert!" warned the ice mage.

"Right, of course..." answered the water mage.

Fortunately, there didn't appear to be any guards around at the moment.

Juvia and Gray both sighed in relief.

In fact, the basement appeared to be completely deserted.

"Where did everybody go?" questioned the water mage.

Curious, they both began to wonder if they should turn back.

"Well, I don't think we can get any further." noted Gray.

"I guess not." answered Juvia.

By the looks of it, the basement was a dead end.

"Wait...shouldn't there be a staircase nearby?" questioned the ice mage.

Curious, the duo began to look around.

"I don't see anything..." stated Juvia.

"Hmm..." thought Gray.

Was there any way out of the basement? Or did they just have to go back the way they came?

Curious, they noticed that there was a tunnel nearby.

However, as soon as they entered it, the entrance to the tunnel collapsed.

"We're trapped!" screeched Juvia.

Gray let out a sigh. It looked like they were going to have to keep going.

"What is up with the basement?" inquired the ice mage.

"I don't know, but it gives me the creeps." said Juvia.

"Yeah...it disturbs me too." nodded Gray.

Apparently somebody forgot to turn on the air conditioning, because it was very cold in the basement.

Granted, Gray didn't feel it, but still.

Curious, they began to walk through the mysterious tunnel.

Oddly enough, there appeared to be a stage nearby.

"What's a stage doing in a place like this?" asked Juvia.

"I don't know." answered Gray.

Shrugging, Juvia noticed that there was a microphone nearby, and began to use it to sing.

"Fairy Tail is my pride and joy, oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!" sang the water mage.

Gray began to giggle.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said oh boy so much..." acknowledged Juvia.

Gray shrugged.

Fortunately, they didn't appear to have attracted any attention.

"How do we get out of here?" questioned the water mage.

"Maybe you could put me into your body and then transform into water to slip underneath the rubble?" asked Gray.

"That sounds like a plan." nodded Juvia.

Now that he thought of it...being Sakura's interdimensional partner did make him rather smart.

All of a sudden, his head was beginning to ache a bit.

Immediately, he rubbed his hand on his head in order to heal himself.

"That's better." answered Gray.

Oddly enough, he didn't seem to have inherited Sakura's large forehead.

Suddenly, he began to take his clothes off, causing Juvia to squeal.

"What?" asked the ice mage.

"You're taking your clothes off again! I feel like a kid at a candy store!" bellowed the water mage.

Gray sweatdropped as he began to put his clothes on again.

It was not a moment too soon, as he was wearing his Hello Exceed underpants this time.

"Why do I even wear those?" asked the ice mage. He wasn't even a fan of Hello Exceed. He thought that it was for little girls.

Maybe he could use them to pull a prank on Natsu.

Once again, Juvia began to sing.

"This may be a Tower Of Heaven...but it gives me a heart attack up to eleven." sang the former member of Phantom Lord.

Gray applauded Juvia.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." stated the water mage.

"Now you're mimicking Elvis Presley..." murmured the ice mage.

"I am? I thought Elvis was dead..." spoke Juvia.

"I'm a ghost now." murmured Elvis Presley.

"You're haunting the Tower Of Heaven?" inquired Gray.

"Yes, I am. Thank you very much." said the ghost of Elvis Presley.

"I wonder if Jellal knows about it." said Juvia.

Gray shrugged.

_Meanwhile..._

Erza and Naruto continued their way through the tower, unaware that they were being followed.

"Why do I get the feeling that something's after us?" asked the chunin.

Erza shrugged. So far they hadn't encountered anything...except for a few zealots and guards. She had cut through them like butter.

"What makes you say that?" questioned the S-Class Mage.

Suddenly, they began to hear the sound of a jetpack.

"Hmm?" asked Naruto.

As it turned out, it was none other than Dr. Usagi, who had found the opportunity that he was waiting for.

"Hahahahaha!" laughed the mad scientist.

Unsurprisingly, he wanted to recapture Erza and deliver her to his master.

"Vell, here I go!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

Setting the jetpack to max speed, he charged towards Erza as fast as he could, laughing maniacally as he did so.

Sure enough, he charged straight towards them, his hands outstretched to grab his intended target.

However, in his haste, he ended up grabbing the wrong person.

"Aah! Erza!" screamed Naruto as he was taken away.

"Naruto!" screeched Erza in horror.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi took him away using a conveniently open window.

"Oh no...they've got Naruto." stated the knight.

Quickly, she realized that she needed to rescue him from Jellal's clutches before anything bad happened.

However, at that very moment, she heard the sound of what appeared to be stomping.

"Hmm?" asked the knight.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured a voice.

As it turned out, it was none other than Avenger...and he had chosen Erza as a victim since she happened to be an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail.

Suddenly, he pulled out a rocket launcher and began to fire at her.

"Oh boy." murmured the knight.

Thankfully, she was able to avoid the rockets...though of course they exploded as soon as they came in contact with the floor.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm in some sort of horror movie?" questioned Erza.

"Horror...movies..." stated Avenger.

"You've heard of them too?" asked the knight.

Avenger shrugged as he pulled out a bloody chainsaw.

"Chainsaws are not to be played with!" bellowed Erza.

"Sorry." apologized Avenger as he swung it at her neck.

Rapidly, Erza jumped out of the way to avoid having her head removed from her sexy shoulders. She couldn't exactly rescue Naruto if she got decapitated, couldn't she?

Suddenly, Avenger attacked her with a tentacle, piercing her leg.

"Yeow!" bellowed the knight. Thankfully, she wasn't terribly injured...though her leg was starting to hurt nonetheless.

Fortunately, this did not cause Erza to get infected...as Avenger did not have a deadly disease on him.

Nonetheless, she was going to have to keep an eye on him at all times. He was genetically engineered specifically to deal with her and the rest of Fairy Tail after all.

Immediately, she requiped into her Flame Empress armor. She got the feeling that fire was going to be the best bet here.

If she lost against the mutant, he would inevitably go on to hunt down her friends...and basically they would be in strife.

She could not let that happen.

"For the sake of Naruto...I cannot surrender..." she thought.

As long as she was strong enough to protect the rest of Fairy Tail...she was rather satisfied.

What's a ferocious mutant if she had them backing her up?

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, I think the intruders have been in the tower for long enough." stated Jellal.

It was time to take some action.

Fortunately, Trinity Raven had arrived on the scene.

Immediately, Jellal's two bodyguards waved at them.

"What is your request?" asked Ikaruga.

"I need you to deal with some intruders." answered Jellal.

"Who do you want us to deal with?" inquired Fukuro.

"Well, Ikaruga...I suggest that you deal with the bone man since you happen to be the strongest of your team...Fukuro, you deal with the two fire dragonslayers...Vidaldus Taka, you deal with the ice and water mage..." stated the space mage.

Trinity Raven nodded as they went to hunt down their assigned targets.

"In the meantime, I'll be sending my friends after them too." said Jellal.

Sure enough, his friends were relaxing at a table, eating some food.

Immediately, he ordered them on his intercom.

"This is no time to stuff your faces. I need your help!" exclaimed the dark mage.

"Sure...what did you have in mind?" asked Simon.

"I just need you to deal with some intruders, that's all." stated Jellal.

"Intruders? You can count on us!" exclaimed Wally.

"Very good." answered the space mage.

"We'll make sure that they never bother you again." assured Sho.

"Meow!" squealed Millianna.

"Right...Simon, you deal with the blonde and the brunette...Wally, you deal with the trio that's trying to prevent me from receiving reinforcements...Sho, you make sure that the slaves stay where they belong...and Millianna...you can deal with the trio hosting a play since one of them happens to be an Exceed..." ordered Jellal.

The two demon bodyguards pulled out a picture with a skull and crossbones on it.

The foursome nodded, and they began to hunt down the Fairy Tail rescue team.

"Well, hopefully I've got things under control now." noted the space mage.

Curious, he noticed that Dr. Usagi had seemingly captured Erza, as he was carrying a metal barrel.

"Huh. Maybe I do." said Jellal.

Immediately, he sat in his chair, looking forward to the opportunity to bring back Zeref back from the dead.

Surely he would award him for his services, right? From what he had heard about him he actually wasn't that bad of a guy...once you got to know him.

"Everything is going to plan." he thought.

_Oh no! Naruto's been captured by Dr. Usagi! And Jellal's sending his friends (and Trinity Raven) to deal with the intruders..._

_In the next chapter...Erza and Naruto are going to battle Jellal's two bodyguards...you're looking forward to that, right?_


	42. Chapter 42: A Change In Plans

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Erza's going to try to rescue Naruto...only to fall for a trap. Gosh darn it._

_Oh, and the Erza Rescue Team are going to face off against Team Jellal and Trinity Raven...that's what you were looking forward to, right?_

**Chapter 42: A Change In Plans**

At an altar dedicated to Zeref at the top of the Tower Of Heaven, the zealots were rather excited. Zeref was going to return to them and everything was going to be just fine.

However, one of the zealot initiates noticed that one of them happened to look a little...odd.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it...but he never really recalled having any female members in the cult before.

Granted, he wasn't particularly sexist...but he still found it to a bit unusual, since most worshippers of Zeref happened to be male...excluding his fangirls.

"Do I...know her?" asked the zealot.

Oddly enough, he also noticed that the plants that they had placed in front of the altar had mysteriously wilted. What exactly had happened to them?

He would like to think that he had been watering them enough to prevent this from happening...maybe he should have used some compost too?

Sighing, he went to go get some more flowers to decorate the altar. Fortunately, they had spares in case that happened.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the mysterious zealot was beginning to smile.

"Everything is going to plan..." she thought.

As it turned out, it was none other than Chiyoye. She had successfully infilitrated the tower by dressing up as one of the zealots.

As to what had happened to the zealot she had stolen the outfit from...well, he was with Zeref now.

So far, nobody had really expected anything unusual, even when she made her way further up the tower.

By the looks of things, the sacrifice would occur soon.

And of course, that would be her opportunity to strike.

However, she began to wonder if she should try life-draining someone other than Erza while she was here. There did seem to be a fair amount of powerful mages inside the tower.

It would be ideal while she played the waiting game. The stronger she became, the better the chance she had of making Fairy Tail crumble.

If everything went right, she would be powerful enough to be an S-Class Mage...and then some.

However, she realized that she couldn't take too long...otherwise Erza would be sacrificed and she would lose her chance.

Also, she would have to be careful who exactly she absorbed...if they realized that she wasn't actually one of Zeref's worshippers and was planning to kill them, then things would be much more difficult for her.

So, she was going to have to operate very carefully.

"Well...I'll go look for some lone wolves..." stated Chiyoye. Those seemed like the best choice of her victims...though not all of them would be necessarily powerful as she was hoping.

Humming to herself, she began to traverse across the tower. It shouldn't be long until preparations were complete and Erza would be brought to the top of the tower.

Granted, she could probably target her earlier...but she figured that she would be guarded until it was time, and she didn't want to attract too much attention.

"Now I wait..." she thought.

_Meanwhile..._

Erza stabbed Avenger in the chest, causing him to scream in pain. Those swords really hurt, even for a powerful mutant like him.

"You want Fairy Tail, huh? When I'm through with you, you're going to be seeing nothing but fairies." stated the knight.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured the mutant.

"There you go again. You're like a broken record." noted Erza.

"Erza...Scarlet..." said Avenger.

"Wait, you know my name?" asked the S-Class Mage.

Suddenly, Avenger punched her away, knocking her on the floor.

"He's strong." thought the knight.

Avenger then pulled out his rocket launcher once more.

"Hasta...le vista..." murmured Dr. Usagi's ultimate creation.

"How much ammo does he got in there?" inquired Erza.

Personally she wondered if any of the members of her guild would be interested in wielding a weapon like that.

It sounded like it would come in handy.

Suddenly, Avenger attacked Erza with one of his tentacles, which missed her face by a few inches.

"Those tentacles are as sharp as my blades...sheesh." remarked the knight.

Shrugging, she decided that maybe she should try cutting them.

Once again, Avenger began to scream in pain.

This gave Erza the opportunity to stab the beast once more.

"And to think you were designed specifically to take out Fairy Tail members..." noted Erza.

"Fairy...Tail...must...be...destroyed." stated Avenger.

"Not while I'm standing." answered the knight.

Once again, Avenger pulled out his chainsaw...but Erza cut it in two.

"My...weapon..." said the tyrannical mutant.

"Sorry, but you've disarmed." said Erza.

Furious, Avenger kicked Erza away from him once again.

"Oh dear...he doesn't like when I break his weapons, doesn't he?" questioned the knight.

As a matter of fact, he did not. Avenger began to fire his rocket launcher faster than ever, breaking her Flame Empress armor.

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to Requip to something else." noted Erza.

Immediately, she requipped to her Purgatory Armor.

She then followed by slashing Avenger several times, causing the room to darken as she did so.

"This new darkness armor of mine is coming in handy." answered the knight.

"Where...did...she...go?" inquired Avenger.

His question was answered when she stabbed him in the face.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the mutant.

Unfortunately, Avenger punched her armor and broke it shortly afterwards.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted." noted Erza.

This time, she requiped into her Seductress Armor...or simply her Seduction Armor.

But as it turned out, Avenger was celibate.

"Darn it!" bellowed the knight.

Immediately, she requipped into her Morning Star Armor.

"How many suits of armor do I have again?" inquired Erza.

To be honest, she was starting to lose count.

Avenger prepared to shoot his rocket launcher once again...

...but Erza destroyed it.

"Nooooo..." murmured the mutant.

"Hey, you're destroying my armor...it's only fair that I get to destroy your weapons." noted the knight.

Avenger sighed. Now he was going to have to fight Erza mano-to-mano.

Well, tentacle-to-mano.

Unfortunately, this is where he met his end, as Erza cut through his tentacles one after another.

She then finished him off with a sword strike.

"Yes! I did it!" cheered the knight.

Oddly enough, Erza actually got an award for defeating him.

"Hmm? What's this?" inquired Erza.

In this case, she got a rocket launcher.

"Hmm? Alright then." nodded the knight.

Unfortunately, she only had one shot.

"Well, it's still better than nothing." stated the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, she left the room where Avenger was to look for Naruto.

"I won't let Jellal hurt him." thought Erza.

Sure enough, she noticed Dr. Usagi, who happened to be carrying a metal barrel.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto was inside, and he was banging at it.

Incidentally, he had soundproofed the barrel so that he couldn't call for help.

Quickly, he handed the barrel to Jellal's two demon bodyguards, who eagerly took it out of his hands. By the looks of things, Jellal had sent them to retrieve Erza once Dr. Usagi had managed to recapture her.

Of course, they were as oblivious as Dr. Usagi was as to who they had really captured.

Unaware of the doctor's mistake, the black demon eagerly applauded him while the red demon gave him the thumbs up.

"Thanks...the girl is rather heavy..." noted Dr. Usagi.

"Hmm...he must have been trying to kidnap me rather than Naruto...well, everyone makes mistakes." thought Erza.

If she had to cut her way through each and every one of Dr. Usagi's twisted inventions, so be it.

Immediately, she began to pursue the two demon bodyguards...who were heading to Jellal's personal chambers.

Sure enough, there were a few Version 2.0. robots there to greet her.

They seemed rather confused.

"I thought we already had the girl?" questioned one of the robots.

"This is making my gears spin..." stated another robot.

Shrugging, they decided that they needed to rectify that.

Immediately, one of the robots shot a net at Erza...

...but she broke through it somewhat easily.

"Sorry...but since I have the strength to tear through concrete like butter...nets don't mean too much to me." said the girl.

Another robot wrapped Erza up in chains.

"Now you're making me feel rather kinky...I'm starting to like this." noted the knight.

Immediately, Erza broke free.

She then cut through the robots using her swords once again.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm coming. I won't let you die...you were here to rescue me...so now I'm going to rescue you." stated Erza.

_At Jellal's bedroom..._

"Right...one last page...and then we'll be done here." said Lucy.

_Dear Diary,_

_In order to bring Zeref, I need a sacrifice. Not just any sacrifice will do. In order to bring back a mage of Zeref's caliber, I'll need a very powerful mage indeed._

_Considering that things have fallen apart between Erza and I, why not use her? She seems as good of a target as any._

"Well, I think that explains everything." noted Lucy.

"So that's why they wanted Erza." stated Shikamaru.

"Well, are we done here?" asked the kunoichi.

"I think so." nodded the shadow ninja.

Suddenly, Simon burst into the room.

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy.

"Here comes trouble." stated Shikamaru.

"Darn it! I wanted to go help my friends...but I guess we're still occupied at the moment." noted the current jinchuriki of Kurama.

"So...you thought you could intrude Master Jellal's tower and read his diary, did you? Well, you thought wrong. I'm sending you to him immediately." said Simon.

"Are you some kind of pirate? I've encountered those before." asked Lucy.

"No, I am not. Why do you ask?" inquired the eyepatched mage.

"Mostly the eyepatch." answered the kunoichi.

"I lost my eye during my time as a slave, alright? It happened to Erza too...now let's duel." demanded Simon.

"Very well." nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, Lucy pulled out her whip while Shikamaru pulled out his pen.

Sure enough, Simon wasted no time in attacking.

Suddenly, he punched Lucy and sent her flying.

"Aah!" screamed the kunoichi.

"Lucy!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." answered Lucy.

However, she did receive a pretty big bruise on her forehead.

"Man, I've got a headache..." stated the kunoichi.

"Well, looks like I'm doing my job well so far." thought Simon.

Suddenly, he noticed that Lucy's bruise was beginning to disappear.

"What?" inquired the eyepatched mage.

Sure enough, Shikamaru noticed it as well.

"Lucy, your bruise...it's healing rapidly." explained the shadow ninja.

"It is?" asked Lucy.

**"Looks like my healing abilities are kicking in...and by extension yours." **clarified Kurama.

"I have healing abilities now? Huh. I guess I won't have to worry about being beaten up so much anymore." noted the kunoichi.

**"If he wants to take you down, he's going to have to do it quickly." **acknowledged the nine-tailed fox.

"I guess so." nodded Lucy.

Simon groaned. Defeating Lucy was going to so much harder considering the fact that she could heal the injuries he inflicted upon her.

Nonetheless, he wasn't the type to give up easily.

Suddenly, he found himself being restrained by Shikamaru's shadow jutsu.

"What the-" murmured Simon.

"Now's your chance!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Seizing her opportunity, Lucy began to attack him with a whip.

"Aaugh!" bellowed Simon.

"So far, so good." stated the kunoichi.

At this point, the large bruise on her forehead had completely disappeared, and her head no longer hurt at all.

"I think I'm going to like having the ability to regenerate...can I regenerate lost limbs, too?" asked Lucy.

**"You can't." **answered Kurama.

Lucy sighed. Apparently even Kurama's healing abilities had their limits.

Unfortunately, Simon managed to break free from the shadow jutsu, and he tossed Lucy at Shikamaru.

Fortunately, Lucy was beginning to heal once again.

However, the same could not be the said for Shikamaru. Thankfully, he wasn't terribly injured.

"You OK?" asked the kunoichi.

"I think so." nodded Shikamaru.

Immediately, he began to write down the word "Anvil", causing an anvil to fall on top of Simon's head.

"Ergh!" bellowed the one-eyed mage.

Noticing that he was in a two-against-one battle, Simon decided to use his telepathy to send for reinforcements.

"What is he up to?" asked Lucy.

"It can't be anything good." answered Shikamaru.

Sure enough, two zealot adepts entered the room.

This was then followed by them summoning two succubi, causing Simon's nose to bleed.

"These aren't the demons I would use...but at least they look fairly decent in their strapless bikini tops." noted the darkness mage.

Why exactly were the bikini tops made from black leather, though? He wasn't quite sure.

Immediately, they began to flirt with Shikamaru.

"You are so hot..." stated one of the succubi.

"Be with me..." asked the other succubi.

Shikamaru began to giggle nervously.

However, Lucy was not amused.

Suddenly, she hit the two succubi with her Twin Rasengan, causing them both to be reduced to ash.

She then followed by attacking the two zealots with her whip, causing them both to collapse to the ground.

Finally, she began to pant.

"Wow." stated Shikamaru.

"Looks like I'm back to square one." said Simon.

Maybe he should try using telepathy again and hoped that he received better help?

_Meanwhile..._

"Meister Jellal! I have brought you a gift! I am hoping zat you vill enjoy it. I know I certainly vill!" stated Dr. Usagi.

"Have you now?" asked Jellal.

Somehow, he got the feeling that he knew what the gift was.

Sure enough, his two demon bodyguards came into the room carrying the metal barrel. They had delivered Erza to him, like he had asked.

"I suppose you have." noted the space mage.

"Vould you care to see vhat's inside?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"Yes, I would. Go ahead and show it to me. Once we've completed our mission, I'm sure Zeref will reward us." nodded Jellal.

"Maybe he vill upgrade my laboratory!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

"Maybe." answered the space mage.

Immediately, he began to open the barrel. Dr. Usagi grinned wickedly while the two demons looked closer out of excitement.

"Hahahaha!" laughed the mad scientist, jumping up and down and rubbing his hands together.

However, it wasn't who they were expecting.

"What the-" exclaimed Jellal.

The two demons both dropped their jaws in surprise.

"Vhat's the matter?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"Dr. Usagi...this isn't Erza." explained the space mage.

"My name is Naruto! And you've gotten me mixed up with someone else." bellowed Naruto.

Jellal groaned. He told Dr. Usagi that he wanted Erza...not Naruto. Why did he mix them up?

"Dr. Usagi...you captured the wrong person. I wanted Erza. Don't you remember?" questioned the dark mage.

"Vhat?! I thought I had her! Vhat happened?!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Something must have gone wrong with your kidnapping attempt..." explained Jellal.

The black demon rubbed his head against his left hand while the red demon rolled her eyes.

"Verflucht!" bellowed the scientist.

"Well, maybe we can use him to lure Erza here..." answered the space mage.

"About zat...I left Erza alone with Avenger..." explained Dr. Usagi.

"You what?!" exclaimed Jellal.

"I vas hoping that he vould take out ze boy! But I messed everyzing up." noted the german.

"Yes, you did." nodded the space mage.

The black demon stamped his foot on the ground in frustration while the red demon pressed her hands against her eyes.

"Zen again, zere might be ze possibility that she is still alive...vhat do I know?" noted Dr. Usagi.

"I hope so." answered Jellal. If Erza ended up dying, they would have to look for someone else. And mages like her did not grow on trees...if they did, Zeref likely would have been brought back from the dead by now.

Immediately, he began to scan the security cameras.

"Vell, vould you look at zat...it looks like she defeated Avenger...I didn't know zat she had it in her..." said the mad scientist.

"She did?" asked the space mage.

"Yes, she did. He's lying zere on ze ground." explained Dr. Usagi.

Sure enough, Avenger was lying on the floor...and he was bleeding. Erza did not show him any mercy, it seemed.

Then again, considering that he was made using rather nasty gene splicing and was designed specifically to kill her friends, that wasn't too much of a surprise.

"Now whose going to hunt down Fairy Tail?" asked Jellal.

"Don't vorry too much. If he is vounded, but left to recover aftervards, he vill mutate and come back stronger zan ever!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

"Wait...he will? That won't be good news for Erza..." inquired the space mage.

"Zere he goes now!" bellowed the doctor.

Curious, Jellal looked at the screen and noticed that Avenger was beginning to mutate, as Dr. Usagi had said.

Sure enough, he was helping himself to his feet, and his injuries were healing.

Oddly enough, his trenchcoat had been completely shredded, and he was now covered with tentacles.

"I guess you were right about Avenger...though in retrospect, maybe we should program him to capture Erza rather than try to brutally slay her." noted the space mage.

"Zis is so exciting! My design vorked! Now if you excuse me I vill experiment on ze boy. Zere are a few tests I vould like to do." explained Dr. Usagi.

"I don't really have a use for him other than a hostage...so knock yourself out." answered Jellal.

"Noooo! Don't dissect me! I already did something like this in a biology class!" screamed Naruto.

"Relax...I know enough about ze human body as it is...I'm just going to run a few scans, zat's all." answered the mad scientist.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. For a second he was worried that he was going to get horribly killed.

Then again, it appeared that Dr. Usagi and Jellal both had use for him alive at the moment.

Immediately, he pressed a button on the wall and began to take him to his underground laboratory.

As he did so, the two demons both waved goodbye.

"Well, all that's left now is to wait for Erza to show up." noted the space mage.

The two demons nodded in agreement. Both of them could hardly wait.

It was only a matter of hours before Zeref would be brought back from the dead now.

It was something that they had both been looking forward to for years.

Immediately, Jellal prepared himself for Erza's arrival. He had just the spell to recapture her.

"Yes...come to me..." stated the space mage.

_At the middle section of the tower..._

"I think we're going to be done soon!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Really? That's good! I bet Shikamaru will be proud of us!" cheered Hinata.

"He sure will!" bellowed the fire mage.

Suddenly, they noticed that there appeared to be owls flying straight towards them.

"Huh? Where did all those owls come from?" inquired Natsu.

"I'm not sure what they're doing in a place like this." shrugged Hinata.

Oddly enough, they appeared to be carrying fire extinguishers.

"Huh? What are they lobbing those around for?" questioned the male dragonslayer.

He was about to find out.

Immediately, the owls began to put out the flames they had worked so hard to create.

"Oh no! They're putting out the fire!" exclaimed Hinata.

"We have to stop them!" bellowed Natsu.

Together, they began to toss fireballs at the owls in order to knock them out of the sky...which they successfully did.

"That was close." noted the male dragonslayer.

"Yes, it was...but where did those owls come from?" asked the female dragonslayer.

Hinata was about to find out.

Suddenly, Fukuro arrived on the scene.

"What do we have here?" inquired the owl man.

"What the...are you some sort of mutant?" asked Natsu.

"Dr. Usagi injected me with owl DNA...so yes." answered Fukuro.

Natsu and Hinata shrugged.

"Anyways...I see that you like to play with fire...well, I hope you like to play with birds." stated the owlman.

Immediately, he began to crack his knuckles.

"Bring it on, birdbrain!" exclaimed Natsu.

Quickly, he began to lunge towards Fukuro.

However, he appeared to be simply standing there...which Hinata found to be rather suspicious.

"Um, Natsu..." inquired Hinata.

"What?" asked Natsu.

Curious, he went over to punch Fukuro in the face...

...only for Fukuro to catch his fist using his mouth.

"Huh?" questioned the fire mage curiously.

Suddenly, Fukuro began to swallow him whole.

"Aah!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Natsu!" bellowed Hinata.

Leaving the confines of her fire barrier, Hinata immediately went over to Fukuro and began to pull Natsu out of his mouth.

Thankfully, she was able to rescue him before he got completely swallowed.

"Thanks...that was wrong on so many levels." noted Natsu.

"I bet it was." nodded Hinata.

Unfortunately, this gave Fukuro the ability to breathe Natsu's fire, which he tested on her.

Fortunately, this didn't hurt the Hyuga clan member at all.

"Good thing I happen to be a fire dragonslayer too." acknowledged the kunoichi.

Fukuro sighed. He hoped that he would be able to use his power absorption abilities to his advantage...

...but apparently not.

No matter. He was certain that he would still be able to win.

Immediately, Fukuro hit Natsu with a destructive blast of energy.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the fire mage.

"Natsu!" bellowed Hinata.

This not only harmed him externally, this also injured him internally as well.

"Ugh..." murmured Natsu. That attack really smarted.

Fortunately, Hinata was able to rejuvenate Natsu by shoving a fireball up his mouth.

"Phew!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

Suddenly, Fukuro charged straight towards Hinata.

"Huh?" asked the kunoichi.

Immediately, he began to swallow her as well.

"Aaugh!" bellowed Hinata.

"Hinata!" screeched Natsu.

This time, it was Natsu to the rescue.

"Thanks...you were right, Natsu. That was wrong on so many levels." noted the kunoichi.

"This owlman is sick...and I'm just returning the favor." answered Natsu.

Immediately, Fukuro summoned some more owls to attack Natsu and Hinata, who began to peck and claw at them.

"Ugh!" bellowed Natsu.

"Agh!" exclaimed Hinata. One of the owls had hit her in the Byakugan's blind spot.

How she hated that blind spot. Ninjas always seemed to take advantage of it these days.

Fortunately, Hinata quickly set herself and Natsu on fire in order to prevent the owls from doing them any more harm.

Sighing, Fukuro realized that he was going to have try a different tactic.

"Let me think..." he thought.

However, Hinata and Natsu were not amused that he had tried to eat them both, and they both punched him and sent him flying to interrupt his train of thought, causing him to grunt in pain.

Slowly, he helped himself back to his feet.

Unfortunately, it appeared that eating Hinata had allowed him to use her Gentle Fist technique, and he immediately punched Hinata and Natsu aside.

"Darn it! He's got my Gentle Fist technique too..." noted the kunoichi.

Personally, she wished that she was immune to it like she was immune to Natsu's fire. But apparently, she couldn't have everything.

On the other hand, he didn't seem to have inherited her or Natsu's Byakugan.

"Right...let's finish this. We've got a rather destructive mission to do." stated Natsu.

"Of course." nodded Hinata.

_Meanwhile..._

Gray and Juvia were both singing on stage, unaware of the new enemy that was about to attack them.

"Wait...do you hear something?" asked Gray.

"I don't know...do you, Graykins?" inquired Juvia.

Suddenly, they were hit with a rather destructive blast of music.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"What the-" bellowed Juvia.

As it turned out, it was none other than Vidaldus Taka.

"Are you ready to rock?" asked the rock star.

"I...guess." answered Gray.

Immediately, Vidaldus Taka began to play some music on his guitar.

Suddenly, debris began to fall from the ceiling on top of Gray and Juvia, who leapt out of the way.

"This guy is loud." noted Gray.

He then followed by whipping Gray with his hair.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Hey! Nobody does that to my precious Gray!" screeched Juvia.

Unfortunately, Vidaldus was able to use his hair to protect himself from Juvia's water attacks.

"Hmm...maybe I should try using my three-armed punch or my three-legged kick instead." noted the water mage.

Then again, he might be able to protect himself from those attacks as well.

In retaliation, Vidaldus whacked Juvia on the head with his guitar.

"Ow! My head!" screamed the water mage.

"He's one powerful musician." noted Gray. He'd probably be attending one of his concerts if he wasn't trying to assassinate them like the assassin he was.

"It's time for you to face the music!" exclaimed Vidaldus.

"Very funny." answered Gray.

Immediately, he tossed some icicles at the evil rock star, who narrowly avoided them.

However, he found himself being punched in the face by Juvia three different times from his trouble.

"Ouch! Don't you appreciate music?" asked Vidaldus.

"I don't when people are trying to kill my boyfriend." explained Juvia.

"Hmph." answered the rock star.

Playing another song on his guitar, she suddenly began to feel rather sleepy.

"Gray...I'm feeling really tired. Can I enter your body and rest?" asked the water mage.

"Um...sure." answered the ice mage.

Juvia immediately entered Gray's body, causing Vidaldus to gasp in shock. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting.

Gray then began to lunge at Vidaldus Taka, using Juvia's extra sets of arms to use multiple ice weapons at once.

This proved to be rather effective, as Vidaldus was stabbed and slashed a few different times.

"Yeowch! That was so uncool!" exclaimed the rock star.

"I found it to be quite cool, actually." answered Gray.

"Well, it was an ice attack..." noted Vidaldus Taka.

"Yeah..." nodded the ice mage.

Vidaldus attempted to whip Gray with his hair once again, but this time Juvia protected Gray using her Rashomon gate.

"How'd you summon that? That was groovy!" bellowed the musician.

"Let's just say that I did a bit of a magical experiment..." noted Juvia.

"I happen to know somebody that experiments all the time..." acknowledged Vidaldus.

"That might explain the sewer mutant." acknowledged the water mage.

No longer feeling sleepy, Juvia separated herself from Gray.

She then imprisoned Vidaldus in a bubble.

"Let me out of here!" exclaimed the rock star.

"Since you're a psycho that has an unhealthy obsession with your own guitar, I have to say no." answered Juvia.

Already, the lack of oxygen in the bubble was starting to take effect.

"I'm...not going to...lose..." murmured the rock star.

"Do we have him?" asked Gray.

"Give it a few minutes." explained Juvia.

"No...this is not...my fate." answered Vidaldus.

Suddenly, he whacked the bubble with his guitar...

...and it burst immediately.

He then began to gasp for air.

Juvia sighed. For a moment, she thought that she had him.

Not only that, but he was once again free to attack.

Playing another song on his guitar, Gray and Juvia were sent flying against the wall, knocking the breath out of them.

"How about a round of applause!" exclaimed the guitarist.

"No." answered Juvia.

"Very well. How would you like to be in the spotlight?" asked the rock star.

"Huh?" inquired Gray.

Suddenly, a spotlight fell from the ceiling and crashed on top of his head, causing him to gasp in shock.

"Gray!" screeched Juvia.

Unfortunately, he could no longer see Vidaldus, meaning he could no longer attack him.

Immediately, he began to run around the room in a panic, causing him to chuckle.

"Let's see you try to put me on ice now!" exclaimed the rock star.

"I guess it's up to me." noted Juvia.

Immediately, she began to enter Vidaldus's body.

"Hey! That's my body!" exclaimed the guitarist.

Quickly, he whacked Juvia on the head with his guitar...

...only to hurt himself as well.

"What's going on?!" bellowed Vidaldus.

"You're lucky I can't merge with your body at a cellular level...otherwise you'd be in deep trouble." noted Juvia.

"Er, yeah..." nodded the rock star.

Personally, he found Juvia's abilities to be rather disturbing.

_Meanwhile..._

Kimimaro was starting to wish for a challenge. Sure, there were a lot of zealots and guards in a tower...but he felt like he could take on an army.

"Is there anyone than can give me a challenge?" asked Kimimaro.

On cue, Ikaruga arrived on the scene.

"That's better." stated the bone ninja.

Immediately, she pulled out a sword.

"You know...you look a lot like Setsuna." noted the bone ninja.

"Whose Setsuna?" asked Ikaruga.

"She happens to be the leader of a group of bandits...she also have an apprentice by the name of Chihiro." explained Kimimaro.

"Does she now?" inquired the samurai.

"You?" asked the ninja.

"I happen to be the leader of a group of mercenaries by the name of Trinity Raven...I sent my comrades Fukuro and Vidaldus to deal with the intruders as we speak." explained Ikaruga.

"Alright then." nodded Kimimaro.

"In the meantime, you'll be dealing with me." stated the swordswoman.

"Sure..." answered the Kaguya clan member. Finally he was going to get to test out his abilities to their limits.

"By the way, you shouldn't take off your shirt in public. That's just plain rude." noted Ikaruga.

"I do that whenever I enter a battle." explained Kimimaro.

Ikaruga sighed.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" asked the mage.

"I'm chaste, thanks. I just don't want my shirt to have holes in them, that's all. That's how my bone jutsu typically work." answered the bone ninja.

"I...see." acknowledged Ikaruga.

Immediately, she lunged towards Kimimaro, who blocked it with a bone sword.

Unfortunately, she was able to break it.

"I'm starting to wonder if I should have been careful what I wished for." noted the bone ninja.

He was starting to wish that he still had his Seal Of Heaven...then again, it did corrupt his mind and make him violent. Besides, being bitten by Orochimaru hurt.

Immediately, he turned his arm into a drill and began to attack Ikaruga.

However, she began to cut through the bone drill as well.

"What is that sword made out of?" inquired Kimimaro.

"One of the strongest metals in the world." answered Ikaruga.

"Sheesh!" exclaimed the bone ninja.

"If I were you I'd give up...I haven't lost a single battle." suggested the samurai.

"Well, I typically win most of my fights. My old master said that I was a one-man army." noted Kimimaro.

"Are you now? Good, I want a challenge." answered Ikaruga.

"So do I." stated the bone ninja.

"Then I'm looking forward to this." said the leader of Trinity Raven.

Immediately, Ikaruga cut through Kimimaro's bone drill.

Deciding to attack her from a distance, Kimimaro leapt away and began to shoot bones from his fingertips.

However, Ikaruga was able to slash each and every one of the bones before they reached her.

"I'm impressed." noted Kimimaro. Something told him that Orochimaru would be very happy to have her in his army, even if she wasn't actually a ninja.

Ikaruga then followed by casting a fire spell, which Kimimaro barely avoided.

In retaliation, he decided it was time to start fighting defensively.

"Time for the Dance Of The Larch." he thought.

Immediately, he began to use his bones to defend himself.

Ikaruga tried slashing him again...

...only to end up hurting herself.

"Gah!" exclaimed the samurai.

"Looks like I've wounded you." noted Kimimaro.

"Relax...I'm not bleeding that much. I wonder if I should try learning a technique like that." acknowledged Ikaruga.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro couldn't use his bones to defend himself forever, and they receded back into his body.

"Now then, where were we?" asked the samurai.

Snapping her fingers, two samurai appeared to back her up.

"You're summoning samurai now?" inquired Kimimaro.

"I found a scroll in the Tower Of Heaven...so yes!" exclaimed Ikaruga.

"Two can play at that game." answered the bone ninja.

Immediately, he summoned a Tyrannosaurus Rex to attack Ikaruga, who quickly devoured the samurai before they hit Kimimaro with their swords.

However, Ikaruga slashed him to ribbons shortly afterwards.

"Back to the fossil exhibit you go." said the samurai.

Kimimaro sighed. Ikaruga was proving to be a powerful opponent, even if they did seem to be equally matched.

Shrugging, he decided to continue fighting. The longer he held her off, the better. Wouldn't want her to try attacking his friends. They did save his life, after all.

"If I still had my illness, I might be dead by now." thought Kimimaro.

Getting a bit desperate, Kimimaro decided to shoot some spikes out of the ground in order to catch Ikaruga by surprise...

...but she dodged every single one of them.

"Why is this so difficult?" pondered the bone ninja.

Shrugging, he decided to see if he could catch her by surprise by attacking her from one of the bones...

...but Ikaruga quickly blocked with her sword.

"Isn't this an exciting swordfight." murmured the samurai.

"Yes, it is." nodded Kimimaro.

How exactly did Ikaruga get so strong?

_Meanwhile..._

"So, do we have all the slaves?" asked Sakura.

"I think so, yes." nodded Gajeel.

Immediately, the two of them began to leave along with the slaves.

However, they couldn't help but shake the feeling that someone was nearby.

"Now who is it?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Probably one of those stupid guards." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Gajeel turned out to be wrong.

Suddenly, the slaves found themselves trapped inside some cards, much to Gajeel and Sakura's surprise.

"What's going on?!" exclaimed Sakura.

"The slaves! They're trapped!" bellowed Gajeel.

Curiously, they began to hear the sound of a deck shuffling.

As it turned out, it was none other than Sho.

"So...you're the one trying to free the slaves...I'll have you know that I was a slave here once myself." noted the card mage.

"Let the slaves go!" demanded Sakura.

"I suppose I'll do that...if you defeat me." answered the blonde.

"Bring it on, joker!" bellowed Gajeel.

Immediately, he went over to punch Sho in the face...

...only to find himself trapped in a card as well.

"Let me out of here!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Curious, Sakura picked up the card Gajeel was imprisoned in.

"How do I get you out of there?" asked Sakura.

Gajeel shrugged.

Curious, Sakura began to use her chakra, causing the card to begin to expand.

"Well, that's a good sign." noted the kunoichi.

However, Sho was attacking Sakura as well, hurling playing cards in her direction.

In retaliation, she formed a shield of ice around herself.

She then followed by dropping an icy chandelier on top of Sho, who narrowly avoided it.

"Good lord...that could have crushed me." thought Sho.

Immediately, he tossed a Joker card at Sakura.

"Hmm?" asked Sakura.

A clown suddenly appeared, and hurled a pie at her face.

"Aargh! I can't see! Well, at least it's my favorite flavor." exclaimed the kunoichi, licking her face.

This gave Sho the opportunity to attack, causing Sakura to receive some cuts, one of which was bleeding.

"Who designs razor sharp cards like these? I know that I wouldn't want to play with them." noted Sakura.

"It would make one killer poker game." acknowledged Gajeel.

Immediately, he began to struggle free, and one of his arms burst from the card.

"Speaking of poker, I have a royal flush." noted Sho.

"A royal flush?" asked Sakura.

Suddenly, a toilet fell from the sky and landed on her head.

"Owww!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"I...actually wasn't expecting that." noted Sho.

"Seriously?" asked Sakura.

Immediately, she used a healing jutsu to heal her injuries, since she now had a throbbing headache.

"I can't believe I got crushed by a toilet..." murmured the kunoichi.

At this point, Gajeel had managed to work both of his arms free.

"Let's see what I've got now...hmm...it looks like I have a full house." noted Sho.

SUre enough, a house appeared.

Shrugging, Sakura went inside the house to see what she could find...

...she ended up finding a vase, which she threw at Sho as hard as she could.

"Well, this didn't do me any favors..." acknowledged the card mage.

At this point, Gajeel had broken free.

"Let's see what else I've got..." noted Sho.

Curious, he noticed that he had five pairs of clubs.

Sure enough, a club appeared in his hand.

However, Sakura created an ice club and knocked it away from his reach.

Sighing, Sho decided to pull out another pair of cards.

This time, he had five pairs of spades, and a spade appeared in his hand.

"Great, now I can use that to dig your grave." noted Gajeel.

"Very funny." answered Sho.

Sakura created an ice cannon to blast Sho, and knocked the spade out of his hand as well.

Sighing, Sho pulled out five pairs of hearts.

Immediately, he began to heal himself. Unfortunately, he wasn't injured at the moment, so this didn't do any good.

Sakura blasted him in the face with her ice cannon shortly afterwards, causing him to scream.

"All that's left now is to try using diamonds..." noted Sho.

This time, his cards actually proved to be effective, as Sakura was trapped inside a diamond.

Grunting in frustration, she began pounding against it.

"Well, I'll just take these prisoners back to their ce-"

Suddenly, he found himself being punched in the face by Gajeel.

"Now it's my turn!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

Of course, he had managed to break free of the card.

Not only that, but cracks were beginning to appear in the diamond, due to how strong Sakura and her fists were.

Sho sighed. Things weren't going to be that simple, were they?

_Elsewhere..._

"So...did we take care of the reinforcements?" asked Levy.

"I think our job is done." answered Droy.

Suddenly, someone began shooting at them.

"Huh?" inquired Jet.

It was none other than Wally Buchanan.

"Say hello to my little friend!" exclaimed the brickman.

"Where is your little friend?" asked Jet.

Curious, he began to look around for his "little friend".

"I meant my gun..." explained Wally.

"Why would you be friends with your own gun?" questioned Levy.

Wally shrugged.

Immediately, he continued shooting.

Fortunately, Droy was able to take the gun away from Wally using his vines.

"Give that back!" demanded the former slave.

Droy refused.

"Alright then..." answered Wally.

Immediately, he teleported towards Droy and hit him on the head with a brick.

"Ouch!" bellowed the plant mage.

He then took the gun out of his hands and teleported away from the trio shortly afterwards.

Droy sighed. He hoped that he would gain an advantage by disarming his opponent.

This was then followed by Wally shooting Droy with a bullet in order to make him fall asleep.

"So...much food..." murmured Droy.

"Droy, wake up!" ordered Jet.

"This is no time to be sleeping! You're going to get yourself killed!" exclaimed Levy.

Unfortunately, Droy remained asleep.

Casting another spell, he began to build some Legomen.

Levy sighed. This wasn't going to be fun.

Sure enough, the Legomen began to pull out some hammers.

"We're going to get hammered!" screamed Levy.

"I wish you would hammer me..." stated Jet.

"What?" asked the letter mage.

"Never mind." answered the speed mage.

Sure enough, the Legomen were trying to do just that. Not only that, but they were building even more Legomen.

It was only a matter of time before they would be outnumbered.

"We have to do something!" exclaimed Jet.

"Unfortunately, I don't think I can strangle them...though maybe I can make their heads pop off." noted Levy.

Immediately, she wrote down the word "Guard" to protect the trio from assault.

However, the barrier wasn't going to last forever, as the Legomen kept pounding at it.

Thus, Levy decided to whip another spell.

This time, she wrote down the word "Water."

Immediately, the Legomen fell apart brick by brick, and they were washed away.

Wally Buchanan frowned. Now he was going to have to use up more of his precious magic to build more Legomen.

Or...maybe he could try building something else?

Immediately, he began to build a pirate ship.

"Uh-oh..." murmured Jet.

Shortly afterwards, the pirate ship began to shoot cannonballs at them.

"Good thing we still have this shield..." noted Levy.

At that very moment, Droy woke up from his forced slumber.

"Thank goodness you're awake!" exclaimed the letter mage.

"Why did I suddenly go to sleep?" inquired Droy.

"You got shot by a bullet...a sedation bullet." explained Levy.

"Oh." acknowledged the plant mage.

Immediately, Levy wrote down the word "Fire" to burn the pirate ship.

However, their shield had been completely destroyed, and they were once again vulnerable to assault.

This was quickly followed by Wally Buchanan firing more bullets in rapid succession.

"Sheesh...I haven't seen this good of a shot since Alzack and Bisca." noted Levy.

"I'm with you there." nodded Droy.

"I wish I brought a bulletproof vest..." stated Jet.

Come to think of it...weren't there bulletproof vests in the locker room? Makarov did warn them that one of these days they might be attacked by gunmen.

Alzack and Bisca typically wore them during training so that they didn't accidentally wound each other...though they were such good shots they were hardly ever needed by them.

Jet ran towards Wally Buchanan, charging at him and knocking him down.

"Oof!" bellowed Wally.

"No more playing with guns!" demanded Jet.

"You think you're fast, huh? I guess I need to slow you down..." noted the polygon mage.

Immediately, he cast his Polygon Sphere spell to pin down Jet's legs.

"Can't...move..." murmured the speed mage.

"Let's see you run now." stated Wally.

Levy frantically began to write down a word to free Jet...

...only for Wally to shoot her pen out of her hand.

"Oh no..." thought the letter mage.

He then followed by shooting Droy in the face.

"Aargh!" screamed the plant mage.

"Headshot!" bellowed Wally.

Immediately, he took out a cigarette and began to smoke it.

"Isn't smoking bad for you?" inquired Levy.

"What? I know a good doctor!" bellowed Wally.

"OK..." answered the letter mage. Personally she thought that cigarettes stunk.

"I hope that it isn't marijuana..." murmured Jet.

"It's tobacco. I don't want to get high." answered the polygon mage.

Levy and Jet shrugged.

_Elsewhere outside the tower..._

"Well, I think we've done a good job." noted Happy.

"You think we should regroup with Shikamaru?" asked Ino.

"I'm looking forward to it!" exclaimed Choji.

However, at that very moment, Millianna arrived on the scene.

Happy gasped in shock.

"What's the matter?" asked Ino.

"It's the girl who catnapped me!" bellowed the Exceed.

"It is? This can't be good." answered Choji.

Immediately, Millianna wrapped up the three using her Nekosoku Tubes.

"I'm really not into this." stated Ino.

Choji began to blush.

"Don't tell me I'm getting catnapped again!" exclaimed Happy.

"I'm so happy to see you again!" bellowed Millianna.

"Oddly enough, Happy happens to be my name." noted the Exceed.

"I was worried that I lost you!" exclaimed the catgirl.

"I was worried that I was going to run into you again." stated Happy.

"I'm going to take you home with me!" bellowed Millianna.

"Noooooo!" screamed the Exceed.

"Not if we have anything to say about it." answered Choji.

Immediately, Choji used his body expansion technique to free himself.

He then freed Ino as well.

"What's this? You must be some of the intruders I've heard about. I guess I'll have to take you out...meow!" exclaimed Millianna.

Immediately, she began to claw Choji and Ino in the face, causing them both to scream.

"My face is bleeding..." said Choji.

"My face too..." spoke Ino.

At that very moment, the audience members that had been watching them earlier began to cheer Millianna on.

They always did enjoy a good fight.

Immediately, Ino charged towards the catgirl and gave her a powerful kick, knocking her off the stage.

"Boooo!" bellowed the audience members.

Ino let out a sigh. She was hoping that there would be an audience to cheer her on...but apparently not.

On the other hand, they appeared to be looking forward to...well, a catfight.

"Meow! Good thing I still have eight lives left!" noted Millianna.

"I don't want to spend any of my lives with you..." answered Happy.

Once again, Ino found herself being clawed at.

However, Choji used Droy's plant magic to bind Millianna's arms together, who began trying to break free.

"I hate irony..." thought the catgirl. Apparently, she wasn't the only one that could use binding magic.

Choji then followed up by using his Butterfly Bullet Bombing technique on Millianna.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the catgirl.

Unfortunately, Millianna was a bit more resilient than Jirobo was, and it wasn't enough to finish the fight.

"Darn it! Now I only have six lives left..." thought the former slave.

Suddenly, she spat out a hairball.

"It must have been something I ate." spoke Millianna.

"Yeah, I know how that feels." answered Happy.

Suddenly, the catgirl grabbed onto Happy and squeezed the life out of him.

"I just can't stop looking at you!" exclaimed the catgirl.

"Aaugh!" screamed Happy. Millianna was hugging him way too tightly.

This was not good news for Choji and Ino, as they of course were her opponents.

"What do we do, Ino? She's got a hostage!" exclaimed the chubby ninja.

Sure enough, though she happened to be occupied at the moment, Choji could not use a jutsu on Millianna without harming Happy.

"Hmm..." thought Ino. Surely there was something that they could do, right? She didn't want to surrender simply because one of her friends happened to be in danger.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

"I know!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Using her Mind Transfer Jutsu, she was able to swap minds with Millianna, forcing her to let go of Happy.

Once he was a safe distance from Millianna, she dispelled the jutsu.

"Thank you! You are my heroine!" exclaimed Happy, hugging Ino tightly.

"Darn it! Now I'm having trouble breathing..." murmured Ino. Thankfully, Happy wasn't particularly strong, though his strength was a bit surprising for a cat.

"You took my Happykins away from me!" screeched Millianna.

"But he didn't want to be with you..." pointed out the psychic kunoichi.

Angry at her new nemesis, she placed a cat mask on Ino's head.

"I can't see!" bellowed Ino.

She then followed by punching her several different times.

"Ino!" exclaimed Choji.

"I wish I had nine lives..." remarked the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, this had the side effect of making Choji angry...and one would not like Choji when he was angry.

Immediately, he began to make himself taller.

Eventually, he became giant.

"Uh-oh..." thought Millianna.

Suddenly, she found herself running away from a giant Choji.

In the process, she bumped into Wally, causing him to blush.

"Hey, baby..." murmured the brick man.

"Um..." answered Millianna.

She ran back to where she was a few minutes later, much to his disappointment.

"How did Choji get so huge?" inquired Droy.

"I don't know." shrugged Jet.

"People sure grow up fast these days." acknowledged Levy.

_Meanwhile..._

Dr. Usagi returned a few minutes after he had taken Naruto to his laboratory. Oddly enough, he had a wide smile on his face.

"Yes?" asked Jellal.

"Guess vhat, Meister Jellal?" inquired the mad scientist.

"What?" inquired the space mage.

"Ve don't need ze girl! Ve can use him as a sacrifice instead!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"What? We can?" asked Jellal.

The two demons raised their eyebrows.

"Yes, ve can! He is strong enough...though I vill admit that he doesn't seem to be a sorceror..." noted the scientist.

The black demon raised his hands in the air while the red demon high-fived Dr. Usagi.

"I thought you needed Erza..." inquired Naruto curiously.

"I thought I soundproofed zat barrel...and ve do not need her anymore. I thought I already explained zat." questioned Dr. Usagi.

"I...may have tampered with the barrel a bit. And...oh, right." noted the chunin.

"Tamper vith it all you vant! In a few minutes you shall be a opfergabe!" exclaimed the scientist.

"It's been a nice life." sighed Naruto.

Suddenly, they began to hear a noise.

"Do you hear something?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"I have a bad feeling who it is." answered Jellal.

The two demons immediately readied themselves.

Sure enough, Jellal's hunch was right.

Immediately, Erza blew open the door using the rocket launcher Avenger had "generously" provided.

She looked rather angry.

"Give me back Naruto!" bellowed Erza.

"Erza! You came to save me! Yes!" cheered Naruto.

"Yes, I did." answered the knight.

"Erza, what a lovely surprise!" exclaimed Jellal.

"Give me back the boy and nobody will get hurt." stated the knight.

"About that...I think you're a bit outnumbered here." said the space mage.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

Looking around, she noticed that not only was Jellal present, Dr. Usagi was present as well...and so were two fearsome-looking demons.

Apparently, they were his bodyguards, as they had quickly surrounded Jellal to protect him from Erza's blades.

"I may be in trouble here." noted the S-Class mage.

"You're actually free to go, Erza. You see, we don't actually need you as a sacrifice anymore." explained Jellal.

"You don't?" inquired Erza.

"We can just use your friend Naruto instead." answered the space mage.

Naruto gulped.

Erza was not happy about this at all.

"I'll let you sacrifice Naruto over my dead body, Jellal!" screeched Erza.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. It was good to see Erza was there for him.

Suddenly, Dr. Usagi pressed a button.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

Shortly afterwards, a trapdoor opened underneath her, causing her to fall in.

"Aah!" bellowed the knight.

"Erza! Noooo!" screamed Naruto.

Jellal immediately glared at Dr. Usagi.

"Vhat? How could I resist after a quote like zat?" inquired the mad scientist.

"Where does that trapdoor lead to? Does it lead to a spike pit?" questioned Jellal.

"A shark tank, actually. I figured zat zhey vere hungry." explained Dr. Usagi.

"Dr. Usagi, did it occur to you that we might need another sacrifice in case something goes wrong?" asked the space mage.

"Zat...may have slipped my mind." answered the scientist.

Jellal sighed. Dr. Usagi may be an evil genius...but at the same time, he could be very dumb.

Sure enough, Erza hit the water with a splash.

"Well, this is going to be a rather interesting last swim." noted the knight.

Shrugging, she decided to requip into her sarashi and fundoshi so that she could enjoy the last few minutes of her life as best as she could.

However, much to her surprise...the sharks did not seem to be attacking her at all.

"Huh. I was expecting them to be more vicious. Oh well." shrugged Erza.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi handed Jellal a bell.

"I vas going to use zis so zat I could listen to her scream...but you probably need it more zan I do." noted the mad scientist.

"Um...thanks." answered the space mage.

Shrugging, he decided to use the bell to check to see if Erza was still alive.

This was more or less confirmed when Erza punched the bell as hard as she could.

"Is she still in ze world of ze living?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"Definitely." answered Jellal.

"Thank god!" bellowed Naruto.

"Vhat do ve do now?" inquired the mad scientist.

"Well, she's most likely going to try to prevent us from sacrificing Naruto...so I suppose we should send someone to keep her busy. Any volunteers?" inquired the space mage.

The black demon raised his left hand.

"Hmm? You want to battle Erza? Knock yourself out, I suppose." noted Jellal.

Immediately, the black demon left to go hunt down Erza.

"Of course, we're also going to need someone to take Naruto to the altar so that we can sacrifice him." acknowledged the space mage.

The red demon raised her right hand.

"You want to bring Naruto to the altar? Alright then..." said Jellal.

Wasting no time, the red demon picked up the metal barrel Naruto was trapped in and began to take him to the altar.

"Vell, is everything settled?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"Yes. Why don't you run along now and do one of your experiments. I know how much you love them." answered Jellal.

"You know me vay too vell!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

"I know your kind. Always experimenting on biological lifeforms and all that." said the space mage.

"I have other hobbies zan zat! I like to walk my dog!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Your dog?" asked Jellal.

"My mutated dog!" bellowed the scientist.

Jellal shrugged.

"I'll see you later zen! Auf Wiedersehen!" parted the mad doctor.

"Auf Wiedersehen to you too." answered the space mage.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi left to go work on a science experiment.

"I suppose I'll head to the altar myself so that the final preparations will be complete." said Jellal.

Casting a teleportation spell, he headed straight towards to the top of the tower.

_Oh dear...it looks like Jellal's decided to stop playing games with Erza...he's sent one of his demons after her to prevent her from rescuing Naruto._

_Is he going to get sacrificed? And how will Naruto's friends fare off against his forces?_

_Find out in the next chapter!_

_Auf Wiedersehen...heh heh heh. See what I did there? Not like I'm trying to be offensive to Germans or anything...I don't happen to be French anyway._


	43. Chapter 43: Unison Raids

Ninja Tail 43

_In this chapter, well...our heroes are going to defeat Jellal's minions. Most of them anyway. Oh, and Chiyoye's going to begin to make her move..._

_Mind you...there's going to be character deaths in this chapter. Not on our heroes' side mind you...you might feel sorry for some of the characters nonetheless considering whose going to be killing them._

_If you're up to date in the fanfic, you can probably guess who._

**Chapter 43: Unison Raids**

Erza happily swam through the water. She had to admit, this was surprisingly enjoyable, even though she didn't swim often.

Of course, there were sharks in the water...but they didn't really pay much attention to her, so she figured maybe she shouldn't pay so much attention to them.

However, she couldn't help but think that she was forgetting something.

"What is it again?" asked the knight.

She then remembered about her friends.

"Oh, right. Our friends are in danger. I can't procrastinate. My guildmates are in danger, especially...Naruto." stated Erza.

Immediately, her eyes widened in shock.

"Aah! I can't procrastinate! I need to save him immediately!" bellowed the knight.

Fortunately, there was a ladder that she could use to exit the shark pool.

"You sure you don't want to stick around a bit longer?" asked a shark.

Erza blinked in surprise.

"Er, sorry...but I'm in a hurry. One of my comrades is in mortal peril!" exclaimed the S-Class Mage.

"Oh...good point. I'll see you later then." said the shark.

"Er, bye." answered Erza.

Wasting no time, she dried herself off with a towel and requiped her fundoshi into her flame pants.

"Right...since I'm in a hurry, I won't wear my heavy suit of armor. I don't usually use an armor like this...but I'll make an exception for Naruto." stated the knight.

Running as fast as she could, she looked for a way to get herself back to the tower.

Suddenly, the shark handed her a key.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

As it turned out, this was a key that she could use to head near the top of the Tower Of Heaven.

"This...is actually really convenient. Thank you." answered the knight.

However, she would need to make her way back to the entrance in order to use the elevator there. While it did shorten her trip quite a bit...she still had a way to go.

"Right...I'll look for a way out of here." said the S-Class Mage.

Suddenly, she noticed that the sharks seemed...worried about something.

"Hmm, that's not a good sign. I'll have to stay alert." answered Erza.

As she left, she failed to notice that the water where the sharks were was beginning to...bubble.

A few minutes later, she began to hear the sound of what appeared to be running.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

Something was definitely not right here.

Still wondering what was going on, she suddenly ducked as what appeared to be an unusually large knife emerged from the ceiling.

"What was that?!" exclaimed the knight.

Curious, she wondered if it was one of the guards, or the zealots...or even one of the robots.

...but she got the feeling that it was something much worse.

Sudddenly, the enormous knife reappeared, bursting through the floor.

"Again, what was that?!" bellowed Erza. She was starting to feel quite worried.

Sure enough, she noticed that there was an enormous elevator in sight.

She began to run through it, and not a moment too soon, as a paper bomb suddenly exploded a few feet away from her.

"A paper bomb?! I might be in serious danger here." said Erza.

Then again, when was the last time she wasn't in danger?

Curious, she went over to the elevator to see if she could use it to make a clean getaway.

Unfortunately, it would not start.

"What's going on here?" questioned the knight.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a sticky note attached to the elevator wall.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

Raising an eyebrow, she began to read it out loud.

"In order to use the elevator, slay the black demon. Please and thank you." read the knight.

"What black demon?! What are they talking about?!" inquired the S-Class Mage.

At that very moment, Jellal's black demon bodyguard climbed down from the ceiling.

"Oh...that black demon..." stated Erza.

All of a sudden, she was feeling very nervous.

"Right...no time to do this. I can panic. I mean I can do this. I have no time to panic." stated the knight.

Immediately, she pulled out her swords.

_Meanwhile..._

Jellal's red demon bodyguard happily took Naruto to the altar. She wasn't very far from it now.

In less than thirty minutes, he would be dead and Zeref would be brought back to life.

He would be very proud of Jellal...though she wondered why Zeref had chosen him in the first place.

Surely there were stronger mages out there, right? Then again, maybe he decided to choose someone at random.

However, she noticed that the barrel was beginning to shake.

Immediately, she raised an eyebrow.

The barrel began to shake even more vigorously.

This confused her even more.

Finally, Naruto jumped out of the metal barrel, causing her to drop her jaw in surprise.

"I'm free!" cheered Naruto.

The red demon was rather surprised at this occurrence. She wasn't expecting him to break free from the barrel.

Maybe it was less sturdy than Dr. Usagi had thought.

"Well, now to look for Erza and-

Quickly, the red demon tossed a fireball at Naruto, burning away his shirt.

"How many times is this going to happen to me?" asked the chunin.

At this rate, he was going to run out of shirts, and everyone was going to call him "The Barechested Ninja".

Then again, maybe they were already calling Kimimaro that.

Shrugging, he decided that he needed to fight.

"What key should I use?" asked Naruto.

Thankfully, he had recovered his keys since his fateful encounter with Clobberstein.

Shrugging, he decided to summon Scorpius.

"Can you help me? I'm up against a killer demon!" exclaimed the chunin.

"A killer demon? Those aren't my speciality. Have you ever considered summoning an angel?" asked the scorpion.

"I'm not sure if I can summon an angel..." noted Naruto.

"Well, maybe you should try it." suggested Scorpius.

Suddenly, the red demon shot another fireball.

"Sheesh! She's even feistier than my girlfriend." noted the scorpion.

"Yeah..." nodded Naruto.

The red demon then followed by casting a lightning spell. Oddly enough, the lightning bolt happened to be red.

"Um, can you please attack?" asked the chunin.

"Don't rush me!" exclaimed Scorpius.

Immediately, he began to whip up a sandstorm, hoping to blind the red demon.

Unfortunately, it appeared that she had senses much greater than a human, since she happened to be...well, a demon.

As thus, the sandstorm didn't affect her much.

In retaliation, she tossed another fireball at Scorpius, burning his tail.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the scorpion.

"Oh no!" bellowed Naruto.

She then followed by shooting an energy sphere from her tail.

"Gah!" screeched Scorpius.

Naruto gasped in shock.

"Naruto...you're going to have to do this without me." said the scorpion.

Immediately, he disappeared in a burst of yellow smoke.

Naruto sighed. Already his first summon was gone.

He was going to have to try again.

"What should I use this time?" asked the chunin.

Shrugging, he decided to summon Taurus.

"You mess with a bull, you get the horns!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, he began to summon another Celestial Spirit.

"Charge!" commanded the chunin.

Taurus immediately did so, plowing into the red demon with her horns.

Unfortunately, the red demon had a rather tough hide to protect herself from attacks.

He then followed by attacking her with his axe...

...only for the red demon to reduce the axe to ashes.

"My baby! No!" bellowed the minotaur.

The red demon then followed by breathing fire on Taurus, causing him to disappear into yellow smoke.

"I can't believe she's taking out my friends." noted Naruto.

He was starting to see why Jellal wanted this particular demon to be one of his two bodyguards...and why he had entrusted her to deliver Naruto the altar rather than just one of his regular minions.

"This is going to be a long fight." he thought.

Shrugging, he decided to fire his Rasengan...

...only for the red demon to use her shield to block it, much like she had done earlier when he had tried to attack Jellal.

"I thought I had her for a second." said Naruto.

Unfortunately, he did not.

In retaliation, the red demon shot another fireball at him.

"I'm not going back into that barrel!" exclaimed the chunin.

The red demon nodded.

"No, I'm not!" bellowed Naruto.

The red demon nodded again.

"I'm not!" screeched the former jinchuriki.

The red demon nodded once more.

"I'm not going to be a sacrifice!" screamed Naruto.

The red demon pressed a finger across her neck.

Naruto sighed.

_At Jellal's bedroom..._

"Is there any other of Naruto's abilities that I should note?" asked Lucy.

**"Well, he's rather proficient at wind jutsus..."** answered Kurama.

"Is he now?" inquired the kunoichi.

Curious, Lucy tried using Naruto's wind jutsu to empower her Rasengan.

This worked surprisingly well.

"It looks I've created a Wind Rasengan..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she tossed it at Simon, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the eyepatched mage.

"Did we defeat him?" asked Shikamaru.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Simon was still able to fight.

"You do happen to be strong, I will admit that...but I'm going to end this right here and there." said the darkness mage.

Suddenly, he shrouded the room in darkness.

"Where did he go?" asked Shikamaru.

He then followed by punching and kicking Shikamaru, causing him to scream.

"Shikamaru!" screeched Lucy.

"Aah!" shouted the shadow ninja.

Simon then followed by hitting Shikamaru with a darkness explosion spell.

"Shikamaru! No!" screamed the kunoichi.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he had been wounded by the assault.

"Lucy...don't give up..." murmured Shikamaru.

He then passed out.

Simon was satisfied by the results, and dispelled the darkness.

"Well, now to bring him to Jellal so that I-"

Suddenly, he noticed that Lucy was breathing rather...heavily.

"Huh?" thought the eyepatched mage.

She seemed rather...mad.

"I'll...I'll make you pay!" screeched Lucy.

**"Wait for it..."** said Kurama.

As it turned out, she was now harnessing Kurama's power.

Immediately, Naruto's trademark whiskers appeared on her face, and a shroud of orange chakra surrounded her.

"This can't be good." thought Simon.

Unfortunately for Simon, Lucy had activated her initial jinchuriki form.

Things were about to get very ugly.

Immediately, Simon tried surrounding the room with darkness again...

...only to discover that Lucy now had enhanced senses to go with her transformation.

"Oh no..." thought Simon.

Shortly afterwards, he found himself being savagely beaten by Lucy's whip.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the darkness mage.

"This is for Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy.

Unfortunately for Simon, there was nothing that he could to defend himself from such a vicious attack. Lucy was just too fast.

Eventually, Simon collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"Farewell!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Stop! I surrender!" screeched the darkness mage.

"Hmm?" inquired Lucy.

**"Don't listen to him! He'll just attack you from behind when your back is turned..." **warned Kurama.

All of a sudden, Lucy felt rather conflicted.

Should she give in to Kurama's impulses and finish Simon off? Or should she grant mercy and see what she has to say?

Shrugging, she decided that she didn't want to be an anti-hero...even if he did wound Shikamaru.

"Alright...let's see what you have to say." said Lucy.

Immediately, she dismissed Kurama's initial jinchuriki form, causing the whiskers to disappear.

Kurama let out a sigh.

"About that...I was planning on taking you to Jellal so that you two could stop him." answered Simon.

"Stop him? I thought you were on his side..." noted Lucy.

"I am on his side...I just figured maybe you could reason with him to stop this." explained the darkness mage.

"Oh." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"Of course...I got a bit carried away with your partner there..." stated the darkness mage.

"Yes...you did." answered Lucy.

"Don't worry about it though! I can just use one of Dr. Usagi's rejuvenation pods and then he'll be back to normal!" exclaimed Simon.

"Dr. Usagi?" asked the kunoichi.

"He's a mad scientist working under Jellal's employ. He's into genetic engineering and that kind of thing." explained the leader of Team Jellal.

"Oh...that explains the robots and the giant spider." noted Lucy.

"So...does it sound like a plan?" inquired Simon.

"Tempting...but at the moment, I need to help my friends. I think I'll take Shikamaru to our boat so that he can recover." said the kunoichi.

"Alright then." nodded the eyepatched mage.

"And thanks to you...I have the means to do it." stated Lucy.

"I'm sorry about what happened...I really am." answered the eyepatched mage.

"Just don't do it again." spoke the jinchuriki.

Once again, she activated Kurama's initial jinchurki form.

"Dang...this makes me feel powerful." noted Lucy.

**"I bet it does." **answered Kurama.

Fortunately, with her enhanced jinchuriki senses, she was able to determine where her friends were.

"Off, I go!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Immediately, she leapt her way out of the tower, carrying Shikamaru in the process.

_A few minutes later..._

"Lucy, is that you?" asked the shadow ninja as he woke up.

"Yes, it's me...as you can see, I just got a massive power boost." noted Lucy.

"Wow..." spoke Shikamaru.

"I'm sorry if I'm scaring you." answered the kunoichi.

"It's fine." answered the shadow ninja.

Immediately, he began to cough up blood.

"You'll be OK, right?" asked the jinchuriki.

"I think so." answered Shikamaru.

Lucy promptly hugged him, causing him to blush.

"I'll keep up the good fight. Don't worry about me." said the kunoichi.

"OK, OK." nodded Shikamaru.

Sure enough, she noticed that Ino and Choji were nearby, and so was Happy.

"Wow...Choji's grown huge." she thought.

Incidentally, he happened to be fighting somebody.

"Meow!" exclaimed Millianna.

"Well, it looks like they've got this in the bag." thought Lucy.

However, at that very moment, Millianna remembered something rather important.

"Wait...the bigger someone is...the harder they fall, right?" asked the catgirl.

Curious, she tried wrapping her Nekosoku Tubes around Choji's legs.

This worked surprisingly well.

Suddenly, Choji began to lose his balance...

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" exclaimed the Akimichi clan member.

Quickly, he fell to the ground, leaving a crater on impact.

And to make matters worse, he had fallen right on top of Ino, trapping her legs.

Ino began to blush.

Unfortunately, not only had Choji had fallen, he was unable to get up. He had taken quite a nasty fall.

"Looks like I win today. Meow!" exclaimed Millianna.

"Darn it! I thought I had her!" bellowed Choji.

"At least your stomach feels surprisingly good..." noted Ino.

Choji began to blush.

"Now I can have Happy all to myself!" squealed the catgirl.

"But I already have an owner! Two of them, in fact!" bellowed Happy.

"Make that three!" exclaimed Millianna.

Happy sighed. Would Natsu and Hinata manage to rescue him? Or would he never see them again?

However, help had arrived on the scene.

Suddenly, Lucy lunged towards Millianna with her whip.

"Huh?" asked the cat.

"This is for tying me up...though admittedly I didn't mind being tied to Shikamaru..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she began to whip Millianna into submission, causing her to screech.

It looked like Lucy had used up all of the catgirl's lives, and she was down for the count.

"Looks like I got here." stated the kunoichi.

**"I just love a good catfight." **remarked Kurama.

"But only one of us was a cat." pointed out Lucy.

Kurama sweatdropped.

"Thanks for helping us..." said Choji as he returned to his normal size.

"Without you, Happy would have been abducted." noted Ino.

"I don't want to be a dude in distress!" bellowed Happy.

"I bet you don't. Thankfully, I would imagine that I'd be hard to capture these days considering what my jinchuriki form is like." acknowledged Lucy.

"Oh yeah...darn, you look pretty strong all of a sudden." acknowledged the chubby ninja.

"You even have Naruto's whiskers!" exclaimed Ino.

"Really? Hmm...maybe I should try looking at myself in a mirror." noted the kunoichi.

**"I'm always looking at you." **answered Kurama.

"Is there anyone else that needs help?" asked Lucy.

"Well, Team Shadow Gear appears to be under attack by a giant LEGO robot." said Ino.

Happy screamed like a little girl.

"Why are you screaming like that? I thought you were a boy." questioned the kunoichi.

Happy shrugged.

Curious, Lucy decided to see if she could scream like a man...which she could.

"Whoa." thought the teenage girl.

Shrugging, she decided to help Team Shadow Gear next.

Fortunately, with her initial jinchuriki form, things were as easy as her, and Wally Buchanan collapsed on the floor.

"So...uncool..." murmured Wally.

"I feel like I can take on the world!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"About that..." **answered Kurama.

"Hmm?" asked the kunoichi.

**"You can't just use my chakra all day...in fact, there's only a limited amount of my chakra you have access to at the moment." **explained the nine-tailed fox.

Suddenly, her initial jinchuriki form wore off.

"Darn it!" bellowed Lucy.

All of a sudden, she felt rather exhausted.

**"If it's any consolation...you should be able to use more of my chakra as you continue fighting." **noted Kurama.

"So...this initial jinchuriki form is just a sign of what's to come?" asked Lucy.

Kurama nodded.

"I guess that's something to look forward to." acknowledged the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she decided to head back to the boat so that she could rest.

"If you can't find anything else...you can use my bed." stated Shikamaru.

Lucy began to blush.

Incidentally, she noticed that there was a bed right next to Shikamaru's.

Shrugging, she decided to sleep in that particular bed.

She was actually looking forward to using the nine-tailed fox's chakra again...

...though she was a bit worried that the nine-tailed fox would end up coming out.

_At the middle section of the tower..._

Natsu hit Fukuro with his Gentle Fist, sending him flying back a few feet.

"Do you think that you can defeat me?" asked the owlman.

Natsu and Hinata nodded.

"Well then...I'll have you know that I happen to know your weaknesses." stated Fukuro.

"Huh?" asked Natsu.

"Your weakness...is motion sickness!" exclaimed the owlman.

"Uh-oh." said Hinata. He was right on the jewels...or ryo. This was going to be very unpleasant.

Suddenly, two rockets emerged from his jetpack and grabbed onto Natsu and Hinata, spinning them around across the room.

"Whoa!" bellowed the male dragonslayer.

"This is bad." said the female dragonslayer.

Already, their heads were starting to spin.

After a few minutes of this, the two of them were dropped on the floor.

The results were evident. Natsu was feeling very dizzy while Hinata was beginning to vomit.

"Now I've gotcha!" bellowed Fukuro.

All of a sudden, Natsu and Hinata began to wonder what to do.

"I hope this isn't the end for us." stated the male dragonslayer.

"If he pulls that off again, it might be." noted Hinata.

Already, they were having trouble using their fire abilities. In fact, all they were producing was smoke.

"Are you going to surrender? Or do you need me to take you on another joyride?" inquired Fukuro.

"Please don't..." answered Natsu.

"The only thing that I can think of to do now is to try performing an Unison Raid...it seems our only chance at this point." noted Hinata.

"But our hearts need to be in sync..." questioned the male fire mage.

"Well, I suppose that since we're interdimensional partners...if there's anyone whose hearts are in sync...it's us." acknowledged the fire kunoichi.

"Good point." said Natsu.

Shrugging, the two of them grabbed each other's hands (causing them both to blush), and began to focus.

Hopefully this would work.

"You're not going to surrender? Alright then, you asked for this!" exclaimed Fukuro.

Immediately, he prepared to send them on another "joyride".

Suddenly, he noticed that something strange was happening...

...both of his opponents were glowing orange.

"Huh?" asked Fukuro.

Shortly afterwards, the two of them began to...fuse.

Wondering what was going on, he then gasped in shock.

Hinata and Natsu had succesfully performed a Unison Raid and had merged together into a two-headed dragon.

For the sakes of identification...this technique shall be referred to as the Dragon Merge.

The two-headed dragon in question happened to have a red head to represent Natsu and a blue head to represent Hinata. It also had an enormous pair of wings (though Hinata and Natsu weren't going to use the dragon to fly at the moment), and a rather large looking tail.

The head representing Natsu also had glowing red eyes and the head representing Hinata happened to have glowing blue eyes. It had also rather sharp-looking claws on all of its feet.

Due to the fact that the two unison raiders were of different gender, the dragon didn't seem to have any real gender itself.

To make a long story short, the dragon looked quite fearsome, and Fukuro was completely and utterly terrified...as he probably should be.

"Wow! It actually worked!" bellowed Natsu from within the dragon's subconsciousness.

"I know! I feel so powerful!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Are you ready, Hinata?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

"I sure am!" nodded the female dragonslayer.

Together, they let out a fearsome roar that shook the entire room.

Fukuro began to gulp. This wasn't going to be fun. He had performed many assassinations before...but never had he been sent to assassinate a dragon.

Immediately, the dragon began to attack Fukuro, swiping at him with its claws.

Getting desperate, Fukuro tried taking Hinata and Natsu on a joyride again...

...but the dragon was too heavy for the rockets to lift.

With a swish of its tail, the two-headed dragon shattered the jetpacks in two, causing Fukuro to scream.

This was then followed by the wyvern breathing a destructive (and scorching hot) burst of fire.

Frantically, Fukuro began to run away.

However, he was too slow, and he was caught in the fire.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the owlman.

Immediately, he passed out on the spot.

"Did we win?" asked Natsu.

"I think so." answered Hinata.

Shortly afterwards, the two of them turned back to normal.

"Wow...it felt so strange sharing the same body with you. Then again, my friends Kiba and Akamaru share bodies all the time." noted the kunoichi.

"We didn't run into any problems though, so at least that was something." acknowledged Natsu.

"Yeah...it looks like we managed to defeat our attacker." nodded Hinata.

Sure enough, he was lying on the ground unconscious...and badly burned.

All of a sudden, the two of them began to feel rather exhausted. Using that unison raid had made them both feel rather exhausted.

Immediately, Natsu fell on the floor.

Hinata fell on him a few seconds later.

_Meanwhile..._

Forcing Juvia out of his body using an expulsion song, Vidaldus Taka decided to play another song in order to incapitate them.

"Let's see how you like this song..." said Vidaldus Taka.

Suddenly, Juvia found herself dancing uncontrollably.

"What's going on?" asked Gray.

"I can't stop dancing!" bellowed Juvia.

Frantically, Gray tried to help her...

...only to end up dancing with her instead.

"Now I've got you!" exclaimed Vidaldus Taka, smirking in satisfaction.

"What do we do? I don't think we can defeat him while we're dancing..." questioned Juvia.

"You're right...maybe we can't...or can we?" inquired Gray.

"Hmm?" asked the water mage.

"Now I have you! You're finished!" bellowed Vidaldus Taka.

"Hmm...maybe I should call this technique "The Dance Of Death." thought the rock star.

Suddenly, Juvia and Gray began to dance over to him.

"Huh?" asked Vidaldus.

Immediately, they began to step on his feet.

"Owww!" screamed the rock star.

They did it again...and again...and again...

Unable to endure the pain, Vidaldus Taka suddenly dropped his guitar.

This naturally returned Juvia and Gray back to normal.

However, he picked up the guitar shortly afterwards.

"Well, it looks like you've forced me to do this. It's time for me to play my favorite song..." stated Vidaldus.

"Your favorite song?" asked Juvia.

Suddenly, Vidaldus began to brainwash Juvia to do his bidding using his Rock Of Succubus song.

"What are y-"

Gray was then interrupted when Juvia was surrounded by purple magic.

"And I've got myself a love slave!" bellowed Vidaldus.

When the purple magic cleared, Juvia was now brainwashed and under his complete control.

Also, her skin had turned pale and she was dressed quite differently, wearing a purple corset that bore her midriff and a black pair of pants. Her shoes had completely disappeared.

"Can you use that song on me too?" asked Gray.

"I could do that and be on with it...but I'm straight." answered Vidaldus Taka.

"OK..." answered the devil slayer.

"Stupid sexy ice mage..." thought the rock star.

Immediately, he commanded Juvia to seize Gray, who began to blush.

"I have you now!" exclaimed Vidaldus Taka.

"I can't believe I'm being betrayed by my own comrade..." said the ice mage.

Surely there was something that he could to do to restore Juvia back to her normal self, but what could he do.

Vidaldus Taka began to play a requiem song. He did not have much time.

Suddenly, he remembered something that had occurred back when he had been hit by a gypsy's curse.

_"What's this?" asked the ice mage as he read his pamphlet._

_"As I've said before, your guild treated me like dirt...so for the next twenty-four hours, you can't wear a shirt." read Gray._

_Sure enough, Gray's shirt disappeared._

_"Oh well." answered the ice mage._

_Immediately, Juvia began to squeal._

"Hmm...I think I have an idea." said Gray.

Suddenly, he forced Juvia to release him, and began to take off his shoes.

"Hmm?" asked Vidaldus Taka.

While he was at it, he tossed them at Vidaldus's face, causing him to scream in pain. His mouth was beginning to bleed.

He then began to take off his shirt.

"Seize the boy! Again!" bellowed the rock star.

However, Juvia was no longer listening to his directions.

"C'mon! I don't have all day here!" exclaimed Vidaldus.

Taking a closer look, the rock star was noticing that Juvia was beginning to...drool.

"What is going on?" thought the musician.

Gray began to take his pants off as well, causing the brainwashed Juvia to squeal.

"Wait a minute..." murmured Vidaldus.

He then began to flirt with Juvia.

"Juvia, you are so hot...I cannot take my eyes off of you for the life of me..." stated the ice mage.

Juvia began to giggle.

"No no no!" bellowed the rock star.

Immediately, Gray kissed Juvia on the lips.

His plan had worked. Juvia immediately began to turn back to normal.

Vidaldus Taka gasped in shock. How had Gray managed to free her?

"What happened?" asked Juvia.

Curious, she noticed that Gray was in his underpants.

"I must be in heaven..." stated the water mage.

"Well, you are in the Tower Of Heaven." pointed out the ice mage.

"So what if you managed to free her? Big deal! I'll just brainwash you instead!" exclaimed Vidaldus.

Immediately, he pointed towards Gray and began to use his Rock Of Succubus song again.

However, Juvia was not going to let him hurt her precious Gray.

"I won't let you hurt him!" exclaimed the water mage.

Suddenly, Gray and Juvia both began to glow.

"Huh?" asked Vidaldus.

As it turned out, Hinata and Natsu were not the only ones that were going to pull off a Unison Raid.

For the sakes of identification, this unison raid will be referred to as "Maelstrom".

Suddenly, Vidaldus Taka found himself being bombarded by ice...and water droplets.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the rock star.

This was too much for his guitar, and it immediately shattered.

"Noooo!" bellowed Vidaldus Taka.

A few minutes later, he himself collapsed from the powerful spell.

"The fat lady has sung...for me." stated the rock star.

"We did it!" exclaimed Juvia.

"Yes, we did it." answered Gray.

"I'm pooped though..." noted the water mage.

"Let's go back to the boat then." stated the ice mage.

Fortunately, their unison raid had opened up what appeared to be an escape tunnel, so they could leave the tower whenever they wished...which was right now.

As they did so, Gray couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.

"Meh, it's probably nothing." thought the devil slayer.

_In the Tower Of Heaven dungeons..._

Gajeel lunged towards Sho, turning his arm into a club.

"You think you can trap me inside a card? Think again!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Frantically, Sho used a barrier of cards to protect himself.

However, Gajeel was able to slice through them.

He then followed by tossing knives at Sho, one of which hit him in the leg.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the card mage.

In retaliation, he began to shoot some playing cards at him.

However, Sakura was starting to break free.

"Just a few more minutes...and then I'll be out of here." stated the kunoichi.

Personally she wanted to help Gajeel so that nothing happened to him.

In the meantime, he was fighting Sho as best as he could.

"Try this!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, he used his Iron Dragon's Roar to knock Sho down on the floor.

"Aren't you a feisty one." noted Sho.

"You wouldn't expect anything less from an iron dragonslayer like me." acknowledged Gajeel.

"I suppose..." answered the card mage.

At that very moment, Sakura broke free from the diamond.

"You thought that that could hold me forever?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Oh, heck no..." answered Sho.

Immediately, Sakura began to form a snowman...

...a snowman that came to life.

"Merry Christmas!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

The snowman began to attack Sho, who frantically tried to avoid being walloped.

Sho tried attacking the snowman with cards...but he simply absorbed them through his body.

"Maybe you should try that with something that isn't made out of snow." noted Sakura.

Sho let out a sigh. If only he had some cards that he could use to create fire.

Where was he going to make a makeshift flamethrower?

Shrugging, he decided to pull out some cards to see what would happen.

Sure enough, a club appeared and hit the snowman in the face.

"Well, that seemed more effective..." noted Sho.

Shrugging, he wondered if he could encase the snowman in diamond.

However, when he tried to do so, Sakura punched him in the face, knocking out one of his teeth in the process.

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to visit the dentist!" exclaimed Sho.

"Is there a dentist here?" asked Sakura.

"No, there is not. We do have a doctor though." noted the card mage.

"What kind of doctor?" inquired Gajeel.

"An insane one. I don't think that he's actually been to medical school though..." stated the blonde.

"Oh dear." answered Sakura. It was a good thing Tsunade had given her a license...wouldn't want to be uncertified.

Curious, Sakura noticed that Gajeel looked to be a bit beat up.

"Are you OK?" asked Sakura.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" inquired Gajeel.

"If you want I can use a jutsu in order to heal you..." noted the kunoichi.

"Hmm? Alright, but I don't really need your help." acknowledged the iron dragonslayer.

"What about when you got trapped in a playing card?" questioned Sakura.

"Oh please! I broke out of that easily!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"Well, yeah, but still..." noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, Sakura began to heal Gajeel.

As they did so, something strange was beginning to happen.

"Hmm?" inquired Sakura.

As it turned out, they were about to perform an unison raid of their own...

Suddenly, the two of them both found themselves wearing some rather impressive-looking battle armor.

"What's going on?" questioned Sakura.

"Maybe it's an unison raid?" inquired Gajeel.

"It could be..." answered the pink-haired kunoichi.

For the sakes of identification, this unison raid will be referred to as "Knights Of The Dragonslayer Table".

Curious, they both noticed that they also had rather large swords in their hands.

"Well, I suppose we might as well use these..." noted Sakura.

Sho gulped.

Immediately, the two of them began to attack Sho with their swords, sending him flying and making him scream.

"All of a sudden this is too easy..." murmured Gajeel.

"I actually wasn't expecting this to happen." noted Sakura.

"Well, you did touch my hand..." acknowledged the iron dragonslayer.

"Who would have thought that our hearts were in sync?" questioned the kunoichi.

Gajeel shrugged.

Sho pulled out a white flag.

"You're surrendering? What a baby!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"I'm getting out of here!" bellowed Sho.

"Goodbye then." parted Sakura.

Sho fled for the hills.

They took off their suits of armor shortly afterwards.

"Well, that was an interesting battle." noted Sakura.

The slaves were released from their card prisons shortly afterward.

"Let's head back to the mainland!" bellowed one of the slaves.

"Of course..." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, the duo and the slaves began to evacuate the Tower Of Heaven.

_Elsewhere..._

Ikaruga and Kimimaro were both gasping for breath. So far, they seemed to be equally matched, though the former had the unfortunate tendency to break the latter's bone swords.

However, it looked like the battle was going to come to an end soon.

Why do you ask? Because Ikaruga was running out of magic and Kimimaro was running out of chakra.

They had both battled long and hard...but it looked like they were now going to see who was going to win.

"Right...let's finish this, shall we? I do believe that this battle has gone on long enough." noted Ikaruga.

"You do have a good point." nodded Kimimaro.

Immediately, the two of them began to charge at each other, both of them pulling out their swords.

They ran at each other as fast as they could, both of them trying to gain an advantage over the other.

Finally, they reached each other and began to slash.

However, it appeared that it didn't have any results.

"Hmm...nothing happened. Well, I guess we'll just have to try aga-"

Suddenly, Ikaruga began to grunt in pain.

As it turned out, Kimimaro had succesfully wounded her.

"What? How did I...lose?" asked the samurai.

Immediately, she collapsed on the floor.

"Well, it looks like your flawless record has come to an end." noted Kimimaro.

"How did I lose against you? You were no more than fifteen!" bellowed Ikaruga.

"Don't feel too bad about this...I'll have you know that I'm quite the prodigy." said the bone ninja.

"Well, that does makes things a bit better...but why couldn't I have won?" inquired the samurai.

"Well, believe me...there was a particular person that I would have loved to win against...but in the end, I just couldn't do it." noted Kimimaro.

"Who was it?" asked Ikaruga.

"Chiyoye Headstone." stated the bone ninja.

"What? You encountered her?" inquired the samurai.

"Yes." answered Kimimaro.

"How did you survive?!" bellowed Ikaruga.

"Believe me, I was very lucky. She couldn't drain me since I suffered from a terminal illness at the time." explained the bone ninja.

"A terminal illness?" asked the samurai.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. Fortunately, though it was beyond medical jutsu...it wasn't beyond magic." noted Kimimaro.

"Jutsu?" questioned Ikaruga.

"Let's just say that I'm from a faraway place..." stated the bone ninja.

Ikaruga raised an eyebrow. Then again, so was she. She happened to live on top of a mountain.

"Are you aware of all the things she's done?" asked the samurai.

"At some level, yes. She wiped out an entire town." answered Kimimaro.

"She's done more than that...she murdered her own parents!" exclaimed Ikaruga.

"She did?" asked the bone ninja.

_Chiyoye's parents were rather upset. They had to take their dog to the vet in order to put him to sleep._

_Why do you ask? He had simply gotten too old and he was suffering._

_Fortunately, he was no longer in pain._

_They had decided to bury him in their backyard, since they felt that he should have a proper burial like that._

_On the lighter side of things, Professor Fumbledore had returned their daughter to them...he said that she was proving to be a remarkable student._

_They explained what had happened while she was gone. Oddly enough, she didn't seem upset by it._

_Shrugging, they decided maybe she was silently mourning it rather than openly, unaware that she was developing sociopathic tendencies._

_They showed her to the grave where the dog was buried._

_"Let me know if you need anything." said Chiyoye's father._

_Unbeknownst to them, however, this was exactly what their daughter wanted._

_"They think he's gone for good, don't they? Oh...how I'll prove them wrong..." answered Chiyoye._

_Immediately, she brought the dog back from the dead...as a zombie._

_Curious, she noticed that he appeared to hunger for human flesh._

_She then got an idea._

_"Are you hungry? Alright then...why don't you go and help yourself...on my parents!" exclaimed the sorceress._

_The dog nodded, and immediately began to sniff them down._

_A few minutes later, Chiyoye began to hear the sound of screaming._

_She laughed in delight. Her plan had worked. Her parents were dead...and she had murdered them just for personal pleasure._

_Of course, she was going to have to think of something to tell her professor when he next paid her a visit._

_"I know! I'll say that they perished in a fire!" exclaimed the would-be sorceress._

_But in order to do that...she actually had to set her house on fire._

_Shrugging, she began to toss a few fireballs to see if it would do the trick...which it did._

_"Yes!" exclaimed the sorceress._

_There she was...at the age of ten...and she had already murdered her very own parents._

_This would only be a sign of what's to come..._

"She's even worse than I thought then..." noted Kimimaro.

Oddly enough, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that Chiyoye was closer than he thought she was...but he decided to keep those thoughts out of his head for the time being.

"Have a nice day then." parted the bone ninja.

"Goodbye." answered Ikaruga.

Ikaruga passed out on the floor.

Personally he thought it was nice of her to disclose such information...even if it somewhat disturbed him.

All the more reason to stop Chiyoye then. If she was willing to kill her own parents, then there was no telling how much more blood she was going to spill.

Since he was fresh out of chakra, he decided to head back to the boat to recover for the time being.

"Looks like my job is done." thought Kimimaro.

_Below the Tower Of Heaven..._

Erza attempted to slash away the black demon with her swords...but unfortunately, the demon blocked it using its tail...the blade at the end of it, to be precise.

"So that's where that blade was coming from..." noted Erza.

Unfortunately, this particular demon happened to be rather flexible.

Immediately, he tossed another paper bomb at Erza.

Curious, she tried requipping into a suit of armor to protect herself...

...but the demon immediately cut through it with the knife at the end of his tail.

She tried doing so again, but the demon was simply too fast. She couldn't attack him while she was wearing that heavy suit of armor.

Not only that, but the black demon wasn't having a hard time destroying them. She was surprised what his tail could cut through.

Realizing that Erza was now feeling rather exhausted, he then began to wag his finger at her.

"Stupid demon..." thought the knight.

Erza tried slashing the demon again, and this time she succeeded...

...or so she thought.

As it turned out, she had actually slashed a log...a log that curiously enough appeared to be black as ink.

"Huh?" asked Erza. Where did the demon go?

She then found herself being attacked by the bodyguard demon again a few minutes later, who was now shooting what appeared to be kunai from his fingertips.

Fortunately, Erza was able to block all the kunai with her swords using her rather fast reflexes.

Well, most of them. One of them hit her in the cheek, causing it to bleed a bit.

"He's a demon and a ninja...what a nasty combination." noted the knight. She actually reminded her a bit of Naruto himself, since he happened to be a ninja as well.

Well, not completely. He also happened to be a mage, since he was Lucy Heartfilia's interdimensional partner.

Personally, she was wondering where the other demon was. Wasn't there another demon with him?

She might have to deal with that demon too...assuming Jellal thought that she would be a match for her if she successfully slew one of his two bodyguards.

She then followed by kicking the demon to the ground and slashing it, causing it to bleed ichor.

Once again, the demon dove into the ceiling and began to attack her from above.

"Now he's trying to hide from me..." noted Erza.

However, this time she was ready.

As soon as the demon lowered his tail from the ceiling, she swung her swords and slashed at the tail, severing the blade part of it.

Screeching in pain, the black demon began to fire more paper bombs.

"Well, I don't have to worry about the knife anymore." noted Erza.

However, the demon was now attacking her much more aggressively, and she was having a harder time avoiding the paper bombs.

"Maybe it was good that I requipped into my sarashi when I did." thought the knight. She needed the extra mobility.

Suddenly, she remembered that Naruto was in danger again.

"I cannot...let him die!" exclaimed Erza.

This time, she punched the ceiling and caused the black demon to fall to the floor.

Before he could got to his feet, Erza stabbed him with her sword, causing him to scream in pain.

"This is for Naruto!" bellowed the knight.

The black demon let out a final screech as Erza cut him down, causing him to explode into black ichor.

"Well, one demon down...one left to go." noted the S-Class Mage.

Oddly enough, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that Naruto was fighting against the red demon as she spoke.

Then again, it was just a hunch.

"I need to get to him as soon as possible." acknowledged Erza.

However, it appeared that she was going to have to make her way back to the tower first.

"I'll get to him as soon as I can. If he dies before I get there...well, there's nothing I could have done." noted the knight.

Immediately, she boarded the elevator. As the note attached to it indicated, it was now completely operational.

"Well, that's a relief." noted Erza.

She hoped that she wasn't already too late to prevent Naruto from being sacrificed. She didn't want Zeref to return to life. His death magic would kill her instantly.

As the elevator headed upwards, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was a third party somehow involved in this.

Something...didn't seem quite right.

In fact, she began to feel a rather sinister presence lurking inside the tower.

"What exactly is going on?" questioned Erza.

Hopefully she was just imagining things.

Eventually, the elevator stopped.

Taking a deep breath, she began to walk out.

Curious, she noticed that there appeared to be a laboratory up ahead.

She didn't see a way around it...so she began to look at the sign in front of the door.

"Enter at your own peril. Past the metal door...unspeakable things will happen...that Fiore has never seen before...in Dr. Usagi's...lavatory?" inquired Erza.

As it turned out, she had made a reading mistake.

"Oh wait. It says Dr. Usagi's laboratory. Never mind. Inside the laboratory is the most evil scientist you have ever seen. His rocket launchers will blow you to smithereens! Sounds lovely." answered the knight sarcastically.

"There's gloom and doom when chemicals go boom in Dr. Usagi's Lab..." continued to read Erza.

Once again, she took a deep breath.

"If I'm going to rescue Naruto, I'm going to have to go through there." noted the knight.

Reluctantly, she entered the laboratory.

_Meanwhile..._

The red demon continued attacking Naruto with her magic.

Unfortunately, it appeared that his summons weren't doing any good. She was just too strong.

Not only that, but she knew quite some nifty spells. Naruto found himself forced to dodge fireball after fireball after fireball.

She just wouldn't relent.

At this rate, he was going to get captured again...and he really didn't want it to do so.

Suddenly, he remembered something important.

Erza was fighting to save him, wasn't she? She didn't want her efforts to go to naught.

"Right...I'm not going to give up." he thought.

This time, he decided to try something different.

Rather than simply summon another Celestial Spirit or use his Rasengan, he decided to use a different jutsu.

This time, he was going to try to create a Wind Rasengan.

Since wind was his natural affinity, it shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Thankfully, it was not.

"Here I go!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, he began to toss a Wind Rasengan at the red demon.

Once again, she used her barrier to defend herself...

...but this time, it broke.

Caught by surprise, she then found herself being whipped several times by Naruto's whip, causing her to screech.

He then followed by summoning some shadow clones to grab onto the red demon.

She immediately began to pelt them with her magic...but Naruto kept on summoning more of them.

Not only that, but he was summoning another celestial spirit.

"Aquarius, don't let me down!" bellowed Naruto.

"Why should I help you?" asked Aquarius.

"Do you like demons?" inquired the chunin.

"No, I don't...why?" answered the celestial spirit.

"Well, I happen to be facing one." explained Naruto.

"Oh..." comprehended Aquarius.

However, she was still reluctant to help Naruto.

"What's in it for me?" asked the water summon.

"I'll...give you a back rub." stated Naruto.

"Tempting...anything else?" inquired Aquarius.

"You can have my old goggles." said the chunin.

"Your goggles?" asked the water summon.

"I haven't worn them for ages...so you can have them." explained the chunin.

Immediately, he handed the goggles to Aquarius.

"Hmm...these actually look rather neat. Maybe I'll wear them when I'm swimming." answered the celestial spirit.

Suddenly, the red demon attacked Naruto with another lightning bolt spell.

"C'mon! You don't want me to die, do you? I'm going to get sacrificed and Zeref is going to be brought back from the dead!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Wait...did you say Zeref?" asked Aquarius.

Naruto nodded.

"That changes everything! I'll help!" bellowed the mermaid.

"Thank you...you are a wonderful Celestial Spirit...I'm glad that I was able to summon you." stated the teenage boy.

"Gee..." murmured Aquarius.

Sure enough, she began to attack the red demon bodyguard with a tidal wave, knocking her off her feet.

Naruto then followed by whipping the red demon repeatedly, causing her to screech.

He then finished her off with a Wind Rasengan, causing her to burst into black ichor.

"I'm not cleaning that up." stated Aquarius.

"Right...of course not." answered Naruto.

"So...is there anything else you want to do?" inquired the celestial spirit.

"Well, I was thinking about confronting Jellal...that's what Erza wanted to do. I sure hope that she makes it back here..." noted the chunin.

"Why wouldn't she?" asked Aquarius.

"Jellal sent one of his two demon bodyguards to attack her...in the meantime, I got stuck with the other one." said Naruto.

"Oh..." answered the celestial spirit.

"I guess it's time for me to go fight him." spoke the former jinchuriki.

Curious, he noticed that the red demon appeared to be taking him to a cathedral.

"Maybe that's where I need to go?" questioned Naruto.

"Don't ask me. You know this place better than I do." answered Aquarius.

"Right, of course." nodded the chunin.

"I'll be keeping the goggles." said Aquarius.

Naruto handed the goggles to Aquarius, and she disappeared in a burst of yellow light.

"It's time for me to go visit the one behind all this..." thought Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

Jellal was in a very bad mood. Not only had his friends (and the mercenaries he had hired) been defeated, but Naruto and Erza had slain his two demon bodyguards.

Now who was going to keep him safe from intruders?

Sighing, Jellal decided that he might as well prepare for the sacrifice.

By the looks of it, Naruto was trying to stop him and finish what Erza had started.

"How sweet..." thought the mage of darkness.

Nonetheless, it looked like he was going to have to dirty his own hands. He had the feeling that he was going to have to do some of the fighting himself, to be honest. Sure, his friends did succeed in bringing Erza to his tower...but from there she was beyond their control.

In fact, so was Naruto.

Of course, Simon did appear to be in as good health as ever (unlike the rest of his comrades)...but he got the feeling that he wasn't going to be much help to him.

He in fact wanted Jellal and Fairy Tail to make peace rather than to sacrifice Erza or Naruto to the lacrima...but he felt that making peace with them was going to be virtually impossible.

How else would he bring Zeref back? Sacrifice a virgin?

Curious, he noticed that Dr. Usagi was still experimenting in his laboratory, unaware that Jellal was running low on evil minions to do his bidding for him.

Suddenly, he noticed that Erza was entering the laboratory as well. By the looks of it, he was trying to reunite with Naruto.

"This isn't good...maybe I should warn him." thought Jellal.

However, at that particular moment, he needed to get ready for the sacrifice.

"Here goes nothing." he said.

Immediately, he teleported towards the sacrifice chamber.

"Let's see now..." said Jellal.

At that very moment, the lacrima crystal was inactive, as it was black as ink rather than cyan like he was hoping to be.

Thankfully, Dr. Usagi had an invention that he could use to power up the lacrima...but it would take some time to charge up. After all, it was full of powerful magic energy.

Once it was done however, all he would need to do was shove the intended sacrifice into the lacrima and then everything would be done.

Shrugging, he pressed the button to begin the process.

Fortunately, it wouldn't take that long.

"Here's hoping this works..." thought Jellal.

_A few minutes later..._

Simon made his way towards Jellal's personal chamber, hoping to have a talk with him.

However, he found someone else entirely in the room. She was glancing at the monitor that had been set up inside the chamber.

"Hmm?" asked Simon.

As it turned out, Chiyoye had broken into Jellal's personal chambers so that she could search for Erza.

Curious, she noticed that Fairy Tail appeared to be in the tower as well, much to her surprise.

"Hmm...would you look at that. The gang's all here. What were the odds? Well, I suppose I shouldn't stick around here too long. I'll just drain Erza and be on with it before they have the opportunity to catch him." said Chiyoye.

"Who are you?!" bellowed Simon.

Chiyoye immediately stared at him.

"What's this? It looks like I have a guest. Allow me to introduce myself." stated the sorceress.

Lowering her hood, Simon gasped in shock.

He recognized her immediately. It was none other than Chiyoye Headstone, the woman a few of Zeref's zealots had told him about.

Immediately, he began to feel rather terrified. He had heard not too long ago that she had massacred an entire city...and that she had slaughtered an entire town not too long from then.

There was no doubt about it. He was face to face with one of the most evil mages to walk Fiore...possibly even more evil than Zeref himself.

"What are you doing here?!" exclaimed Simon.

"Oh, it's rather simple. I'm here to drain the life out of Erza Scarlet. Every last drop, in fact. I can never resist an opportunity to drain the life out of someone else. It makes me feel so good...and it satisfies my thirst for power and blood so nicely." explained Chiyoye.

How else would she stay so young? Granted, that wasn't what her intention was when she decided to become a life-drainer...but it was a rather nifty bonus, she'd have to say.

"Erza?! You're here for Erza?!" bellowed the darkness mage.

"You see, I knew ahead of time that you and your friends were planning to take her here...so I realized that I had the opportunity that I was looking for. The opportunity to drain the life out of her and inherit her magic. I simply must have it." continued the necromanceress.

Simon gasped in shock. He wasn't just imagining things. This was really Chiyoye Headstone, and she wanted to kill his friend.

Erza was in terrible danger. He had to warn her immediately.

However, when he tried to open the door, he found it to be mysteriously locked.

"Sorry, but there's no escape for you. In fact, there never is an escape for any of my victims. Believe me, I should know." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she grabbed Simon by the arm, and he began to scream.

"You may not be Erza, but I think I'm going to like using your magic." acknowledged the sorceress.

"Erza...you may not be able to hear me now...but I love you..." murmured Simon.

Simon collapsed on the ground, completely and utterly dead.

Chiyoye cackled shortly afterwards.

"Well, I suppose I'll have him at least even if things don't go according to plan. Off to the sacrificial altar I go." said the sorceress.

Immediately, she began to make her way there, careful to avoid drawing too much attention as usual.

_Well, it looks like our heroes have done their jobs well...but can Naruto and Erza reunite again and stop Jellal before he succesfully completes the initial part of the resurrection ritual?_

_And will they do so before Chiyoye arrives?_

_Find out in the next chapter._


	44. Chapter 44: Jellal's Last Stand

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter...Jellal's going to make his last stand. You were waiting for this, right?_

_In fact, it's the name of the chapter._

**Chapter 44: Jellal's Last Stand**

"How do you think Erza and Naruto are doing?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I would like that they're fine..." answered Shikamaru.

"Yeah...me too." nodded the kunoichi.

She had to wonder if they were doing OK.

She knew that Erza was a powerful fighter and that Naruto was her interdimensional partner...so surely they would make it out alive...right?

Still, the possibility of Zeref being returned to life was making her sleep less soundly in her bed.

On the plus side, she was starting to regenerate her chakra.

Eventually, she would be able to continue fighting.

"Right...I hope that this doesn't take too long..." noted Lucy.

Shrugging, she decided to continue resting. It would do her a lot of good if she could get some rest.

"Zzz..." murmured the kunoichi.

**"Gee, I wish I could possess her body while she sleeps like Shukaku can..." **thought Kurama.

But naturally, he could not.

Ah well. Lucy was rather cute while she slept, anyway.

Personally, he was starting to wonder what she was dreaming about.

"Ah, Shikamaru...good to see you...you always brighten my day." mumbled Lucy.

**"Typical." **murmured the nine-tailed fox.

"Ah...Lucy, there you are...I've been looking all over for you..." muttered Shikamaru.

Kurama sweatdropped.

Personally he wondered if he should go to sleep too.

He had to admit, it had been a long trip to the tower.

Well, maybe it wasn't that long considering that Team Jellal were able to get to the tower rather quickly. But it wasn't something that he was going to forget for a while.

Immediately, he began to yawn.

Maybe it was time.

**"Well, time for me to go to bed too." **noted Kurama.

Curling up into a ball, he went to sleep.

Naturally, he was dreaming about eating babies.

**"You taste so good with barbecue sauce..." **remarked the nine-tailed fox.

Suddenly, Lucy appeared in his dream. She seemed rather angry at him.

**"Hmm?" **inquired Kurama.

"No, Kurama, no! Babies are not for eating! Stop putting them in your mouth!" demanded Lucy.

Kurama groaned. He couldn't get away from Lucy even in his dreams.

In fact, there didn't seem be anywhere that he could get away from Lucy.

It appeared that he was just going to have to put up with her...much like he had put up with Naruto in the past.

**"Is he...going to get himself killed?" **inquired Kurama.

As much as he wouldn't like to admit it...he was actually starting to get a bit worried about Naruto. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that he could also be used as a sacrifice for Zeref.

If that happened, Zeref would be brought to life. Though he was rather curious to see what the guy was like...he was actually a bit afraid of his death magic. Would it work even on a beast of his caliber?

Not only that, but he had recently that he had an army of...demons.

**"He might actually be more powerful than I am." **noted the nine-tailed fox.

He wondered what would happen if he managed to get resurrected.

Would he be just like Kenichi Chikawa?

He certainly hoped not.

Again, he really hated that man.

_Meanwhile..._

Erza entered the laboratory, curious to see what was inside.

Sure enough, there seemed to be a fair share of chemicals.

"Look at those." thought the knight.

Something told her that she didn't want to play with them.

Besides, Dr. Usagi was probably already doing it himself.

"Right...I'll try not to break any of the vials." stated Erza.

Shrugging, she continued walking through the laboratory.

However, she suddenly got the feeling that the laboratory was guarded.

Curious, she began to draw her swords.

It wasn't a moment too soon, as she was suddenly attacked by a robot that Dr. Usagi had painted red.

Apparently, these were Version 3.0. Since Dr. Usagi was still testing them, he had decided to have them guard his laboratory from intruders.

Sure enough, they seemed to be the nastiest robots that Erza had encountered yet. They were way faster than the Version 1.0s, and somewhat faster than the Version 2.0s too.

Immediately, the robots opened fire at Erza, who was forced to take cover.

"Protect the laboratory from the intruders." said one of the robots.

Counterattacking, Erza slashed the Version 3.0 robots into scrap metal.

However, they were proving to be a bit difficult to cut through.

Nonetheless, she decided to keep trying.

"Is there anything else here?" asked Erza.

Sure enough, yes there was.

Suddenly, a rather small-looking robot ran up to her. It loosely resembled a spider, though it only had one eye.

"Hmm?" asked the knight.

Immediately, it exploded.

"I don't want to get too close to them." noted Erza.

Unfortunately, there were more of the destructo-droids in the area.

"I'll try not to get their attention." she thought.

Thankfully, they were rather short-sighted, as they only happened to have one eye.

"Maybe Dr. Usagi didn't think this one through." acknowledged the knight.

Speaking of Dr. Usagi, she could hear his voice.

"Hmm? Is he somewhere around here?" inquired Erza.

"Let's see how ze latest experiment is turning out..." said the mad scientist.

"I'll take that as a yes." stated the knight.

Curious, she looked around to see where he was.

Sure enough, he was experimenting with some chemicals.

"What is he doing?" thought Erza.

"Vell, zis turned out vell! Maybe I should try drinking it...zen again, maybe not." noted Dr. Usagi.

He began to wonder if he should look for a test subject. Unfortunately, not many of the zealots nor the guards wanted to get involved with his experiments.

It was a rather big disappointment.

Suddenly, he noticed Erza, causing him to gasp.

Immediately, he dropped the vial he was carrying.

"Vhat are you doing here?! I thought ze black demon was keeping you busy!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"I already slew him." explained Erza.

Curious, he took a look at her blades...and discovered that they were coated with ichor.

"Zis is bad!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Yeah, for you. I demand you to take me to your leader!" exclaimed the knight.

"Never!" screeched the mad scientist.

Immediately, he ran out of the laboratory.

Erza sighed. It looked like she was going to have to pursue him.

Shrugging, she began to run, slashing her way through more of the robots as she did so.

Thankfully, her armors were protecting her from their attacks.

However, Dr. Usagi had set up some sentries.

"You zink you can stop me? We'll just see about zat..." stated the mad scientist.

"Well, I'm going to have to smash those too." noted Erza.

Shrugging, she swung her swords at one of the sentries, denting it.

However, both of the sentries were starting to open fire.

Immediately, she requiped into a suit of armor...

...but the sentries were rapidly destroying it.

"I need to be fast." noted Erza.

Fortunately, she was able to destroy one of the sentries.

However, Dr. Usagi was upgrading the remaining one.

"Let's see how you like zis!" bellowed the mad scientist.

Erza sighed. Dr. Usagi was making her life difficult.

Sure enough, the remaining sentry was firing much faster than before.

Not only that, but her armor had broken.

Quickly, she leapt over the sentry and toawrds the back, where she jammed her sword in it.

Already, it was starting to short-circuit.

"Vhat? No no no no!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

Erza then slashed the remaining sentry to shreds, much to the scientist's frustration.

Once again, he ran away from Erza.

"Slippery fellow..." thought the S-Class Mage.

Shrugging, she decided to continue chasing him...

...maybe he could show her the way out of the lab.

"Right...I'll keep looking for him. He can run from me...but there's no way he can hide." stated Erza.

Immediately, she resumed her hunt for the mad doctor.

Sure enough, she began to hear him laughing.

"Well, that's not a good sign." noted the knight.

What was he up to now?

She didn't want to have to find out.

Curious, she decided to enter the next room.

Incidentally, there happened to be rejuvenation pods in there.

"Well...how about that." said Erza.

Shrugging, she decided to step inside one.

It felt rather...refreshing.

"Wow..." murmured the knight.

Pretty soon, she was full of energy.

"I'll have to take note of this room for later." acknowledged the knight.

Whenever she got injured, she supposed.

_Elsewhere..._

Naruto entered what appeared to be a cathedral. At the center was a statue of Zeref himself.

"Wow." thought the chunin.

Sure enough, there were several zealots bowing to the statue, as well as several guards.

The zealots in question were dressed in purple. Apparently, these were their leaders.

"I sure have made it far." noted Naruto.

It certainly wasn't far from the top of the tower now.

The guards in question happened to have spikes on their armor...apparently, these were the captains.

"Looks like these are some of Jellal's best soldiers..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he began to create some clones in order to distract them.

"What gives?" asked one of the captains.

"This is for Zeref..." murmured one of the zealot leaders.

Sure enough, they began to attack the clones.

However, Naruto noticed that there seemed to be something off about that particular statue.

"Hmm..." thought the chunin.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Shrugging, he decided to keep fighting.

However, he couldn't risk getting too close to the captains without getting pierced by their spikes.

They looked rather...pointy.

"I don't want to touch those..." thought Naruto.

Shrugging, he fired a Wind Rasengan at the captains, causing them to fall over like dominoes.

However, the zealot leaders were shooting fireballs at him.

Of course, they were much bigger than the ones that the initiates typically shot at him.

"Yikes!" exclaimed Naruto.

There was no doubt about it. Jellal was close.

"Maybe I should try summoning something?" inquired the chunin.

Curious, he decided to try summoning Aries.

"How may I help? Sheesh...those zealots look scary." noted the lamb girl.

"Yes, I know. Can you help a brother out?" nodded Naruto.

"Yes." agreed Aries.

Immediately, she pelted the zealots with wool.

"Thank you." answered the chunin.

Personally he began to wonder how high up he was.

Curious, he began to look out the window.

"Man, I'm high up! Believe it..." murmured Naruto.

It sure was going to be a nasty fall if someone fell out.

Sure enough, one of the captains charged straight towards him.

He leapt out of the way, and the captain fell out of the window instead.

Strangely, he screamed like a little girl.

"OK..." answered Naruto.

Another captain charged at him, thus making the same mistake.

However, he ended up screaming like Wilhelm.

"They're not going to knock me out the window, are they? I'm starting to feel a bit worried." noted Naruto.

Perhaps he had better keep his distance.

Shrugging, he used his whip to warn the guards to stay away.

"Stand back! I'm warning you!" bellowed Naruto.

Suddenly, the zealot leaders began to summon some demons.

"Huh?" inquired the boy.

This time, they had summoned a green-skinned demon.

"Hmm?" asked Naruto.

The green demon went over to Naruto...and trapped him in a bear hug.

"Aaugh! Let go!" exclaimed the boy.

Fortunately, he was able to transform into a log to escape the technique.

He reappeared a few minutes later.

Curious, the green demon began to examine the log, allowing Naruto to whip him into submission.

He was reduced to ash.

"It seems demons do either than or explode into ichor..." noted the chunin.

The zealot leader sighed. For a moment, he thought that he had him.

Now that they thought of it...didn't they need Naruto alive for a sacrifice?

Maybe it wasn't so bad that he used a substitution jitsu then.

"I haven't used that in a while." noted the chunin. Maybe he didn't feel the need for it up until then?

Shrugging, he tossed the log at the zealot leader that had summoned a demon earlier, hitting him on the head and knocking him out cold.

"No more demon summoning for you." stated Naruto.

Personally, he wondered why he didn't consider trying something like that before. Of course, he was surprised what a useful projectile the log was.

Maybe he should try using that jutsu more often so that he could get some ammunition?

Suddenly, he began to hear the sound of stomping.

"Hmm?" inquired Naruto.

Apparently, the zealot leaders and the guard captains were worried about something, because they began to walk away.

"Are they fleeing like cowards because I'm too strong? Or is it because something much worse than them is approaching?" questioned the chunin.

Judging from the stomping noises, it happened to be the latter.

"Oh, right...I can hear them more clearly now...I'm in a heap of trouble, aren't I?" inquired Naruto.

As it turned out, he was right on the ryo.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured Avenger.

"This is going to suck..." thought Naruto.

Sure enough, Avenger was back with a vengeance.

Immediately, he attacked Naruto using his tentacles.

"First that red demon...and now this..." thought the chunin.

Sighing, he decided to fight his new opponent.

Oddly enough, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that Erza had defeated him previously, as he noticed that Avenger was bearing what appeared to be sword-inflicted scars.

If so, he wanted to congratulate her.

"You go, girl." thought Naruto.

_At the Fairy Tail rescue boat..._

"Lucy, can I ask you a question?" asked Levy.

Immediately, Lucy stretched out her arms and began to yawn.

"Yes." nodded the jinchuriki.

"What should we do about Team Jellal?" inquired the letter mage.

"Team Jellal, you say? Well, Jellal deceived them...so maybe we should straighten out things with them." noted Lucy.

"Alright...here goes nothing." answered Levy.

Immediately, Levy went outside.

She came back a few minutes later carrying the unconscious Millianna and Wally.

They woke up with a start.

"What happened? That was quite a catnap..." noted Millianna.

"That battle...was quite dandy." acknowledged Wally.

Suddenly, they began to wonder where they were.

"Can I explain something to you? It's regarding Jellal..." said Lucy.

"Hmm?" asked Millianna.

"You see...he's been lying to you this whole time. Erza never betrayed you." stated the kunoichi.

"She didn't?" inquired Wally.

Now that he thought of it...Jellal always did look away whenever he told them that Erza ahd stabbed them in the back.

"No, she didn't. I don't think she would ever betray anyone, really." noted Lucy.

"You're right...that is a rather odd thing for Erza to do. Maybe we should have a talk with Jellal." questioned Millianna.

"Maybe you should...but why would he lie to you, anyway?" inquired Levy.

"Maybe he's being brainwashed?" asked Wally.

"Maybe he is..." answered Lucy.

She began to scratch her head.

"Maybe we should look for Sho and tell him about this?" questioned Millianna.

"Well, you're the one with the superior sense of smell..." pointed out Wally.

"Oh yeah..." answered the catgirl.

Immediately, she began to search for Sho...

...she found him a few minutes later, still unconscious from his battle with Sakura and Gajeel.

"What about Simon?" inquired Wally.

Curious, she began to pick up his scent as well.

However, what she discovered disturbed her greatly.

"I think...he's dead." answered Millianna.

"What? You killed Simon?!" bellowed Wally.

"No, I didn't...though for a moment I wanted to." answered Lucy.

"Would you care to explain what happened?" inquired Levy.

"Well, I wanted to finish him off after he wounded Shikamaru...but he persuaded me to spare his life. It turns out he was actually trying to make peace between us and Jellal." explained the summoner mage.

"He was?" asked Wally.

"Yeah...that's why he attacked us...so that he could bring us to Jellal and straighten things out." said Lucy.

"I see..." answered Millianna.

"He got a bit carried away with Shikamaru though...so I took him to this boat." explained the kunoichi.

Sure enough, there was Shikamaru, still recovering from his injuries.

Thankfully, he was going to be better soon.

"However, I haven't seen him since...he said that he was going to go visit Jellal." said Lucy.

Suddenly, Millianna picked up another scent.

"I smell...a necromancer. And a powerful one at that." explained the catgirl.

Levy gasped in shock.

"Oh no...don't tell me it's..." said the letter mage.

"Chiyoye Headstone?" inquired Lucy.

"If she's here, then we need to evacuate immediately." stated Levy.

"Oh no..." murmured the kunoichi. From what she had heard since her return trip, Chiyoye Headstone was a very dangerous sorceress.

Immediately, Millianna went to retrieve Sho.

She returned a few minutes later.

"Thank goodness...I was starting to get worried." noted Wally.

"You were right to be worried." answered Shikamaru.

As it turned out, he had woken up from his slumber.

However, he was having difficulty walking.

"Try not to strain yourself too much." suggested Lucy.

"Should we go look for everyone else?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Yes...but if you see Chiyoye Headstone, back away immediately. She's too dangerous at this point." said Levy.

Millianna and Wally nodded.

Immediately, they went to search for everyone else.

Meanwhile, Sho was beginning to wake up.

"We should probably explain things to him too..." noted Lucy.

Shikamaru nodded.

Who would have thought that this was all just a big misunderstanding?

Sure enough, Ino and Choji entered the boat as well.

"Are you OK, Shikamaru?" inquired Ino.

"We heard you took quite a beating..." noted Choji.

"Yeah, I did...but I think I'll be alright." answered Shikamaru.

"I was there when it happened." stated Lucy.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Choji.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. She was so glad that Shikamaru wasn't going to be any worse for wear.

Of course, this probably had in part to do with the fact that she could now draw power from the nine-tailed fox.

"I hope it doesn't corrupt my mind." she thought.

_At Dr. Usagi's lab..._

"Give it up! You're finished! You honestly zink that you can defeat me?" inquired Dr. Usagi.

At this point, Dr. Usagi had hidden from Erza and was speaking to her on an intercom.

He was activating all the defense mechanisms inside the laboratory.

"Well, I can try." answered Erza.

Immediately, Dr. Usagi attacked Erza using some buzzsaws.

"How many booby-traps does he have in this laboratory?" thought the knight.

By the looks of things, he had quite a few of them.

After dealing with the buzzsaws, Erza discovered that the ceiling was now collapsing on top of her.

"I better bust down the door." noted the knight.

Fortunately, she was able to do so.

"Darn it! For a moment zere I thought I had you!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Well, apparently, you didn't." answered the S-Class Mage.

This time, a few guns appeared and began to open fire on Erza.

Once again, she put on her armor to avoid being shot.

"Zis is trying my patience!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"I bet it is." answered Erza.

More robots appeared to attack her.

"They just keep on coming." noted the Requip mage.

How many robots had she destroyed now, anyway? She felt like she had taken on an entire army of robots and had won.

As usual, the robots began to open fire at her.

Well, the Version 3.0 robots did anyway. The destructo-droids went up to her and tried to explode.

"Any other tricks you have up your labcoat?" inquired Erza.

"I'll zink of something." answered Dr. Usagi.

Sure enough, he was in fact thinking of something.

Shrugging, Erza decided to keep moving forward.

Sure enough, she noticed that there seemed to be some tubes nearby.

"What are in here?" questioned the knight.

Personally, she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of glass breaking.

"Uh-oh...something's breaking out from those tubes..." thought Erza.

Taking a closer look, she discovered that an amphibian creature had broken out from it.

"Like zem? I call them Jagers!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

"Let me guess...they're going to run at me and try to claw me in the face so that they can cut my head off?" asked Erza.

"Yes..." answered the mad scientist.

"Surely you can come up with something more original than that..." stated the knight. Where had she seen those creatures before?

"Vell, zhey also have access to basic ninja techniques..." noted the mad doctor.

"Well, that's a bit more creative." acknowledged Erza.

Curious, Erza tried slashing the Jager that had broken out from the glass tube, but it transformed into a log.

"This is a bit like my battle with the black demon..." acknowledged the knight.

Much like the black demon, the Jager was rather fast.

And to make matters worse, other Jagers were breaking free from their tubes as well.

"I vill admit that I vill have to clean up ze broken glass aftervards...but personally I zink zat it is vorth it." noted Dr. Usagi.

"I suppose it is." answered Erza.

Personally, she wondered if she should put some shoes on. She wasn't looking forward to stepping on broken glass in her bare feet.

Erza slashed the Jagers in the face, causing them to bleed green blood.

"Good thing they aren't armed with state-of-the-art weapons..." said the knight.

"I haven't taught zem how to do zat yet." answered Dr. Usagi.

To be honest, he hadn't thought of doing so up until now. It was actually a bit embarrasing.

"Good." answered Erza.

Curious, she tried making her way out of the laboratory again, but the Predators kept pursuing her.

She was a bit surprised how fast they could run. They certainly weren't slow like Chiyoye's zombies.

Also, they knew how to open doors.

"Aren't they smart." noted Erza.

One of the robots tried scanning the predator, but he quickly tore the robot to scrap metal. It wasn't in the mood for games.

"Sheesh." thought the knight.

"Hey! Don't wreck my robots! Zhey are my friends!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Sorry." apologized the Jager.

"Vait, you can talk?" inquired the mad scientist. He never really giving them the ability to speak. He found it to be rather fascinating.

"I'm a bit of a defect..." noted the mutated frog creature.

"Actually, maybe I should create more experiments like zat..." said the mad doctor. It was a bit lonely in his laboratory.

"Huh?" questioned the talking Jager.

Erza continued running through the laboratory.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a big red button inside the laboratory.

It said "DO NOT PRESS".

"Well, if Dr. Usagi doesn't want me to press it...I guess I will." answered Erza.

However, as it turned out, there was a reason why Dr. Usagi didn't want her to press that button.

Suddenly, a feminine computer voice gave her a warning, and an alarm suddenly went off.

"Er...did I do something bad?" asked Erza.

"Warning: self-destruct button has been pressed. The laboratory will self-destruct in just a few minutes." explained the voice.

"Oh...so that's why he didn't want me to press that button. That makes a load of sense." noted the S-Class Mage.

"You dumkoff! Now my laboratory is going to be blown to bits! I hope you're happy vith yourself!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

"Why did you even have that button?" questioned the knight.

"I...honestly don't know ze answer to zat." answered the mad scientist.

"I personally feel that it was an unneccessary risk." noted Erza.

Fortunately, the exit to the laboratory was nearby.

"Well, if I can make it out in time, I should be able to make my way out of the tower." noted the knight.

Immediately, she began to run towards the emergency exit.

_At the cathedral..._

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured Avenger.

Once again, he attacked Naruto with his tentacles.

"Here's hoping that he doesn't infect me..." thought the chunin.

Avenger followed up by trying to step on his face.

"Not my face! I need that for fangirls!" bellowed Naruto.

Avenger frowned. He did not have any fangirls.

"Then again, there's only one girl that I have in my mind at the moment." noted the summoner mage.

Avenger raised an eyebrow. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that he knew who that girl was.

Then again, it was just a hunch.

Acting quickly, Naruto decided to use another summon.

"What is your request, master?" asked Virgo.

"I need you to take out a mutant...a giant mutant." explained Naruto.

"Yes, master." answered the maiden.

"Thank you so much..." stated the ninja. To be honest, he found Avenger to be rather terrifying.

Then again, so did everyone else. Even Erza was rather wary of him.

Considering he was created specifically to hunt down Fairy Tail members, this wasn't much of a surprise.

"Dr. Usagi really outdid himself with this one." noted Naruto.

If Erza really did manage to defeat him, she must have been incredibly skilled...or lucky.

Virgo immediately transformed into her gorilla form in order to attack Avenger.

However, he proved himself to have some rather impressive physical strength.

"Oh no! Hang in there!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I'm trying, master." answered Virgo.

Suddenly, Avenger punched Virgo in the gut, causing her to return back to her normal form.

Thankfully, she was able to keep up the fight...though she was now having a harder time doing so.

"Maybe I should attack Avenger while he's still occupied." thought Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to fire a Wind Rasengan at Avenger.

Though this managed to injure him, it also made him rather angry.

Suddenly, he overpowered Virgo and tossed her directly at Naruto.

"Whoa!" bellowed the chunin as he fell on the floor.

"I'm sorry, master. I failed. Punish me." demanded the maiden.

Naruto drew whisker marks on her face.

Virgo disappeared in a burst of yellow light.

"My summoning abilities are really getting pushed to their limits today." thought the chunin.

At this rate, he was going to run out of summons, and he would be in a heap of trouble.

Sighing, he decided to continue fighting. People would be disappointing in him if he just gave up on life, wouldn't they?

Immediately, Avenger pulled out an enormous axe...an axe that happened to have quite a bit of blood on it.

"Where did you get that?" asked Naruto.

Avenger pointed to a nearby fire extinguisher.

"Oh...well, I'm not sure why they would need an axe that big...and why a fire axe would be covered with blood..." questioned the summoner ninja.

Avenger shrugged.

Immediately, he swung it at his neck, hoping to lop his head off.

"I want my head to stay attached to my neck, thanks." answered Naruto as he leapt out of the way.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured the mutant.

"I'll show you what Fairy Tail is about! Believe it!" bellowed Naruto.

"Believe...it..." said Avenger.

"Hey! Don't copy me! You already have your own catchphrase! Then again it does get a bit obnoxious when you repeat it over and over..." exclaimed the chunin.

Avenger sweatdropped. Now that he thought of it...he did happen to be saying "Fairy Tail" a lot lately.

Since it had been programmed in his directive to hunt down Fairy Tail members...it was a bit of a verbal tic.

"For that, I'm hitting you with another Rasengan!" bellowed Naruto.

Sure enough, Naruto was charging up for another Wind Rasengan.

However, Avenger was smart and tried to move out of the way this time.

Though this did destroy his axe, he was otherwise unharmed.

"Darn it! He's learning!" thought the chunin.

Avenger was pretty smart for what he had initially thought was a mindless mutant.

Immediately, Avenger pulled out a whip.

"Now you're copying my fighting style?" asked Naruto.

Unfortunately, this whip was much bigger than his. Not only that, but it also appeared to have spikes on it to make it extra lethal.

Avenger grinned in satisfaction. It looked like he had the advantage now.

"This isn't going to be fun." he thought.

Avenger shook his head.

Sighing, he decided to battle Dr. Usagi's finest creation and get this over with.

He was hoping that he was going to survive this.

_At Dr. Usagi's soon to be destroyed laboratory..._

Erza made her way towards the emergency exit, wanting to leave the laboratory as soon as possible due to what was happening.

However, the Jagers were proving to be rather persistent.

Suddenly, one of them tried a clever trick.

"Naruto? Is that you?" asked Erza.

She had to question what he was doing in a place like this.

Suddenly, "Naruto" transformed into a Jager, and the beast lunged straight towards Erza.

"Aren't they clever." noted the knight.

Sighing, she ran the Jager through with her sword. They weren't making her getaway easy.

As it turned out, the emergency exit lead to an escape tunnel.

"I guess I better keep going..." noted Erza.

Suddenly, she heard someone screaming.

It was none other than Dr. Usagi. Apparently, he wanted to escape as much as she did.

Frantically, he ran out of his laboratory...which as this point had become a giant trap.

"Look at how fast he runs." thought Erza.

Shrugging, she decided that she should do the same. She was starting to smell smoke.

Immediately, the Jagers began to pursue her, so she ran away as fast as she could.

Suddenly, flames began shooting out from the emergency exit.

Curious, Erza noticed that Dr. Usagi had donned his jetpack. Apparently, he had salvaged it from his laboratory before everything began to go wrong.

Activating the jetpack, he began to fly away.

"Darn it! Where is he going?" asked Erza.

She was really considering him to be a nuisance. Why does he have to keep ruining her day? First he kidnapped Naruto...then he attacked her using his experiments.

Not only that, he had managed to get away...again. It was so annoying.

But for the time being, she had more important matters to deal with.

Namely, the self-destructing laboratory.

Frantically, she began to run away as far as she could from the lab.

While she was at it, she decided to requip into her Flame Empress armor to protect herself from the flames.

This wasn't a bad idea, as the Jagers were starting to get caught in it. Apparently, even they were having a hard time escaping the fire.

Suddenly, two Version 3.0 robots appeared to block her path.

"Oh, heck no!" bellowed Erza. Now was the worst possible time for them to attack.

Frantically, she began to cut through the two robots as fast as she could.

This wasn't a moment too soon...as the flames were starting to catch up to her.

"I feel like the Gingerbread Man trying to get away from fat kids that can't stop eating food..." noted Erza.

Hopefully, she wouldn't being eaten by a fox, though admittedly the Gingerbread Man was asking for it. Lucy's jinchuriki seal was still going strong...

...right?

Maybe if she got out of the Tower Of Heaven, she could check.

Suddenly, she heard the mad doctor's voice again. He seemed rather...angry.

"Curse you, Erza Scarlet! I'm going to make you pay for ze destruction of my laboratory! I promise you zat! You little tier!" screeched Dr. Usagi.

"Great. I've been cursed. Whoopee. And he called me a beast." thought Erza.

Was Dr. Usagi secretly a gypsy? If so, she might be in trouble.

Then again, he didn't seem related to the gypsy that had cursed her and her guildmates earlier.

Where was she anyway? She wasn't sure of her whereabouts after that incident.

Now, faster than ever, Erza began to run.

She immediately made her way to the end of the escape tunnel...

...and not a moment too soon, as flames began to shoot out of it.

"What a show." remarked Erza.

Granted, this wasn't what she originally intended...but it was probably good news that she destroyed the laboratory. It certainly would make life a lot easier for her and Naruto, wouldn't it?

Not only that, but none of Dr. Usagi's creations inside the laboratory had survived the explosion, it seemed.

"That's a relief." noted the knight. The less twisted experiments in the world, the better.

Finally, it appeared that she could now make her way back to the Tower Of Heaven.

Sure enough, there was an elevator leading directly towards it in sight.

"Is this the elevator?" questioned Erza curiously.

As it turned out, this was the exact same elevator she was looking for.

Wasting no time, she stuck the elevator key into the slot.

Now she could go straight to the cathedral and look for Naruto. From there he shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

"Here I go." said the knight.

Oddly enough, elevator music began to play.

"Isn't this a nice little jingle." noted Erza.

Shrugging, she decided to wait for the elevator to arrive at its destination.

"I'll make myself comfortable." she thought.

Surely Naruto was still alive...right?

She certainly hoped so.

_Elsewhere..._

Hinata woke up from her slumber. That had been quite an exciting battle.

Suddenly, she noticed that she had been resting on top of Natsu.

Immediately, her face turned red.

"Er, how did that happen?" questioned the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she decided to try waking Natsu up.

Unfortunately, he happened to be a heavy sleeper.

"Wake up!" demanded Hinata.

Fortunately, Natsu woke up a few seconds after she said that.

"Wh-what?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"I think we should head back to the boat and regroup with our friends..." noted the kunoichi.

"That seems like a good idea." nodded Natsu.

Leaving the unconscious Fukuro behind in the process, the two of them began to head back to the boat.

Lucy was rather happy to see them.

"There you are! I was worried about you for a second!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Don't worry. We're fine." answered Hinata.

"I heard that Chiyoye Headstone is here..." said Levy.

"What?! She's here?!" bellowed Natsu.

"Exactly. That's why I don't want to stick around too long." stated Lucy.

"Me neither." answered Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Shikamaru collapsed on the floor. He had lost his balance. His legs were still rather...wobbly.

"I'll take you back to bed." said Lucy.

"Thanks..." spoke the shadow ninja.

"Do you see any sign of anyone else?" inquired the summoner kunoichi.

Hinata and Natsu both used their Byakugan.

Sure enough, Gray and Juvia were coming towards them.

"Gray and Juvia! Thank goodness!" bellowed Hinata.

Gray and Juvia immediately entered the boat.

"We're here...I think we succeeded in our mission." said Gray.

"Alright then." nodded Hinata.

"Gray, why are you in your underpants?" inquired Natsu.

Gray sighed.

"Darn it! I left my clothes inside the tower!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"It's OK, Gray! You're not alone!" bellowed Juvia.

Curious, Gray looked around, and noticed that Juvia had stripped down as well.

He began to blush.

Hinata and Natsu's eyes both squinted.

"We already have another stripper here..." pointed out Shikamaru.

"Oh right...it's Sakura, right?" inquired Gray.

Shikamaru nodded.

Immediately, Gray began to heal Shikamaru so that he could walk properly again.

"Much obliged." stated the shadow ninja.

"You're welcome." answered the ice mage.

Suddenly, Natsu began to laugh.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" bellowed Gray.

"But you're in your underpants!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.

Gray punched Natsu in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Natsu!" screamed Hinata.

"Oh dear...it looks like Sakura's short temper has kicked in once again..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

Fortunately, Hinata was able to use a fireball to make Natsu's bruise disappear.

"Don't do that again, Gray!" bellowed the female dragonslayer.

"Sorry...I can't help it. I'm Sakura's interdimensional partner now." answered Gray.

"Well, that's true." noted Hinata.

"Darn it, Gray!" bellowed Natsu.

"I'll...try not to do that again." said the ice mage.

"You better not." answered the male dragonslayer.

"Is there anyone else coming this way?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Let me check..." stated Hinata.

Sure enough, Kimimaro was approaching them as well.

"I think he'll be here shortly." noted the kunoichi.

"Are my two teammates already on the boat?" asked Levy.

"I think so." answered Hinata.

Levy let out a sigh of relief.

Sakura and Gajeel arrived on the scene.

"Isn't that the guy we beat up earlier?" asked Sakura.

"We're going to try to reason with him." explained Lucy.

"Why would we want to do that?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"Because violence isn't the answer to everything." stated the kunoichi.

"That's a disappointment." answered Gajeel.

Kimimaro arrived a few seconds later.

"Is everyone here?" asked the bone ninja.

"Yes...except for Naruto and Erza." stated Lucy.

"Where are they?" questioned Kimimaro.

"They're still in the tower." explained Shikamaru.

"What?" inquired the Kaguya clan ninja.

Once again, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for Naruto and Erza.

She was not happy with the results.

"I don't think we'll be able to reach them..." stated the kunoichi.

"Why not?" inquired Natsu.

"They're near the top of the tower." explained Hinata.

"Oh..." answered the male dragonslayer.

"I guess we'll just have to pray for their safety then." noted Lucy.

"It looks that way...what a drag." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Yes...what a drag." agreed the kunoichi.

Sighing, they decided that they should start doing that.

And while they were at it, maybe they should pray against Chiyoye.

That certainly wouldn't be a bad idea.

_Meanwhile..._

"Meister Jellal!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

Frantically, he ran up to him. He had some very bad news.

Curious, Jellal noticed that Dr. Usagi had a look of panic on his face, as his skin had turned completely pale.

Not only that, but sweat was dripping down his face. Lots of it.

"What's the matter?" asked Jellal. This couldn't be anything good. Something must have gone horribly wrong.

"It's ze laboratory! It's been completely destroyed! All my research is gone! Gone! Vhy?!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

Jellal's eyes widened in shock. This was the biggest disaster yet.

"Your laboratory's been destroyed?" inquired the space mage.

Dr. Usagi nodded.

"What happened? Was there a gas leak?" asked Jellal curiously.

"It vas Erza! She pressed ze self-destruct button even when I told her not to!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Why did you even have that button?" questioned the dark mage.

"Zat's vhat she asked me..." answered Dr. Usagi.

"It certainly would have saved you a lot of problems if you didn't have a button like that. What was the point of it? I never included a button like that inside the Tower Of Heaven...it was way too risky." questioned Jellal.

"Next time, I von't design a laboratory vith a self-destruct button." said the mad scientist.

"Alright then..." answered the space mage.

"How is everyzing going?" asked Dr. Usagi.

"Pretty glad. Not only did they took Team Jellal and Trinity Raven, Naruto and Erza slew my two demon bodyguards. Apparently, they were just too powerful for them to handle. It was a shame, really...they were actually a pretty big help." explained Jellal.

"Zhey vhat?! Zis is bad! Very, very bad! " exclaimed the mad scientist.

"Yes, it is. At this rate we'll have nobody left to capture Naruto or Erza, and then everything will fall apart." answered the space mage.

"Can I use ze giant robot inside ze cathedral? Ze vone I set up at ze center?" inquired Dr. Usagi.

"Well, normally I wouldn't approve of killer, destructive robots like that...but we're running out of evil minions that are willing to throw our lives for us. They really thinned the herd..." noted Jellal.

"Yes! I shall end zis once and for all!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Just make sure you leave Naruto and/or Erza alive...we need at least one of them for the ritual." explained the space mage.

"Vight, vight, of course." answered Dr. Usagi.

Immediately, he left to go deal with Naruto and Erza once and for all.

It was time for this to finally end...one way or another.

_At the cathedral..._

"Take this!" bellowed Naruto.

For a moment, he thought that he wasn't going to be able to win this fight...but as soon as he had thought that...he noticed that there was an opportunity to attack.

He just needed to believe in himself, it seemed.

Immediately, he hit Avenger with his Wind Rasengan, causing him to screech.

"I'm getting better at this." thought the chunin.

Summoning Sagittarius, he had the archer shoot Avenger several different times.

"Aargh!" bellowed the mutant.

Getting desperate, he began to whip Naruto as fast as he could, giving him a few burn marks.

He then kicked him in the face.

"Ouch..." murmured the chunin. Avenger was as feisty as ever.

However, he was still able to finish off the crazed mutant a few minutes later, causing him to collapse on the ground.

"Well, that takes care of him." noted Naruto.

Hopefully he would stay dead this time, and this was the end for Dr. Usagi's twisted experiments.

Then again, probably not. He could probably always make another laboratory...especially if things went his way.

Immediately, he continued on his way, and encountered a rather long bridge.

"I don't want to fall off of here." acknowledged the chunin.

As he had seen earlier...it was a long way down. Fortunately, there was a balcony to help prevent him from falling off.

But once again, he had a problem.

"Darn it! The door's locked! How am I going to get it open?" inquried Naruto.

Unfortunately, despite all the keys he had, he did not have one that could fit the door.

Naruto sighed. His journey to the sacrifical altar had been stonewalled.

"Well, I guess I might as well wait for Erza. I'm pretty sure she's looking for me." acknowledged the chunin.

Shrugging, he began to sit down and thinking about what had happening lately.

"To think that Erza used to be a slave here..." thought Naruto.

He hoped that she was alright. That black demon that Jellal had sent after her had looked rather vicious.

It was a hassle for him to take down the red demon, even with his summons.

Now that he thought of it...maybe he should have stayed still earlier? That certainly would have made it a lot easier for Erza to find him, wouldn't it?

"Hmm..." thought Naruto.

Curious, he wondered if she happened to be nearby.

It was just a hunch.

Oddly enough, Erza happened to be at the cathedral just a few feet away from him.

"Right...I'll just find Naruto and then I'll be on my way." said the knight.

Immediately, she began to make her way towards Naruto.

However, as she did so, she heard maniacal laughing.

"Huh?" asked Erza.

"Hahahaha!" laughed Dr. Usagi.

"Not you again..." murmured the knight.

"ZIs time you're finished!" bellowed the mad scientist.

"Where are you anyway?" inquired Erza.

"Up here!" exclaimed Dr. Usagi.

Erza looked up, and gasped in shock.

Dr. Usagi was inside the Zeref statue she had seen a few minutes later.

Not only that, but he was at the top of the statue's head...

...and the statue in question was actually a giant robot.

"Oh boy..." murmured the S-Class Mage.

"Zis time, you're finished!" bellowed the mad scientist.

Immediately, the giant robot began to chase after her.

"I need to make a break for it." noted Erza.

Frantically, she began to run away from the giant robot, trying to get as much distance from it as possible.

"Zat's right! You had better vun! Not like zere's any escape! Zis is for my laboratory!" bellowed Dr. Usagi.

Immediately, he began to shoot missiles at Erza, who narrowly avoided them.

He then followed by shooting a laser at Erza.

At that very moment, Naruto began to hear what was going on.

"Hmm? What's happening?" asked the chunin.

Suddenly, he noticed Erza running straight towards him.

"Naruto? Is that you?" inquired the knight.

Personally, she was very happy to see him again.

Likewise, Naruto appeared to be very happy as well.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they were now cornered, as Dr. Usagi and his giant robot had followed them across the bridge.

"I have you now! I shall have ze honor of bringing you to Meister Jellal!" exclaimed the mad scientist.

Naruto gulped. Was this the end?

However, at that very moment, something unexpected happening.

At that very moment, the bridge began to...crack.

"Hmm?" inquired Dr. Usagi.

The bridge was starting to crack even more.

Suddenly, Dr. Usagi realized what was going on. At this point, the bridge was covered with cracks.

"Hmm...maybe running across zis bridge vith a robot zis heavy vasn't such a good idea." noted Dr. Usagi.

At that very moment, the bridge collapsed. Dr. Usagi screamed as he fell to his death.

In the process, Erza was left hanging for dear life.

She decided to ask Naruto for help.

"Would you mind giving me a hand? Sure, I'll be a nasty stain on the pavement...but really, there's no press-"

Naruto immediately helped Erza to her feet...which seemed appropriate considering that she wasn't wearing shoes today.

"Thanks." stated the knight.

"You're welcome. Well, so much for Dr. Usagi." noted Naruto.

"Yeah...all that's left now is Jellal himself." answered Erza.

Suddenly, Naruto began to hug Erza tightly.

"Erza! Thank goodness you're alive! I was so worried!" bellowed the chunin.

Erza hugged Naruto in return.

"I was worried about you too." answered Erza.

Suddenly, she noticed that Naruto's shirt was missing.

"What happened to your shirt? Did it get ripped off again?" inquired the knight.

"It got burned away this time, actually." answered Naruto.

"Burned away? That's new." noted Erza.

"Yes, I know." nodded the summoner ninja.

"It's OK, you were probably too sexy for it anyway." acknowledged the knight.

Naruto began to blush.

"I mean, look at these abs!" exclaimed Erza.

Immediately, she began to rub her hands across Naruto's stomach, causing him to giggle.

"What's this? You appear to be rather ticklish." noted the knight.

"Why do you ask?" inquired Naruto.

Suddenly, Erza began to tickle him, causing him to laugh hysterically.

"I should have, hahaha, seen this one, hahaha, coming!" laughed the chunin.

"Yeah, maybe you should have." answered the knight.

"Ah well, I'm, hahaha, enjoying the, hahaha, experience!" bellowed Naruto.

"That's a relief. I wouldn't want to torture you." noted Erza.

"Yeah...that, hahaha, already happened to me, hahaha, once before!" exclaimed the former jinchuriki.

Eventually, Erza stopped tickling Naruto so that he could take a breather.

"You could say being ticklish is both a blessing and a curse." noted the chunin.

"I know how you feel." answered Erza.

"Are you ticklish too?" inquired Naruto.

"Maybe I am. Why do you ask?" asked the knight.

Suddenly, Naruto began to tickle Erza's bare feet.

"Hahahahaha!" laughed Erza.

"If you didn't want me to tickle you, you should have left your shoes on!" noted Naruto.

"Very, hahaha, funny Naruto!" exclaimed Erza.

"C'mon, don't you think this is fun?" asked the chunin.

"Well, hahaha, maybe a little...OK, I'm enjoying this! You got me! Hahahahaha!" laughed the knight.

Oddly enough, Erza was under the impression that Natsu was going to be the one to do this to her...but apparently, she thought wrong.

Eventually, Naruto stopped tickling Erza.

"That was a rather exciting experience. Maybe I should requip into my sarashi more often so that we can do this again." acknowledged the knight.

"I'll say! Your sarashi makes me squeal like a fanboy!" bellowed Naruto.

Erza began to blush.

"So...are you ready to confront Jellal?" inquired the knight.

"I'd be ready if it weren't for that enormous door." answered the chunin.

"That door?" questioned Erza.

"Yeah, that door...I can't seem to get it open." said Naruto.

"Let me try." answered the knight.

Immediately, she burst open the door with a single punch.

Naruto whistled.

"Now let's get going, shall we?" ordered Erza.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" saluted Naruto.

Sure enough, Jellal happened to be waiting for them.

"Good to see you! I see that you've made it this far..." noted Jellal.

"No more games, Jellal! Let's end this once and for all!" demanded Erza.

"You want to confront me, do you? Very well. I'll be waiting for you at the top of the tower where the altar is...but before you can make it to me, you'll have to deal with the last of my minions." explained the space mage.

"The last of your minions?" inquired Naruto.

Sure enough, there were still a few zealots and guards left...namely the ones that happened to be on top of their rank.

There were a few other things to worry about as well.

"Goodbye." said Jellal.

Immediately, he boarded the nearby elevator to head to the sacrificial altar.

"No fair! Why does he get to use the elevator?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, there is no elevator to success. We all have to take the stairs." acknowledged Erza.

"I'm starting to get worried...they said that his forces were going to make a last stand here..." questioned Naruto.

"Well, in that case, there can't be many of them left. I wouldn't worry about it." stated the knight.

"I don't think they're playing around anymore though." pointed out the chunin.

"Hmm?" inquired Erza.

Curious, she took a look above, and gasped in shock.

As it turned out, the zealot leaders were sacrificing an initiate.

"Yes, do it...do it..." murmured the initiate.

One of the zealot leaders stabbed the initiate in the chest with an evil-looking dagger..

...and a rather large demon that somewhat resembled a gorilla appeared.

"Naruto wasn't kidding." she thought.

"Do a barrel roll!" commanded the zealot leader who had summoned him using a human sacrifice.

The gorilla demon nodded, and began to roll explosive barrels towards Naruto and Erza.

"Hmm...I don't think we want those barrels to hit us..." noted Naruto.

"Let's get going!" bellowed Erza.

"Yes, of course!" acknowledged the chunin.

_Well, here we are. It's not going to be long now until Naruto and Erza get to fight Jellal himself..._

_However, they're also going to be fighting someone else..._

_...can you guess who?_


	45. Chapter 45: Escaping The Tower

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto and Erza are going to make their way to Jellal...but someone else is going to show up._

_All of a sudden, they're going to have to evacuate the tower...and fast!_

**Chapter 45: Escaping The Tower**

Jumping over the barrels so that they didn't get blown to bits, Naruto and Erza began to attack the demon gorilla.

Sure enough, he began to bleed ichor.

However, the zealot leaders were attacking them as well.

Things were about to ugly.

Immediately, Naruto created some shadow clones to defend himself.

Sure enough, the zealot leaders were using dark magic.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself transformed into a sheep.

"Baa!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Won't you make a nice coat..." remarked Erza.

"Baa!" bellowed Naruto.

Fortunately, it appeared that he was transforming back to normal.

"Why do I feel so warm and fluffy?" questioned the chunin as he changed back.

"You got turned into a sheep." explained Erza.

"Thanks for not turning me into lamb chops." stated Naruto.

"You're welcome...I'm not a cannibal." answered the knight.

"Right, of course not. Of course." spoke the chunin.

Immediately, Erza slashed her way through the zealot leaders, causing them to collapse on the ground.

However, they were now under attack by guard captains.

"Huh...we actually have a similar style." noted Erza.

"I never noticed that up until now. Weird." answered Naruto.

Immediately, the guard captains pulled out some shields...which naturally were lined up with spikes.

"You think you can get past those as well?" inquired the chunin.

"I'll see if I can try." answered Erza.

Quickly, she cut through the shields using her swords.

They fell apart, leaving the guards defenseless.

"Mother!" exclaimed one of the captains.

Immediately, she slashed through them as well.

"So far so good..." noted Naruto.

Suddenly, the demon gorilla punched Naruto in the face.

"Ouch!" bellowed the chunin.

It then followed by tossing him at Erza.

Naruto began to blush upon realizing he was on top of her.

"Um..." thought Naruto.

Shrugging, Erza stabbed the gorilla in the chest, causing him to be reduced to ash.

"Back to the jungle you go." stated Erza.

Suddenly, a demon that resembled a purple dinosaur dropped down from below.

"Hmm?" inquired the chunin.

"I hate you...you hate me...we're a dysfunctional family..." sang the dinosaur demon.

Out of the blue, Naruto found himself being punched in the stomach.

"Aaugh!" bellowed the chunin.

"With a great big punch from me and a kick from me to you..."

The dinosaur demon then followed by kicking Erza in the groin.

"Yeow!" exclaimed Erza. It was surprisingly painful considering that she was female.

"...won't you say you hate me too?" asked the purple demon.

"Yes." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he tossed his Wind Rasengan at the prehistoric fiend, making him explode into ichor.

"And to think I liked you back when I was five..." thought the chunin.

Now he knew better.

Shrugging, the two of them began to climb up the steps.

However, there are a few robots waiting for them.

"Intruders detected. Commencing self-destruct sequence." stated one of the destructo-droids.

"Not them again." thought Erza.

Apparently, they hadn't seen the last of all of the robots...even if Erza did blow up Dr. Usagi's laboratory completely by accident.

Fortunately, Naruto was able to protect them from the blast by using a shadow clone as a decoy.

As it turned out, they couldn't tell the shadow clones apart from the real thing.

Then again...how did people distinguish his shadow clones from himself, anyway?

"I'll keep doing this if more of them show up." said Naruto.

Sure enough, the Version 3.0 robots were attacking as well.

However, Erza quickly slashed them before they could attack.

They then continued going up the stairs.

"This isn't going to be too long of a climb...right?" asked Naruto.

"I sure hope not." answered Erza.

Suddenly, they found themselves being attacked by Jagers.

"These guys again, too?" inquired the knight.

"Where did you encounter them? I don't remember seeing them..." said Naruto.

"I encountered them in Dr. Usagi's Laboratory...which I destroyed." noted Erza.

"Oh. Congratulations then." stated the chunin.

"It was actually a bit of an...accident." answered the knight.

"Oh." comprehended the former jinchuriki.

Immediately, the Jagers used a substitution jutsu to disguise themselves as Erza.

"Erza...is hot..." thought Naruto.

This unfortunately gave them an opportunity to attack him.

"Yeow!" bellowed the chunin. For a moment there, he thought that they were going to cut his throat.

Even if he survived that, his throat would inevitably hurt pretty bad. He wasn't looking forward to that.

"Hey! Don't steal my identity!" exclaimed Erza.

The Jagers found themselves being stabbed in the faces for their trouble.

"Yeah! You tell them!" bellowed Naruto.

Once again, they continued going up the stairs.

Suddenly, they saw a lift.

"I wonder why there's more than one elevator..." questioned the chunin.

Erza shrugged.

However, as soon as they began to use the lift, someone unexpected showed up.

"Fairy...Tail..." murmured Avenger.

"What's happened to him? And I thought I killed him!" exclaimed Erza.

"I thought I killed him too." stated Naruto.

At this point, he was little more than a mass of tentacles.

"I hope that we can kill him for good this time." said the knight.

"Me too." nodded the chunin.

"Dr...Usagi." stated the mutant.

"Hmm. I don't think he's too happy that we killed Dr. Usagi." acknowledged Erza.

"Yeah..." said Naruto. Then again, he wouldn't be happy if someone killed his master either.

He was pretty close to Jiraiya.

Unfortunately, Avenger wasn't playing around any more.

In order for Naruto and Erza to use the lift, they were going to have to defeat him.

"There's no way around him this time." noted the chunin.

"No...there isn't." acknowledged the knight.

It was time to deal with him once and for all.

Sure enough, they were being attacked by the deadly tentacles.

However, there were a lot more of them than before.

Not only that, but Avenger could now regenerate his tentacles.

"He's really mutated, hasn't he?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes...I'm getting sick of it." stated Erza.

"So am I." nodded Naruto.

Suddenly, Avenger hurled a barrel of explosive TNT at Naruto.

"Incoming!" bellowed the chunin.

Frantically, they dove out of the way.

Avenger then followed up by spewing what appeared to be blood.

As Naruto discovered, the blood in question was capable of burning his skin.

"Yeowch!" bellowed the chunin.

"You OK, Naruto?" inquired Erza.

"I think so." answered the chunin.

Fortunately, he had only suffered first-degree burns...but it could have been a lot worse.

They needed to take out Avenger quickly.

Since Avenger wouldn't move from his position at the lift, Naruto decided to take advantage of it.

"Wind Rasengan!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, he hit Avenger with his Wind Rasengan, causing him to scream.

"Why did you shout your attack?" inquired Erza curiously.

"I felt a little shouty today." noted the chunin.

Suddenly, what appeared to be parasites burst from Avenger's body.

Shrugging, Erza decided to cut away the parasites, causing him to scream once again.

She then tried punching him, careful to avoid being grabbed by the tentacles.

Finally, she decided to go berserk.

Realizing what was going on, Avenger tried using his tentacles to defend himself.

Suddenly, Erza's sword began to glow purple.

"This is going to be good." thought Naruto.

Immediately, she began to slash Avenger into submission. Not even the tentacles were able to protect him.

Finally, what appeared to be a small parasite burst from his mouth.

Erza stepped on it, causing it to burst...

...and killing Avenger once and for all.

"Darn it! Now I've got blood on my foot!" bellowed the knight.

"I'll wash it off." answered Naruto.

Naruto began to wash the blood off of Erza's right foot.

As he did so, Erza began to giggle again.

"I just love hearing Erza laugh...though admittedly she doesn't do it much." thought Naruto.

Considering what her past life was like...who could blame her?

Shrugging, he and Erza decided to head to the door.

"Jellal's behind that door...are you ready?" asked Naruto.

"I think so." nodded Erza.

As it turned out, there were two rejuvenation pods that they could use.

"We're awfully lucky today." acknowledged the chunin.

Sure enough, their injuries were healed, and they felt like a million ryo...or jewels.

"Now let's go battle Jellal, shall we?" inquired Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto." nodded Erza.

Together, they began to open the door.

Sure enough, Jellal was waiting for them.

"Ah, there you are. You're just in time for the ritual." stated the space mage.

Pressing a button on the lacrima-powering device, it immediately went full power.

It then shot a beam of energy at the lacrima, causing it to glow a bright blue.

"It's a shame that Dr. Usagi had to die in order for our plan to come to fruition. I'm going to miss the guy...well, he would have wanted me to continue. You've defeated all of my minions...so I guess I'll just have to deal with you myself." noted Jellal.

"We won't let you bring Zeref back from the dead! Believe it!" bellowed Naruto.

"Right, of course not...you always insist on thwarting my plans." thought the space mage.

Personally he was a bit disheartened that none of his minions could take care of Naruto and Erza...but in retrospect, maybe he should have tried doing the job himself earlier.

No matter. Once he was done, he would have the opportunity that he was waiting for.

Immediately, Naruto summoned some shadow clones to attack Jellal.

"Attack!" exclaimed the chuni.

Unfortunately, Jellal had just the spell to counter that.

Suddenly, meteors began to fall from the ceiling.

"Uh-oh." thought Naruto.

The clones found themselves caught in the meteor shower, causing them all to burst into smoke.

"Darn it! That was a waste of chakra." noted the chunin.

Jellal then followed up by casting a black hole spell to draw them in.

Fortunately for Erza, she was able to avoid it.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he got sucked straight in.

"Whoa!" bellowed the chunin.

"Naruto!" screeched Erza.

He reappeared a few minutes later when another black hole ejected him. He looked rather dizzy.

"That wasn't a pleasant experience..." noted Naruto.

Thankfully, he did not suffer from Natsu and Hinata's motion sickness, so he didn't take a lot of pain.

Jellal then followed by shooting a beam out of his hand, which Naruto barely avoided using his substitution jutsu.

"Why is there a log there?" questioned the space mage.

Suddenly, he found himself being stabbed in the shoulder by a kunai.

"Ergh! Feisty, aren't you..." noted Jellal.

"I sure am! People say that I'm hot-blooded!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I can see why." answered Erza.

Of course, Naruto did happen to be from the Land Of Fire, so that made sense.

Personally, she was a bit surprised that he wasn't from the Land Of Wind however. He would fit in a lot better there.

In retaliation, Jellal hit Naruto with his Flame Of Rebuke...

...only for him to burst into smoke.

He had hit a clone instead.

"Where did he go?" asked the space mage.

His question was answered when suddenly Naruto launched a Rasengan at him.

Frantically, he teleported out of the way.

Unfortunately, he needed to focus in order to teleport long distances, so he wouldn't be able to flee that way if he found himself being viciously attacked.

He certainly hoped that he didn't end up at Naruto and Erza's mercy. He did plan on sacrificing them to a powerful dark mage.

Suddenly, he noticed that Erza was running towards him with a sword.

He let out a sigh.

"I wish that I didn't have to face a two-on-one battle...but I guess I have no choice." noted Jellal.

Shrugging, he cast his Ghost Fireworks spell, summoning some ghosts to attack Erza.

However, she simply cut through them with her swords while dashing towards him.

Oddly enough, they happened to be bleeding.

"I didn't know that ghosts could bleed...and that you could cut through them with swords. I thought that they were transparent..." questioned Naruto.

"I know, it's weird...but I'm not going to question the logic of that if it's helping me out." answered Erza.

"You're probably right." agreed the former jinchuriki.

Once again, Jellal began to cast another spell.

This time, he used his Meteor spell...which was not to be confused with the Meteor Shower spell. That was a different spell entirely...though personally Jellal felt that he should use the latter more often.

It seemed like such a powerful spell, even if he had only learned it just yesterday.

Then again, more powerful spells required more magic. That was how things typically worked in Fiore.

"Where did he go?" asked Naruto.

"He's sailing across the room!" bellowed Erza.

Sure enough, he had transformed into a burst of yellow light and was spinning around the room.

"When is he going to stop?" thought the knight.

Her question was answered when suddenly Jellal sped towards her and began to punch her rapidly.

"Waaah!" bellowed Erza.

"Erza!" screeched Naruto.

She landed next to him a few minutes later.

"You OK?" asked the chunin.

"I'm fine...though I do happen to be bleeding a bit." answered Erza.

Naruto immediately glared at Jellal.

"Hmm?" thought the space mage.

Once again, he fired a Rasengan, but this time he was too slow to avoid it.

He was sent flying backwards, tumbling over in the process.

Quickly, he helped himself to his feet.

"What is that boy?" he thought.

He wasn't quite sure. He seemed to be a rather different fighter than Erza, that was for sure.

His power source was something that he couldn't quite understand. Was he a ninja like the black demon that Erza had slain?

If so, that would explain quite a lot.

This time, he decided to try shooting stars at Naruto and Erza.

They were rather blunt, and Naruto and Erza found themselves with headaches when they were hit on the head by them.

"I wish that Jellal would be defeated..." said Naruto.

"Your wish is my command." answered Erza.

"Are you a genie?" inquired the chunin.

"Maybe. I don't seem to have a lamp though." noted the knight.

Naruto shrugged.

"That's right...you don't." acknowledged the ninja.

Shrugging, he watched as Erza's sword began to glow pink again.

Immediately, Jellal found himself being slashed.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the space mage.

And by the looks of it, she had scored a good hit in.

"Did you wound him?" asked Naruto.

"I think so." answered Erza.

Sure enough, Jellal was beginning to cough up blood.

"This isn't over." said the darkness mage.

"Really? I think this battle has gone on for a while." acknowledged Naruto.

Immediately, he pulled out his whip, and began to whip Jellal into submission.

Once again, he collapsed on the ground.

"Give it up, Jellal." demanded Erza.

"You're right...maybe it's time I surrender." noted Jellal.

Curious, Naruto noticed that he seemed to be casting a spell for a second, but he thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Don't you think we can work something out?" inquired the knight.

"Funny, I think that's what Simon was about to tell me...I haven't seen him though." answered the space mage.

"Really? That's odd." noted Naruto.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of screaming.

Looking to where Erza was, he gasped in shock.

As it turned out, there was a bind snake wrapping itself around her body.

All of a sudden, she found herself trussed like a turkey.

"This would actually be somewhat enjoyable if I weren't in danger of being a sacrifice." thought Erza. The coils were surprisingly snug and comfortable.

"Erza!" bellowed Naruto.

Frantically, he tried to free her from the bind snake...

...only for the snake to begin to wrap himself around Naruto as well. Immediately, he began to shriek.

Pretty soon, they were both completely immobile. Jellal had finally won.

Naruto began to blush upon realizing how tightly he and Erza were together. Part of Erza actually enjoyed this as well, though she was hiding it a bit better.

"Now I've got you." said the space mage.

"Nooo..." thought Naruto.

"Normally I would only be using one sacrifice...but since you both insist on trying to stop me...I guess I'll just have to sacrifice you both." noted Jellal.

Immediately, he shoved them into the Lacrima, and it began to absorb the duo.

"Erza, in case we don't make it out of this...I just want to let you know that I love you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I love you too, Naruto." stated Erza.

Naruto and Erza both began to smile. Dying wasn't so bad if they got to confess their love to each other first, right?

Thne again, Zeref was going to be brought to life, so they weren't in a too good of a mood.

As they confessed their love to each other, Jellal began to frown.

All of a sudden, he was starting to feel rather...guilty.

"Is bringing Zeref back to life really worth it?" thought the space mage.

Granted, he wasn't as bad of a guy as people typically made him out to be...but he wasn't sure what to do anymore.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching.

"Hmm?" inquired Jellal.

As it turned out, a mysterious stranger had approached him.

Immediately, the stranger pressed their hand on his forehead.

"Can I help you?" asked the space mage.

Shortly afterwards, he began to scream.

He felt like he was having his life force drained!

Pretty soon, he collapsed on the floor.

Shortly afterwards, the mysterious stranger pulled out a staff and used telekinesis to remove Erza and Naruto from the lacrima.

She then dismissed it shortly afterwards.

Erza let out a sigh of relief. It looked like they weren't going to be sacrificed after all.

"Thanks for saving us...but who are you?" inquired the chunin.

"Your worst nightmare." answered the stranger.

Naruto gasped. He thought that he heard that voice somewhere.

It brought back some bad memories.

His hunch turned out to be right. As it turned out, the mysterious stranger was none other than Chiyoye.

Immediately, she took off her zealot robes, revealing the purple robes underneath.

"Chiyoye? What are you doing here?! And why did you rescue us?!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I rescued you so that I could drain the life out of you, of course. Granted, I wasn't expecting you to be tied up next to Erza...but I'm not complaining about it. Things are going even better than planned!" answered Chiyoye.

"Planned? What are you talking about?" inquired Erza.

"Oh, it was rather simple. When I found out that you were being taken away from the Tower Of Heaven and away from your loyal guildmates, I figured that I had the opportunity that I was looking for to completely and utterly drain the life out of you." answered the sorceress.

"Oh, that makes sense." noted the knight.

"Again, I wasn't really expecting Naruto to show up here as well...but it works for me. I can just drain the life out of him too!" exclaimed the necromanceress.

Naruto began to screech.

"By the way, I happened to have drained a man on the way here. He also happened to have an eyepatch. Now I have access to his darkness magic. Personally I consider it to be an added bonus." noted Chiyoye.

"Wait, what?!" bellowed Erza.

"I'm sorry, was that a friend of yours? I have to admit, his life force was rather delicious...maybe I should try draining some of your other friends too. They seem strong enough for my tastes." answered the sorceress tauntingly.

"Chiyoye, you bitch!" screamed the knight.

Chiyoye simply laughed.

"Well, I think that's enough talk. I've already explained what I plan to do...so now let's act on it." said the sorceress.

Chiyoye eagerly approached them with her arms outstretched, looking forward to draining their every last drop of magic and chakra respectively.

Naruto's face turned paler and paler as Chiyoye approached him. Ever since their fateful encounter deep below the Fairy Tail guild base, he had been utterly terrified of her.

He couldn't believe that they were finally meeting again.

Erza on the other hand was overwhelmed with pure rage. She wanted to make her pay for everything she had done.

Suddenly, she broke free from the bind snake.

"Huh? What's this? It looks like you found a way to break free...no matter. I was hoping for a bit more of a challenge, anyhow." noted Chiyoye.

Quickly, she freed Naruto as well.

"I have to admit, it's always so much sweeter when people try to fight back against me..." acknowledged the sadist.

"You're not draining our life! It all ends here, Chiyoye!" bellowed Erza.

"Yeah! We're not letting you hurt anyone else!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Oh, I intend to hurt plenty more people where that came from." acknowledged Chiyoye.

Immediately, she summoned her staff, which she had dismissed a few minutes earlier in order to grab onto Naruto and Erza.

She then began to cast a darkness spell.

"It seems only fitting that you be slain with the exact same magic that your little comrade used." noted Chiyoye.

"Shut up! I'll kill you!" bellowed Erza.

"You're going to pay for what you did! Everything!" exclaimed Naruto.

Once again, Chiyoye began to laugh.

"You should really get off your soapbox. At this rate I'm going to be in hysterics." stated the sorceress.

Naruto sighed. She just wasn't taking them seriously. Personally he would appreciate if she treated them seriously in return...but apparently it just wasn't to be.

Immediately, Naruto and Erza leapt out of the way as Chiyoye fired a darkness explosion spell.

She then followed by shooting a few fireballs, just to keep them on the toes

Finally, she fired a lightning bolt.

Naruto tossed a Rasengan, but Chiyoye moved out of the way.

"Feisty, aren't you?" inquired the sorceress.

"Where did you get that staff?" asked Erza.

"I got it from my mentor...who generously provided it to me after I slew him." answered Chiyoye.

Erza began to growl.

Suddenly, she began to run towards Chiyoye, frantically trying to slash her.

Due to how fast she was moving, the latter was actually having a hard time avoiding the strikes.

In fact, she now had a cut on her cheek.

"What's this? Maybe I need some backup." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she began to summon some of her undead.

Curious, Erza noticed that Chiyoye's cut was beginning to heal up.

"Darn it! Now she has a healing factor..." thought the knight.

Fortunately, it didn't appear to be a very strong one...but it was noticable nonetheless.

It actually reminded her a bit of Naruto.

Speaking of Naruto, he was trying to get the zombies off of him.

"Erza! Help!" bellowed the chunin.

Frantically, Erza began to cut away the zombies.

"Thanks." answered Naruto.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror.

"Look out behind you!" exclaimed the chunin.

Erza immediately leapt out of the way, and not a moment too soon...as a skeleton warrior swung an axe at her head.

"Thanks." answered the knight.

"Since I realized how easily you were able to smash through my skeletons, I decided to upgrade them a bit." explained Chiyoye.

"Yeah, no kidding." answered Naruto.

"Chiyoye's so smart..." thought Erza.

Sure enough, she was having a hard time dealing with the skeleton warriors than before.

However, they were still winning.

"Hmm...this isn't going anywhere. I guess it's time for me to try using my cursed seal." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she activated the first stage of her cursed seal.

"That's Kimimaro's cursed seal." thought Naruto.

Kimimaro was right. She really had drained his cursed seal.

At this point, they had completely destroyed the skeleton army, though they had both been injured for their trouble.

"Now then...let's see if you can deal with this." said Chiyoye.

Immediately, she summoned all of the Sound Four's summons at once.

Naruto and Erza gasped. They were surrounded!

"This is not good." said Naruto.

Sure enough, they were now being flanked by all sides.

Getting desperate, Naruto started summoning his celestial spirits.

This time, he pulled out a key that reminded him of a crab.

He ended up summoning Cancer.

"Greetings! My name is Cancer!" bellowed the crab spirit.

"Can you help me?" asked Naruto.

"Sure! Would you like a haircut?" inquired Cancer.

"Maybe later." answered the chunin.

Immediately, Cancer began to attack the three doki, using his claws to try to cut their bandages.

However, the three doki were trying to smash him into the ground.

Shrugging, Naruto tried summoning another spirit.

Once again, it was one that he hadn't used before.

"This one reminds me of a goat." he thought.

Sure enough, he had summoned Capricorn this time.

"Hey." said Capricorn.

"Can you help me? This is an emergency...I'm dealing with a very evil sorceress...who at this point is basically a celestial spirit mage like me." stated Naruto.

"I was expecting Lucy..." noted the goat.

"I know. Can you help?" inquired the chunin.

Capricorn nodded.

Immediately, he punched the obsidian golem, causing it to fall over.

"Thank you." stated Naruto.

Suddenly, Kyodaigumo lunged towards the chunin.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Thankfully, Erza stabbed the spider in the head, causing her to screech.

However, the Rashomon gate was spewing skulls at her.

"Again, look out!" screeched the chunin.

"Thanks. You're a real lifesaver." answered Erza as she avoided the skulls.

"You too." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto used his Twin Rasengan to destroy the Rashomon gate.

Likewise, Kyodaigumo had burst into webbing as well.

Normally it would have held Erza down...but she was able to break free like she had done so with the bind snake earlier.

Chiyoye was a bit disappointed as how the battle was turning out.

"Not even my summons were able to take you down...well, I'm going full power." stated the sorceress.

Immediately, she activated the second stage of her cursed seal, causing Naruto and Erza to gasp in shock.

"Aah!" screamed Naruto.

"Good lord." thought Erza.

"Now then...why don't I try using the magic that Jellal so generously provided me? He sure has quite a few spells in his spellbook...I guess I'll use my most powerful ones." noted the chunin.

At this point, Cancer and Capricorn had defeated their respective opponents.

However, their victory would be short-lived.

Suddenly, Chiyoye fired several beams of light at the duo, causing them both to burst into yellow light.

"Chiyoye's gotten so strong...she defeated them so easily." murmured Naruto.

"I know." nodded Erza.

"Do you think you can defeat me now? Then again I would like to see you try." answered Chiyoye.

"For the sake of Fairy Tail, I must." answered the S-Class Mage.

"Once I've gotten enough magic power, I'll be paying them a little visit." said the sorceress.

"Oh no, you won't!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, he tossed a Wind Rasengan at Chiyoye, knocking her off her feet.

"Ergh!" exclaimed the sorceress.

Erza then followed by stabbing her in the leg, causing her to grimace.

"This time I'm not holding back! You're finished, Chiyoye!" bellowed Erza.

Once again, her swords began to glow pink. She was preparing for an all-out assault once again.

Unlike Jellal, however, she was ready and teleported out of the way.

She then began to summon a bind snake, hoping to tie them up again.

However, Naruto stabbed her in the arm with a kunai in order to make her stop.

Sighing, she decided to cast another spell.

This time, she had casted Altairis.

Suddenly, a small orb of darkness began to appear in her hands.

At first, it simply seemed like a darker version of Naruto's Rasengan, until it began to expand.

Eventually, she fired it at Naruto and Erza.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Naruto and Erza.

Immediately, they collapsed on the floor.

Chiyoye began to laugh. Had she finally won?

Naruto and Erza slowly helped themselves to their feet.

"Erza...how are we going to win this?" asked Naruto.

"I'm not sure, Naruto...she's just so strong." answered Erza.

"Yeah...she's certainly a lot stronger than she was before." stated the chunin.

"I'm not sure how we're going to battle her this time." said the knight.

Naruto sighed.

"There's only one thing left to do." said the former jinchuriki.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

Suddenly, he summoned some shadow clones to grab onto Chiyoye.

"You're using clones of yourself against me? Alright then, I'll just drain the life out of them and-"

The clones tossed Chiyoye into the lacrima, causing her to scream as it began to absorb her.

Erza raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to use the lacrima to defeat Chiyoye?" inquired the knight.

"I think it's worth it." answered Naruto.

"You're probably right. I'm worried about the possibility of Zeref returning to life though." stated Erza.

"Maybe we could change whose going to get resurrected?" inquired the chunin.

Curious, they began to fiddle with the lacrima.

Eventually, Erza decided on Mavis Vermillion.

However, when they went to change the settings, they suddenly began to hear evil laughter.

"Hmm?" inquired Naruto.

Erza looked at the lacrima, and gasped in shock.

"Um, Naruto...I don't think the lacrima is absorbing Chiyoye..." said the S-Class Mage.

"Huh?" asked the former jinchuriki.

"...I think she's absorbing it!" exclaimed Erza.

Naruto gasped.

Sure enough, Chiyoye was doing just that.

"Yes...so much power..." murmured the sorceress.

Curious, Naruto noticed that there was an instruction manual for using the lacrima nearby.

"In retrospect maybe we should have looked at it before we started fiddling with the machine." noted the chunin.

Flipping through the pages, he began to gasp in shock.

"What is it, Naruto?" inquired Erza curiously.

Naruto handed the instruction manual to Erza, and she gasped in shock as well.

"Oh my god, Chiyoye! You cannot do this!" bellowed the knight.

"Really? Why not?" asked the sorceress.

"If you do this, the Tower Of Heaven is going to explode! Everyone inside will die!" bellowed Naruto.

"Oh. Well, it was nice knowing them." said Chiyoye.

Suddenly, the lacrima began to crack. It looked like Chiyoye was almost done.

"No! No! No!" screamed Naruto.

Erza's jaw dropped in shock.

The cracks continued to spread across the lacrima...until eventually it shattered.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chiyoye.

Immedaitely, she began to laugh evilly.

"I have to admit, though I was hoping to get the opportunity to drain the life out of you two...this is so much better! I wish I had thought of this before...but no matter." said the sorceress.

Suddenly, the Tower Of Heaven was beginning to shake. It became clear that Naruto and Erza could not stay in the tower any longer.

"So long, Naruto and Erza. I may not have gotten the chance to absorb you...but having you caught in an enormous explosion is the next-best thing. To be honest, I'm not sure if I even need to drain you anymore. Have a nice day!" exclaimed the sorceress.

Letting out another evil laugh, she teleported out of the Tower Of Heaven.

"What are we going to do?" asked Naruto.

Frantically, they began to look for a way out of the tower.

However, as soon as they exited the cathedral, they realized that they had a nasty problem.

"The bridge!" bellowed the former jinchuriki.

"Oh, that's right...it collapsed during our scuffle with Dr. Usagi." noted Erza.

"Yeah..." nodded Naruto.

"Is that in? Are we both going to die here?" asked the knight.

"Well, death is a lot easier to deal with when I'm dying with a friend..." acknowledged Naruto.

Sighing, the two of them decided to head back to the lacrima so that they could watch it explode.

However, they quickly noticed something that they could use to save themselves.

"What's this?" inquired Naruto.

As it turned out, there was a crate that the zealots could use in order to protect themselves in case the lacrima shattered and they found themselves in a terrible situation...and by extension them.

"Thank goodness." murmured the former jinchuriki.

"Hmm?" asked Erza.

"I think we can use this crate to save ourselves!" exclaimed Naruto.

"We can?" inquired the knight.

"It says on the label that it happens to be explosion-proof..." said the chunin.

"I guess we should enter that crate then." answered Erza.

Quickly, they began to step in.

It was a bit cramped inside, but they were willing to overlook that considering the nasty situation they were in.

Immediately, Naruto put the lid back on.

"Here it goes." said the chunin.

Naruto and Erza both began to pray.

_Meanwhile..._

"I hope Naruto and Erza get back soon." said Hinata.

Suddenly, they noticed that the tower was beginning to...shake.

"Huh?" asked Natsu.

It was shaking even more vigourously now.

"It's going to explode!" screeched Lucy.

Happy screamed.

"We need to get out of here immediately!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"Why do villain lairs always collapse like this?" questioned Ino.

Choji shrugged.

"This is terrible!" bellowed Millianna.

"I'll say!" nodded Wally.

Kimimaro simply shook his head.

Sakura's teeth were chattering, and even Gajeel looked concerned.

Juvia was crying and Gray was trying to comfort her.

"Unfortunately, I heard that the Tower Of Heaven would do that if its lacrima was destroyed..." acknowledged Levy.

"Good lord!" screamed Jet.

"Somebody start the boat!" exclaimed Droy.

"I don't want to die!" bellowed Sho.

"But...what about Naruto and Erza?" asked Hinata.

"We might not be able to save them. They're still at the top of the tower..." stated Natsu.

A tear left Hinata's eye.

"You're right...we probably won't be able to do so..." nodded the kunoichi.

Sighing, she went to the steering wheel and began to drive away.

"Goodbye, Naruto..." thought Hinata.

It was always nice knowing him.

"Goodbye, Erza..." thought Natsu.

It was always nice knowing her.

It was going to be so much harder with them gone.

A few minutes after they left, the tower suddenly exploded, scattering parts of it everywhere.

Of course, Trinity Raven perished in the explosion, since they were still inside the tower when it did so.

And it was all because of Chiyoye.

It had been one big explosion indeed. It even shook their boat.

"Whoa!" bellowed Lucy.

"Don't tell me we're going to sink..." stated Shikamaru.

"When I turn into metal, I sink into stone." noted Gajeel.

"Don't turn into metal when around water then." answered Sakura.

Hinata and Natsu both began to cry.

Lucy frowned. It was rather tragic that she had lost both her interdimensional partner and the redhead she had grown to love.

She would have to grieve their deaths later.

_Meanwhile..._

Naruto and Erza heard the sound of an explosion, and began to wonder if the tower had exploded.

As it turned out, they were both sleeping...and having a nightmare.

_Hinata and Natsu were both crying excessively. Outside of Fairy Tail were two statues dedicated to Naruto and Erza for their bravery and sacrifices._

_Happy was bawling. Shikamaru was hugging Lucy tightly while Gray and Juvia were lying on the ground in shock._

_Likewise, Ino and Choji were rather upset as well. In fact, so was Team Shadow Gear. They all looked like they were about to cry._

_Gajeel was punching a wall in frustration, and so was Sakura._

_"Why did they have to die?!" screamed the Exceed._

_"I'm afraid we're all going to have to deal with it eventually. It's part of life." explained Makarov._

_"Yeah...but I would have liked to see them live a little longer." noted Happy._

_"So would I." nodded the guildmaster._

_Immediately, a tear exited his eye._

_"All of a sudden I don't want to eat anymore."_

_"Naruto...was my childhood crush..." murmured Hinata._

_"I know...Erza was one of my closest friends..." stated Natsu._

_"I'm going to miss Naruto. I loved going on missions with him." answered Gray._

_"I feel so bad about kidnapping him now..." stated Juvia._

_"I know it must be hard..." said the ice mage._

_"Yes, it is." nodded the water mage._

_"Naruto, why did you have to die on me!?" bellowed Sakura._

_"I was about to ask the same question...and to think I used him as a punching bag." stated Gajeel._

_All of a sudden, he was feeling incredibly guilty._

_In fact, so was Sakura herself. She remembered all the times she had punched and kicked him._

_Now, she couldn't even apologize._

_"This is a big tragedy..." stated Levy._

_"Yes, it is." nodded Droy._

_"I can't believe we lost two members of our guild on the same night..." murmured Jet._

Suddenly, Naruto woke up with a start.

"That was a terrible nightmare! It was the worst one I ever had!" bellowed the chunin.

"You had it too?" asked Erza.

"We had the same dream?" inquired Naruto.

"Apparently, we did." answered the knight.

"Where everyone misses us because we're deceased?" asked the chunin.

"It was awfully nice of them to put our two statues together." acknowledged Erza.

"Yes, it was." nodded Naruto.

"Should we...go tell our friends that we're still alive?" asked the knight.

"I think so." answered the former jinchuriki.

Immediately, he went to lift off the lid...

...only to find that it was stuck.

"Darn it! I think we're stuck here for a while." said Naruto.

Erza sighed.

"Well, I suppose I owe you my life. I think you deserve a reward." stated Erza.

Immediately, she leaned forward to give Naruto a kiss...

...but he stretched out his hand.

"Hmm? Don't you want me to kiss you on the lips? I figured you would enjoy that..." stated the knight.

"I would, I would...but I think I should be the one kissing you..." answered Naruto.

"How come?" asked Erza.

"Well, if it weren't for you...I wouldn't have made it out of the tower alive either." noted the chunin.

"Hmm...you're right." nodded the knight.

"I guess we're both even then." acknowledged Naruto.

"I guess we are...I know exactly what to do now." said Erza.

"You do?" asked Erza.

Immediately, she grabbed onto Naruto's head and moved his lips towards hers.

Apparently, they enjoyed it, because they continued to make out.

_At the boat..._

"This whole mission has been a disaster. We couldn't save Erza, and we couldn't save Naruto." said Lucy.

"I know..." nodded Shikamaru.

"At least we managed to save Erza's friends...she would have wanted us to do that." stated Natsu.

"Yes, she would." answered Hinata.

Sighing, she decided to look at what was left of the Tower Of Heaven one last time using her Byakugan.

"I'll miss you, Naruto." said the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she saw something that surprised her.

"What is it, Hinata?" inquired Natsu.

"I think Naruto and Erza are still alive!" bellowed Hinata.

"What? They are?! No way!" bellowed the male dragonslayer.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Happy.

"I'll go swim my way towards them. Wait for me!" exclaimed the female dragonslayer.

"Wait for me!" bellowed Natsu, diving into the water after them.

Immediately, Hinata went over to the crate that they were in and began to lift open the lid.

Sure enough, she found them...making out.

"You're such a good kisser..." remarked Erza.

"Ditto!" exclaimed Naruto.

Suddenly, the two of them noticed Hinata.

"Um, hi?" asked the chunin.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" apologized the female dragonslayer.

"No no it's fine. We were just about finished anyway." answered Erza.

"Yeah, I was getting a bit tired." noted Naruto.

"Alright then..." nodded Hinata.

"I'm sorry if you were disappointed, Hinata..." said the former jinchuriki.

"It's fine. You can be with whoever you want. I won't stop you." answered the Hyuga kunoichi.

Besides...she might have found someone else.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to make her unhappy.

"You do want to be a couple, right?" asked the chunin.

"Yes." nodded Erza.

Naruto began to smile.

"Say...what happened to your clothes?" inquired Hinata.

"My shirt got burned away..." explained Naruto.

"And you?" asked Hinata.

She had to admit, her sarashi was a bit...scanty.

"She just likes dressing like that as of late." answered the former jinchuriki.

"Like my bod?" asked the S-Class Mage with a smile on her face.

"Er, yeah..." nodded Hinata.

At that very moment, Natsu arrived as well.

Immediately, he removed Naruto and Erza from the crate and began to hug them tightly.

"I'm happy to see you again too." stated Erza.

"I'm losing my breath..." murmured Naruto.

"Let's get going back to the ship, shall we?" inquired Natsu.

"Yes, of course...should we keep the crate?" asked the knight.

"It might come in handy, I suppose." answered Hinata.

Immediately, Natsu lifted Naruto and Erza on his back while Hinata carried the rather heavy crate.

They arrived on the boat shortly.

"So, we succeeded on our mission? Are you two safe?" inquired Levy.

Naruto and Erza nodded.

Sakura slapped Naruto in the face.

"Don't worry me like that again, Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Take it easy on him! We just hooked up!" bellowed Erza.

"Oh, did you...sorry about that." apologized the kunoichi.

"You are one lucky man!" bellowed Gajeel.

"Yeah, I am." nodded Naruto.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Erza.

Immediately, their boat sped off into the distance.

As they did so, Naruto began to ask himself a question.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's going to be a bunch of intermissions now?" thought Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, did everything go according to plan?" inquired Hades.

"Not really." answered Ultear.

Sure enough, he and Ultear were discussing the events of the Tower Of Heaven. Unfortunately, it appeared that something had gone wrong.

Immediately, she began to sigh.

"What happened?" asked the leader of Grimoire Heart.

"Somebody sabotaged the lacrima...and the entire tower exploded. There's hardly anything left now." explained the ice mage.

"Who would do something like that?" inquired Hades. Not someone that ke knew, that was for sure.

"Someone with way too much time on their hands, apparently. And to think that tower took so long to build, too. What a waste of time." remarked Ultear.

"Hmm..." thought the man.

"Unfortunately, it looks like Jellal won't be unsealing Zeref. Somebody came along and killed him, too." explained the ice mage.

"That is a problem..." noted Hades.

"Is it ever." answered Ultear.

"What are we going to do..." stated the powerful magician.

"I guess we might have to dirty our hands a bit...see if we can try to unseal Zeref ourselves." acknowledged the test subject.

"It looks that way..." nodded Hades. Even with Jellal gone, surely they would still be able to come out on top, right?

"But for now I think we should try to relax. I wouldn't want to do anything foolish... " stated Ultear.

"Good point." acknowledged the elderly mage.

"I have to wonder though...why would someone want to shatter the lacrima?" questioned the ice woman.

"You're right...that is rather odd. I can't think of anyone who would want to do so..." answered Hades, scratching his head.

"Hmm...I might have to look into it." stated Ultear. Was there something sinister going on?

"Maybe we should." nodded the leader of Grimoire Heart.

Hopefully everything would go to plan next time.

But for now, they decided that they would remain inactive for the time being.

Maybe when the next opportunity came along, they supposed.

_At Igneel's residence..._

"Ah, Grandeeny. What brings you here?" inquired the fire dragon.

"I sense something...evil approaching." answered Grandeeney.

"Something evil?! Is it the dragon king?" questioned Igneel.

"Nothing like that. But it's definitely something sinister, I can feel it." stated the wind dragon.

"Hmm..." murmured Natsu's foster father.

"I think we should try to aid Fairy Tail..." murmured Grandeeney.

"I already did that! I sent Natsu to them already!" exclaimed Igneel.

"You sure you should have abandoned him?" inquired the wind dragon.

"Didn't you abandon your apprentice?" asked the fire dragon.

"I got busy..." answered Grandeeny.

"So did I." stated Igneel.

"Alright then." nodded the wind dragon.

"You think maybe you should try sending her to them?" asked the male dragon.

"That...actually isn't a bad idea." noted Grandeeney.

"You did say that she learned healing magic..." stated Igneel.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to teach her much in the way of offensive magic..." explained the female dragon.

"Maybe you should pay her a visit again? I know that when I came back the first thing I wanted was for Natsu to come visit me." said the fire dragon.

"Maybe I should...but for the time being, I think I'll just contact her." stated Grandeeney.

"And how will you do that?" inquired Igneel.

"I happen to be quite fluent in telepathy." explained the wind dragon.

"Alright then." nodded the male dragon.

Immediately, she used her telepathy to contact her foster daughter, which of course was Wendy Marvell.

"Huh?" asked Wendy.

"Can you hear me?" inquired Grandeeney.

"Yes, I can. Is that really you?" questioned the wind dragonslayer.

"Yes, it is." answered the female dragon.

"Oh my gosh! I've missed you so much! You've got to visit me sometime!" exclaimed Wendy.

"I know, I know. I apologize. I really should have visited you a bit more. But nowadays I've been rather busy...and so has Igneel." stated Grandeeney.

"I see..." nodded the female mage.

"I need you to head to Fairy Tail...it shouldn't be too far from your current guild." explained the wind dragon.

"But what about my friends?" inquired Wendy.

"About that...your guild happens to be an illusion." clarified Grandeeney.

"What?" asked the wind dragonslayer.

Curious, she put her hand through one of the mages, and it passed right through.

"Wow...you were right." answered Wendy.

Shrugging, she began to pack her bags.

"When should I leave?" asked the female mage.

"Whenever you're ready." stated the wind dragon.

"Alright then." nodded Wendy.

Suddenly, her mind began to clear.

Immediately, she began to walk towards Fairy Tail.

Thankfully, there was an enormous sign saying "This Way To Fairy Tail" nearby, along with an arrow pointing directly towards its direction.

"Here I go." said the wind dragonslayer.

_At the seas of the world of ninja..._

Kenichi was feeling rather disappointed. So far he had not had the perfect opportunity to vanquish the foes that had been on the back of his mind for quite some time.

So far, they had survived his wrath, and he was getting rather annoyed.

But he was too busy to deal with them. He always had another village to deal with, and he needed to keep conserving his chakra.

Now that he thought of it...who was going to continue his work while he was gone? He may have the Rinnegan, but not even he was going to be around forever.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that maybe he should find an apprentice to continue his work.

"Not a bad idea..." he thought.

The only question was where exactly was he going to find a ninja that was powerful enough to continue his work?

Shrugging, he decided that he might as well get started.

Eventually, he came to a cruise ship, and encountered a kunoichi that attracted his interest.

Curious, he went over to take a closer look.

He immediately noticed that she was making a painting that detailed a lion devouring a gazelle.

It was a rather gruesome picture, and the other passengers were rather freaked out by it.

Kenichi simply smiled. Perhaps this was the one that he was looking for?

Immediately, he jumped down to where she was.

"Can I help you?" asked the artistan.

"My name is Kenichi. Kenichi Chikawa." stated the darwinist.

"Kenichi Chikawa, you say. My name is Akiko Kaiga. I've heard quite a bit about you. You're trying to rid the world of ninja of the weak, are you not?" inquired Akiko.

"Yes, I am." nodded Kenichi.

"Well, I always did say that the weak would have their lives taken by the strong." said the painter.

"Then we're on the same level." answered the Rinnegan wielder.

"I haven't really been able to act out on those fantasies, though. I've always been worried that I'd get caught." said Akiko.

"Well, Akiko. Let me tell you something. Regardless of how many people I've killed, I've never been caught once. In fact, people usually tend to stay away from me. I've wracked up quite a reputation." explained Kenichi.

Sure enough, everyone on the ship seemed to be rather nervous. However, they had not noticed him yet.

If they had, they would likely take their chances and jump overboard.

"Oh, you haven't? Interesting..." said Akiko.

"I noticed that you happened to be a powerful kunoichi..." stated Kenichi.

"I sure am. I can actually bring my drawings to life using my chakra." explained the artistan.

"Well then, how would you like to be my apprentice?" asked the Rinnegan wielder.

"You mean it? Alright then." stated Akiko.

"Alright then...your first order of business is...to kill everyone on this ship." stated Kenichi.

"Consider it done!" bellowed the artistan.

Immediately, she began to bring the painting of the lion she drew to life.

A few minutes later, the painting began to attack the passengers.

Akiko began to paint more pictures, laughing all the while as the carnage unfolded.

Kenichi smirked with satisfaction. He just might have what he needed to deal with those pests that kept escaping his wrath.

_At a small island near the Tower Of Heaven..._

"Well, that was a pretty big explosion." noted Chiyoye.

She had to admit, it excited her greatly. To think that so many people had died at her hand.

It was truly exhilarating.

Not only that, she was feeling stronger than ever.

"That lacrima filled me with power! So much power! I feel like I'm a goddess!" exclaimed the sorceress.

If she kept it up, maybe she would become a goddess.

Of course, she still wasn't sure if she should take on Fairy Tail yet. Maybe later. For now, she wanted to test out her newfound strength.

While she was at it, perhaps she should create a commander for her undead army. That would make things a lot easier.

This time...she would be creating a death knight. It was actually something that she hadn't tried before...

How was she going to go about this? She was going to transplant the souls of one of the people she killed inside the body of an undead.

Immediately, she summoned a corpse for that very task.

"Now then..." said Chiyoye.

Whipping up another spell, Chiyoye summoned a spirit.

She then placed the soul inside the corpse, thus allowing her complete control.

Finally, she outfitted the corpse with a suit of armor.

"Now all he needs is a sword..." stated the sorceress.

Immediately, she handed him one.

"What is your bidding, mistress?" asked the death knight.

Chiyoye laughed. She now had a commander for her undead army.

Now all that was left now was to look for a way to test out his combat potential.

"Another city, perhaps?" she thought.

There was always another victim to drain.

Elsewhere, Levy noticed that the crystal ball indicating Chiyoye's power level had turned orange.

"This is really bad..." thought the letter mage.

_At Orochimaru's hideout..._

"Apparently, the Sound Four weren't cut out for the task of bring me the boy..." noted Orochimaru.

No matter. He knew exactly who to send this time.

"Sasuke Uchiha, come here!" exclaimed the Sannin.

"You called for me, master?" inquired Sasuke.

"I have a task for you..." stated Orochimaru.

"A...task?" asked the Uchiha ninja.

"I want you to hunt down Naruto Uzumaki...I believe that he was an old friend of yours, correct?" questioned the snake ninja.

"Yes, he was." nodded Sasuke.

Sometimes, he wondered if he made the right choice. Then again, he was willing to do anything if it meant avenging his clan.

Itachi must pay.

"Wait...didn't you say that you wanted me as a host body?" inquired the former citizen of Konoha.

"I still have a few weeks left. And I've got a summoning scroll that you can use to bring yourself back here..." stated Orochimaru.

"Alright then...but what if someone else tries using the scroll?" asked Sasuke.

Orochimaru pulled out a kunai and cut Sasuke's hand.

He then poured his blood across the scroll.

"Sheesh." though the Uchiha clan member.

"There...now only you can use the scroll." stated the Sannin.

"There's still one more thing that's worrying me. What if I get injured?" inquired Sasuke.

"I'll bring along Kabuto's apprentice...she should be able to give you a hand if that happens." explained Orochimaru.

"He has an apprentice too?" asked the missing-nin.

"As a matter of fact, he does." answered the Sannin.

"Sounds like a plan...I'll agree on one condition." said the black-haired teenager.

"And that is?" inquired the snake ninja.

"You assign this mission to me and me alone." stated Sasuke.

"I wasn't going to bring anyone else! Don't worry about it." answered Orochimaru.

"Right, of course." nodded the apprentice.

Immediately, he left to begin his search for the boy.

"Naruto is such a promising test subject...his nine-tailed fox will serve me greatly. Konoha will not survive his wrath...I will make sure of that." stated the snake ninja.

However, for some strange reason, he was starting to get the feeling that he should be hunting down someone else.

He wasn't quite sure. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Hmm..." thought Orochimaru.

Shrugging, he decided to have Sasuke work on his mission for now.

If there was anyone that could complete it, it was him.

Immediately, he began to laugh.

_Well, this sure was a heap of foreshadowing, wasn't it?_

_I like to leave things on a cliffhanger I suppose._

_And yes, that was the end of Part II!_

_Part III will feature some new characters...both canon...and fanon._

_See you!_


	46. Chapter 46: Returning To Fairy Tail

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, everyone's going to return to Fairy Tail after their long vacation. And yes, they're going to find out about Naruto and Erza hooking up._

_And yes, we're starting Part III. Expect more interdimensional partners._

_In fact, we're going to try to focus on several different characters...some of which haven't received much screentime._

_How about that?_

**Chapter 46: Returning To Fairy Tail**

"Well, we're finally back home!" exclaimed Naruto.

"We sure are." nodded Erza.

Sure enough, Erza and Naruto had arrived back at Fairy Tail. They had both escaped from the Tower Of Heaven and they were finally allowed to head back where they belonged.

Immediately, she began to snuggle up to him, causing Naruto to blush.

"Hey everyone! Erza and I are a couple now!" exclaimed the chunin.

The other mages began to look at Naruto and Erza curiously.

"Yes, it's true...we hooked up during our latest mission." explained the knight.

The mages began to applaud.

"We all worked together to prevent Zeref from being resurrected...and we succeeded." stated Erza.

At that very moment, Makarov arrived on the scene.

"Thank goodness! I was worried about you all...you never told me where you were going." explained the guildmaster.

"Oh, right...we didn't." noted Erza.

"Erza got kidnapped, so I went to save her. In the process, we hooked up." explained Naruto.

"So, it was a rescue romance then?" inquired Makarov.

"Yeah...we basically took turns rescuing each other." explained the knight.

"I see..." answered the guildmaster.

"Now we're a couple and we're happy as we can be." noted the chunin.

"That's nice...so, your friends helped you stop Jellal?" questioned Makarov.

"Yes, they did." answered Erza.

"Well, kudos to them, I suppose. Still, I wonder where they've all wandered off to." noted the guildmaster.

"Me too." nodded Naruto.

"Well, wherever they are, they should know that I'm proud of them for helping a friend in need." stated Makarov.

"We're proud of them too." agreed Erza.

Immediately, Erza gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek, causing him to smile.

"If you need us, we'll be hanging out together. I wonder where Erza's friends went." answered Naruto.

"I heard that Millianna went to join an all-female guild...as for Sho and Wally, I'm not quite sure." stated the knight.

"Alright then." nodded the former jinchuriki.

Together, the two of them sat down at a table.

"Personally, I wonder how my interdimensional partner is doing..." stated Naruto.

"Lucy? I believe that she's at her apartment as we speak." answered Erza.

"Oh, that makes sense." answered the chunin.

"I also believe Shikamaru went to visit her." explained the knight.

"That's nice of him." noted Naruto.

"Mm-hmm." stated Erza.

"Did you know that she started drawing power from the nine-tailed fox?" inquired the former jinchuriki.

"Oh, did she?" asked the knight.

"Yes, she did." nodded the chunin.

"That was very interesting." answered the S-Class Mage.

"I'm so glad we're a couple." stated Naruto.

"Amen!" exclaimed Erza.

Immediately, the two of them began to grin.

"Goodbye!" parted Naruto.

Naruto jumped through the interdimensional portal.

"I'll see you later." stated Erza.

Personally, she was beginning to wonder if she should try using the interdimensional portal herself.

Then again, she felt that she wasn't quite ready for that.

Maybe she could have Naruto show her around?

_Meanwhile at Lucy's apartment..._

"Lucy? Are you there?" asked Shikamaru.

Today, Shikamaru decided to wear a purple shirt and some blue pants. He just felt like wearing those particular colors today.

Immediately, he began to knock on her door.

There was no response.

"Hmm." thought the shadow ninja.

Suddenly, he realized something important.

"Oh man! I need to use the bathroom really bad!" exclaimed the teenage boy.

Unfortunately, he had drank too much soda pop.

"I hope that she doesn't mind..." thought the jonin.

Immediately, Shikamaru raced to Lucy's bathroom. Thankfully, it wasn't far from the entrance.

Quickly, he opened the door and went to use the toilet.

"Hey there, Shikamaru! Um, why are you taking off your pants in front of me?" asked Lucy.

Shikamaru looked at Lucy, and wet his pants.

Sure enough, there was Lucy taking a bubble bath.

Fortunately for the sake of his sanity, she was up to her shoulders.

Unfortunately, this resulted in his wetting his pants.

"Oh my gosh! Lucy, forgive me!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"Why do you want to apologize?" asked Lucy.

"You-you're-"

"What? Oh, now I get it! Don't worry...I'm wearing a swimsuit." answered the jinchuriki.

Immediately, she lifted herself out of the water up to her waist, revealing that she was wearing a strapless green bikini.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief.

"I started wearing this when I take my baths because of the perverted fox living inside me..." explained Lucy.

**"Darn it! Why do you have to be so smart?" **inquired Kurama.

"Did you think I was dumb just because I'm a blonde?" questioned Lucy.

**"Well, Naruto did give me that impression." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"That's a relief...unfortunately, I wet my pants." explained Shikamaru.

"That's OK. You can use Natsu's swim trunks...I'm not sure why he gave them to me." answered the kunoichi.

Shikamaru shrugged.

Immediately, she tossed him a pair of Natsu's swim trunks. Unsurprisingly, they happened to be black.

"You can use my bedroom to change." stated Lucy.

"Thanks." answered Shikamaru.

Shikamaru went to Lucy's bedroom to change, and came back later wearing Natsu's swim trunks.

Seeing Shikamaru in a swimsuit suddenly gave her an idea.

"Do you want to...join me in the bath?" asked Lucy.

"Huh? Sure." answered the jonin.

Immediately, he took off his shirt, causing Lucy to squeal.

"What?" asked Shikamaru.

"I went fangirl for a second. Sorry about that." apologized the jinchuriki.

"It's alright. I do happen to be a ladies' man nowadays." answered the jonin.

"I can see why!" exclaimed Lucy.

Shikamaru began to blush.

Immediately, he joined Lucy in the bath.

"I'm starting to see why you like taking bubble baths so much..." noted the shadow ninja.

"Yeah...it's one of the reasons why I decided to stay in this apartment." explained Lucy.

"I see." answered Shikamaru.

"I had a hard time finding a swimsuit that was my size...hence the lack of straps." stated the kunoichi.

"Why would you have a hard time finding a bikini that matched your...oh, yeah..." answered Shikamaru.

"I know. So, how are things going with your teammates?" asked the kunoichi.

"Pretty good. Their training with my sensei is going pretty well." answered the jonin.

"That's a relief." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy began to blow some bubbles.

Shrugging, Shikamaru began to do as well.

It was actually rather fun.

"So, how does it feel to have access to some of the nine-tailed fox's power?" inquired the jonin.

"It feels surprisingly good." answered Lucy.

"That's good to hear." noted Shikamaru.

"I didn't know I had it in me, to be honest." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"I suppose it was a bit of a surprise to you." comprehended the jonin.

"Yeah, it sure was." nodded Lucy.

"What exactly triggered it, anyway? I can't remember..." stated Shikamaru.

"I think it was because you got injured by Simon." answered the kunoichi.

"Oh, right..." acknowledged the jonin.

"Yeah...Kurama said that I'd start gaining access to his power once I got aggravated enough." explained Lucy.

"It's nice that you care that much about me." answered Shikamaru.

"Say there, Shikamaru...would you like to go on a date later?" inquired the jinchuriki.

"Huh? Sure. I guess it's worth a shot." noted the shadow ninja.

"Alright then." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy and Shikamaru both pulled themselves out of the bathtub.

They then took turns drying each other off.

"We've got to do this again sometime." answered the jonin.

"Yeah." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Shikamaru put his shirt back on and took his pants so that they could get washed later.

"Next time try not to hold it in too long. It's going to take me a while to clean that up." suggested the kunoichi.

"I will..." nodded Shikamaru.

_Meanwhile at Konoha..._

"Why do you want us to walk with you to school again?" asked Udon.

"It's the school bullies! They won't leave me alone!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

"Can't you just stand up to them?" inquired Moegi.

"I'm outnumbered." answered the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Oh." comprehended the bespectacled genin.

"I thought I had seen the last of them too. I haven't seen Momoo or the rest of the Sorority since the Chunin Exams. Their catastrophobic failure must have really hurt their ego." noted Konohamaru.

"Wait? Did they say that the gang bullying you is known as the Sorority?" inquired Udon.

"And that their ringleader's name is Momoo?" asked Moegi.

"I'm surprised that they had an ego to begin with!" exclaimed the bespectacled genin.

"Uh-huh!" nodded the genin kunoichi.

Immediately, the two of them began to laugh.

Konohamaru was not amused.

"They're not funny, guys! I've lost count on how many times they've bullied me! At this rate I'm going to run to my house and cry like a baby!" bellowed the genin.

Udon and Moegi stopped laughing.

"Oh, right. They're bullying you. So sorry to hear that." sympathized Moegi.

"I've been bullied in the past too." answered Udon.

"Have you been bullied this persistently?" asked Konohamaru.

"I don't think so...usually the bullies leave me alone after a while...they decide that they need to move on to someone else." stated the bespectacled ninja-in-training.

"Why would they want to bully you anyway?" inquired the genin kunoichi.

"Maybe it's because I'm a Sarutobi." answered the Sarutobi clan member.

"Well, there's a lot of people that would like to be part of that clan." acknowledged Udon.

"That's true. Part of me actually wishes that I was part of that clan myself." noted Moegi.

"Not only that, but I happen to be a fast learner. I almost always do well in school." stated Konohamaru.

"You do?" asked the genin that bore an uncanny resemblance to Kabuto Yakushi.

"Yeah..." nodded the grandson of the Third Hokage.

_"Congratulations, Konohamaru! You got an A on that test! Keep it up and you'll be a chunin in no time!" exclaimed Ebisu._

_"Yes!" cheered Konohamaru._

_Nearby, Momoo's jonin instructor (a rather burly-looking man that somewhat resembled Mr. T) shook his head._

_"Momoo, you got an F. You're going to have to try harder next time." stated the man._

_Momoo stamped his foot on the ground in frustration._

_A few days later, Ebisu had Konohamaru do some pushups._

_"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!" exclaimed the boy._

_"Congratulations! You did that in record time! Good job!" bellowed the jonin instructor._

_Unfortunately, Momoo could not do the same. In fact, he could not even do one pushup._

_"Would you like to do something else?" inquired his jonin teacher._

_Momoo punched a tree in frustration, bruising his hand in the process._

_A few more days later, Ebisu had Konohamaru paint a picture._

_"What this have to do with ninja training?" inquired the genin._

_"Good question. You see, I figured that you would have an easier time being a ninja if you learned to open your mind." explained Ebisu._

_"Good point. I actually understand your logic." nodded Konohamaru._

_Immediately, he began to paint a picture._

_He finished a few minutes later._

_"How did I do?" asked the genin._

_Ebisu took a look at the picture._

_His eyes widened in surprise...though his sunglasses didn't make it visible._

_"What a picture you drew of your grandfather! I think it belongs in an art museum!" bellowed Ebisu._

_Immediately, he took it to the Konoha Museum Of Art._

_"I'll be right back." said the jonin._

_"See you!" exclaimed Konohamaru._

_Unfortunately for Momoo, he had very different tastes in art._

_"Look, Sensei Takihiro! I made a picture of a ninja being brutally slaughtered! Isn't it beautiful?" inquired the genin._

_Takihiro shook his head._

_"Tomoo, violence is not what being a ninja is about. I demand that you draw something else." answered the jonin instructor._

_Momoo tore the painting in half in frustration._

_"It's not fair! Why does he do so much better in class?" thought the boy._

"Those flashbacks...actually explained a lot." noted Konohamaru.

"Say, do you hear something?" inquired Udon.

Suddenly, Momoo jumped out of the bushes wearing a scary-looking mask.

"Ooga booga booga!" bellowed Momoo, shaking his arms back and forth.

Team Ebisu immediately screamed, and they began to leap away.

Momoo took off his mask a few minutes later.

"What a bunch of babies!" exclaimed the bully.

Konohamaru let out a sigh. Momoo had bullied him...again.

Not only that, not even his friends could save him from being bullied.

"I'm sorry Konohamaru...we messed up." apologized Moegi.

"Would you like us to try again?" inquired Udon.

"No thanks. To be honest, I can't help but shake the feeling that there's someone whose going to save me from the bullies one day. Maybe they'll even give me a few self-defense lessons." noted Konohamaru.

"That's optimistic." answered the kunoichi.

"Then again, maybe it's just wishful thinking." noted the Sarutobi genin.

"Maybe..." nodded Udon.

"Well, thanks for trying." stated Konohamaru.

"You're welcome." answered Moegi.

_Elsewhere..._

Hinata was sparring with Kiba and Shino, trying to practice being a kunoichi.

However, she was quickly wiping the floor with them both.

Why you may ask? Kiba and Akamaru couldn't get too close to Hinata without getting burned, and Shino's bugs were getting scorched every time they tried approaching her.

"I feel like I'm on fire...oh wait, that's right. I literally am on fire." thought Hinata.

"What do we do, Akamaru? We can't touch her! If you try doing that, you're going to be a hot dog!" bellowed Kiba.

Ironically, hot dogs actually sounded good right about now.

"Ruff..." murmured Akamaru. He had tried urinating on Hinata to put out her fire, but he had almost gotten arrested by Kakashi's ninken team for public indecency.

Things were always so much simpler when they were out in the wilderness. They never had to deal with any "No Dogs Allowed" signs.

"Who would have thought that there was a prison for dogs?" questioned the dog user.

Akamaru dropped his head sadly. It was their only hope, and it turned out to be illegal.

It looked as if they were simply outmatched. Hinata had won.

"Why are my bugs so attracted to the flames? Can't they see they're dangerous?" questioned Shino.

At that very moment, Kurenai came by to oversee their progress.

She was satisfied with the results.

"You've shown remarkable approvement, Hinata." said the jonin.

"Thank you, Sensei Kurenai." answered Hinata.

"It feels like we're fighting a firebreathing dragon..." noted Kiba.

"Arf!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Well, in a way, I am a firebreathing dragon." explained the kunoichi.

"I know..." nodded Shino.

"I even merged with Natsu to become a firebreathing dragon, actually." stated Hinata.

"What? You did?" inquired the bug user.

"Isn't that like our combination jutsu?" questioned Kiba.

"Arf!" bellowed Akamaru.

"I know. We used it to defeat an owlman." explained Hinata.

"Congratulations." answered Shino.

"And then he perished in an enormous explosion." sighed the kunoichi.

"What happened?" questioned Kiba.

"Let's just say that someone's powerhungry beyond salvation." answered Hinata.

"Oh dear..." murmured Shino. Unfortunately, there were some ninja that happened to be like that.

At that very moment, Asuma arrived on the scene.

"You know, it's funny. As of now, all of my ninja students have become interdimensional partners." explained the jonin.

"Have they?" inquired Kurenai.

"I know...has the same happened to your students?" asked Asuma.

"Just Hinata. But look how much she's improved!" exclaimed the jonin kunoichi.

Sure enough, Hinata was ripping a tree from the ground by the roots.

"No kidding." answered the Sarutobi jonin. He wasn't sure even he could do that.

"I'll take this to the lumberyard." stated Hinata.

"Good idea." nodded Kurenai.

Immediately, Hinata went to perform this D-Rank Mission. Well, maybe C-Rank. That log was rather heavy, and it could injure someone if not lifted right.

"I'm actually interested in meeting Hinata's interdimensional partner." noted the genjutsu specialist.

"Are you now?" inquired Asuma.

"Yes, I am." confirmed Kurenai.

"I'm interesting in meeting my team's interdimensional partners myself. They do seem awfully similar..." noted the Sarutobi jonin.

"I know. It's kind of weird." answered the jonin kunoichi.

Asuma and Kurenai shrugged.

_At Tsunade's training center._

"Why did you bring me here?" inquired Gray. He wanted to go on a date with Juvia.

"I figured you would benefit from some training." answered Tsunade.

"Oh..." acknowledged the ice mage. That made sense, he supposed. It would be nice if he learned how to use Sakura's natural abilities a bit better.

"Since you were Sakura's interdimensional partner, I figured I might as well teach you a few tricks." stated the Sannin.

Suddenly, Gray began to take his clothes off, much to Tsunade's surprise.

"What are you doing?!" bellowed the Fifth Hokage. That was not something that she had requested Gray to do.

"Sorry! My stripping habit is kicking in!" apologized Gray as he put his clothes back on.

"Where did you even get that habit?" questioned the Sannin.

"From my old mentor, ironically enough." answered the devil slayer.

"Well, I hope you're happy. My apprentice is a stripper now, and it's all thanks to you." stated Tsunade.

"OK, I admit it! I'm wearing a skimpy outfit today! Jiraiya talked me into it! He said I would look beautiful!" bellowed Shizune.

Immediately, a tear left the unfortunate woman's eye.

Sure enough, Shizune was wearing a purple tube top that exposed a fair bit of cleavage and a green miniskirt that showed off quite a bit of her legs.

Gray immediately sweatdropped. How long was she in this room?

"I, er...didn't see you there." stated Sakura's interdimensional partner somewhat nervously.

"I wasn't talking about you, Shizune. I was talking about Sakura. She nearly stripped down in front of Konohamaru. If I hadn't shown up when I did he would have gone blind." explained Tsunade.

"Oh..." answered Shizune.

"Now that I think of it, I was wondering why you were dressed like that." noted the Sannin.

"Would you like to join the stripper club? We've already got two members." asked Gray.

"I'll go change." said Tsunade's jonin apprentice.

Gray shrugged.

"Now then, where were we? Ah yes. Why don't you try practicing a healing jutsu for me." stated the ice mage.

"But where are we going to find someone to heal?" inquired the ice mage.

He didn't see anyone anywhere.

Suddenly, he heard a rather familiar voice.

It was none other than Takeshi, who wouldn't stop escaping from the slave camp. He was just too crafty.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed the man.

"Trying to assassinate the Fifth Hokage? You've got some nerve." answered Gray.

"Can't you just get another Hokage? That's what you did when the Third Hokage got axed." questioned the lunatic.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. That actually made a degree of sense...even if she didn't want to leave the village undefended.

"Well, yes we can, but-"

"Here I go!" bellowed Takeshi.

Tsunade sighed.

Immediately, he began to toss no less than a dozen kunai at the Fifth Hokage.

Unfortunately for Takeshi, they all bounced off of her D-Cup.

The maniac gasped in shock.

"Are you done yet? It's my turn." answered Tsunade.

Immediately, she punched Takeshi in the face, knocking out several teeth.

Apparently, he was badly wounded, because he passed out instantly.

"Now you have something to practice on. Sheesh, he really bit off more than he can chew." stated the Sannin.

"OK..." answered Gray. Something told him that it was in his best interest not to make Tsunade angry.

Immediately, he began to use Sakura's healing jutsu to heal Takeshi.

Gradually, his teeth began to regenerate.

"Very good. It appears that you've inherited Sakura's talent. I shouldn't have expected any less." stated the Sannin.

"Can I go home now? You kind of...scared me." answered Gray.

"I suppose your guildmaster will get worried if you stay away from your guild for too long." acknowledged Tsunade.

"Do you want me to take Takeshi back to your slave camp?" asked the ice mage.

"Yes." nodded the Sannin.

Immediately, Gray began to drag Takeshi back to where he belonged...though personally he thought that belonged in a strait jacket.

_At Neji's (and of course Hinata's) house..._

Tenten knocked on Neji's door.

He answered it a few minutes later.

"Hello?" asked Neji.

Curious, he noticed that it was none other than one of his teammates, and didn't feel very surprised as a result.

"Good to see you again." stated the jonin.

"Did you hear the news?" inquired Tenten.

"The news?" questioned the Hyuga clan member.

"Hinata's a fire dragonslayer!" exclaimed the kunai-tossing kunoichi.

"Er, yeah. I already knew she could manipulate fire. That's interesting to hear." answered Neji.

"Isn't it awesome?" asked Tenten.

"Er, yeah. It is. She really makes my day." nodded the martial artist. Personally he was surprised that Hinata was so strong all of a sudden.

"Really? She makes a sumo wrestler look like a kitten." questioned Neji.

"She sure does. I guess a kunoichi can really be as strong as a male ninja." answered Tenten.

"Yeah, I guess you were right, Tenten. You were right all along." answered the Hyuga clan member.

"To think she had no confidence in herself back when she was a genin." he thought.

Why had things suddenly changed?

Immediately, Tenten left his house.

"See you later!" bellowed Tenten.

Personally he was starting to wish that things had stayed the same.

But he then remembered that Konoha was always changing for the better, and realized that he did not want it to stagnate.

"Oh, that's right..." noted Neji.

He supposed that he could live with it.

Still, he was starting to feel a bit jealous of Hinata. He hardly got to know his own father...even if he got to spend some quality time with his uncle.

But once again, he decided to put these feelings behind him. There was only so much therapy that Naruto could give him.

"Why aren't there any therapists in Konoha?" he thought. Something told him that it would make life a lot easier for them if they did.

But unfortunately Lady Tsunade was too lazy to hire some.

Personally he wondered if Naruto should apply for the position...if he ever wanted to retire from being a ninja.

Then again, Naruto would probably want to retire from being a ninja in the next million years.

Some ninja were just not meant to retire...just look at the Third Hokage.

Then again, maybe if he had retired, he wouldn't end up trapped inside the stomach of the Grim Reaper itself.

"What a way to end a career." thought Neji.

Speaking of Naruto, he heard that he could now summon a wide variety of Celestial Sprites or whatever they were called.

On the other hand, he had lost his ability to draw power from the nine-tailed fox, though curiously enough he seemed stronger than before nonetheless.

He in fact had inadvertently given his nine-tailed fox to someone else.

"I didn't know that could happen." thought Neji. Last time he checked, ninja typically handed a tailed beast to another on purpose.

It must have been a shock to them both.

Personally he wondered what it would be like to have a tailed beast of his own if an incident like that happened.

"Of course, I would probably need to be a Fairy Tail mage first." acknowledged Neji.

Speaking of which, he wondered how his other cousin Hanabi happened to be doing. She didn't seem to be at home at the moment.

"I hope she's doing OK." thought the Hyuga clan member.

_Elsewhere in Konoha..._

Inari let out a sigh.

At that very moment, Hanabi approached him.

"Hey there! What's the matter?" inquired the kunoichi.

"It's my grandfather and my mother...they both died." explained Inari.

"What? They did? That's terrible!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"I know. My hometown got destroyed too. I was the only survivor..." answered the sole survivor of the Land Of Waves massacre.

Immediately, Hanabi gave Inari a hug.

"Thanks. I needed that after everything I went through." answered the boy.

"So, did you move here after that terrible incident?" asked the kunoichi.

"Yes, I did. On the plus side, the citizens here seem friendly enough. They're helping me adapt to my new life." explained Inari.

"I see." nodded Hanabi.

"It seems the day that Gato decided to take over the Land Of Waves was only a sign of what was to come." acknowleded the boy.

"What exactly happened?" questioned the Hyuga clan member.

"My hometown got wiped out...by a madman." explained Inari.

"A madman?" inquired Hanabi.

"Yes...it was Kenichi Chikawa." continued the boy.

"Kenichi Chikawa?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"You've heard of him?" asked Inari.

"Oh believe me...almost everyone in Konoha has." answered Hanabi.

"Have they now?" questioned the boy.

"Hiashi Hyuga told me that he actually wasn't a rumor...he told me that if I ever saw him, do not make eye contact." explained the kunoichi.

"That's the best advice I've ever heard in a while." acknowledged Inari.

"Of course, considering that I have the Byakugan, that's going to be kind of difficult..." noted Hanabi.

"You have the Byakugan?" asked the boy.

"Of course I do. So does the rest of my clan." answered the kunoichi.

"Oh, that's right...you're part of the Hyuga clan, right?" inquired Inari.

"I sure am. The Byakugan is our pride and joy. Now if only people would stop trying to steal it. They need to respect other people's property." nodded Hanabi.

Immediately, the two of them introduced themselves to each other.

"So, your name is Hanabi, right?" questioned the boy.

"You heard me right." answered the Hyuga clan member.

"I appreciate you trying to comfort me." nodded Inari.

"You can have one of my old dolls." explained Hanabi.

Immediately, Hanabi handed Inari a Barbie doll.

"Thanks...but I've stopped playing with dolls a long time ago." stated the boy.

"So have I, actually." answered the kunoichi.

"Hmm?" inquired Inari.

"Nowadays I play with action figures." explained Hanabi.

"Alright then..." nodded the boy. Everyone has their own preference, he supposed.

"I'll see you later!" parted the Hyuga kunoichi.

"Bye!" bellowed Inari.

Immediately, Hanabi waved goodbye to Inari as she went back home.

"What a nice girl." thought the teenage boy.

It was nice to get to know more people after what happened to his homeland.

_At the Konoha forests..._

Sakura walked over to Rock Lee, happy to pay him a visit.

"Hey there, Rock Lee!" exclaimed Sakura, waving her hand.

"Hey there, Sakura!" bellowed Rock Lee.

As it turned out, Rock Lee was practicing on a dummy.

"Hiya!" shouted the martial artist.

"Hiya?" questioned Sakura.

With a tremendous karate chop, Rock Lee broke the dummy in half.

"All in a day's work." he thought.

Might Guy would be so proud.

Then again, Might Guy was always proud of him.

Currently, Sakura was checking to see if she could find any injured ninja. Every now and then Tsunade would send her out to make nobody had suffered any accidents.

Accidents could happen.

"How are you doing today?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Doing fine!" bellowed the martial artist.

Curious, she noticed that Rock Lee's cheeks had turned red.

"Do you still want me to be your girlfriend?" inquired Sakura curiously. Something told her that he did.

Why did she have to be so attractive? It felt like everyone wanted to be her girlfriend these days.

"Maybe?" answered Rock Lee, winking an eye at the Haruno kunoichi.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"First Naruto, and now him." thought the kunoichi. Maybe she should try wearing a mask in roder to make herself appear uglier.

That ought to deal with all of her fanboys.

Suddenly, she began to strip down.

"Huh?" asked the martial artist. What was going on?

Once again, Gray's stripping habit had kicked in.

Immediately, Rock Lee's skin began to turn red.

"Huh?" asked Sakura.

Suddenly, she began to feel like something was missing. Did she forget her ninja headband? Sometimes that happened.

"Wait a minute..." thought the kunoichi.

Looking around, she discovered that she had taken her clothes off again. She was in her underwear.

Sakura groaned upon realizing what had happened.

"Not again! And to think I stripped down in front of Rock Lee this time!" bellowed Sakura.

All of a sudden, she was feeling more embarrassed than ever.

"Why do I have to suffer from this curse?" asked the kunoichi.

It just wasn't her lucky day. She had gotten back from a rather long mission too.

At this point, Rock Lee had fallen on the floor.

"Sakura...is so hot..." murmured the martial artist.

Frantically, she began to put her clothes back on. At this point, she needed to hurry.

Eventually, she managed to put them back on.

"There! Now I'm dressed again!" exclaimed Sakura.

Unfortunately, it appeared that she was too late. Rock Lee was now in a coma.

Sakura let out a sigh.

"I guess I'm going to have to heal him..." noted the kunoichi.

Shrugging, she began using a healing jutsu.

"Cures my stripping habit." she thought.

Unfortunately, Rock Lee was still unconscious.

"Am I really that attractive?" asked Sakura. She didn't recall this happening to Naruto.

Sighing, she began to take Rock Lee to the ninja hospital.

Hopefully Might Guy wouldn't get too worried. She remembered how he reacted back when Rock Lee got crippled.

He was very lucky that it wasn't for life. Tsunade was a real heroine.

It was no small wonder that she had chosen to be her apprentice.

Then again, Tsunade did make her go through some rather grueling exercises. She remembered the time that she made her crawl through a septic tank.

"I could have suffocated." she thought.

Nonetheless, she was proud to be her student. Maybe she could become a legendary Sannin someday.

That would be awfully nice.

And maybe one day, she could bring Sasuke back to Konoha.

Of course, he would have a lot to answer for.

"Why did he have to betray us?" she thought.

Speaking of which, she wondered what he was doing now.

"Most likely he's training under Orochimaru." noted Sakura.

To think this had all started simply because Orochimaru had bitten him on the neck.

"Curse you, Orochimaru...and curse your cursed seals! Wait...I think I just made a pun." noted the kunoichi.

Sakura shrugged.

_Meanwhile at Otokagure..._

Sasuke exited Orochimaru's laboratory, ready to begin his mission to hunt down Naruto.

"I should have known that I was going to see him again." thought Orochimaru's apprentice.

How long had he been anyway? He had lost track of time. He had been mainly focused on getting strong enough to hunt down his brother.

However, he had heard a rumor that Itachi Uchiha was stronger than Orochimaru was.

He certainly hoped that wasn't true.

"I'm sick of being curbstomped by him." he thought.

Suddenly, he was approached by a few Otogakure ninja.

"Can I help you?" questioned Sasuke.

"We're hunting down the Beast Of Otogakure!" exclaimed one of the ninja.

"The Beast Of Otogakure? Sounds vicious." noted the Uchiha clan member.

"Care to help us?" asked another one of the trio.

"No thanks. I'm already on a mission...it's to hunt down and capture an old friend of mine." explained Sasuke.

"Oh...would you like some help then?" inquired the first Otagakure ninja.

"No no no. I'm going to do this mission alone. I in fact told Orochimaru to let me do this mission solo." explained Sasuke.

The three Otogakure ninja nodded.

"I'll see you later, gentlemen." stated Orochimaru's apprentice.

Immediately, the trio leapt away.

"Now then. Where was I?" asked Sasuke.

Most likely, Naruto was currently on Konohagakure, eating some delicious ramen.

After all, it was his hometown.

"Well then. I guess I'll just have to head there." thought the teenager.

However, he realized that once he arrived at Konohagakure, he would have to be careful not to let people see him.

Sure, he could handle a few ANBU members if they decided to try to arrest him for treason, but he couldn't take on an entire army of ninja.

Even Orochimaru himself would potentially have difficulty doing so.

As such, he didn't want to get too carried away.

Once he arrived at Konoha, he would have to wait for an opportunity to strike...such as when Naruto went on a mission.

It seemed like as good of a plan as any.

Of course, he was not aware that as of late Konoha had been using an interdimensional portal to traverse between two different worlds.

It would complicate his plans a bit if Naruto decided to pay his Fairy Tail friend a visit.

But for the time being, he was unaware of the portal (and the fact that Naruto no longer had a nine-tailed fox living inside of him), so he was not going to change his plans.

"Off to Konoha I go." stated Sasuke.

He had to admit, it was going to be quite a trip.

But it shouldn't take him that long. The last time he remembered, Konoha was not a far distance away from Otogakure.

At least, that was how he remembered it. Then again, Orochimaru had decided to move to a different laboratory as of late.

He liked to mix things up every once in a while. Beisdes, it helped him elude the Konoha authorities. Every now and then he would receive intruders.

In fact, the Beast Of Otokagure happened to be one such intruder. Some people happened to want revenge on him...which was rather ironic considering the fact that Sasuke came to Orochimaru specifically because he was seeking revenge on his brother.

Shrugging, Sasuke decided to pull out a map. He always did find geography to be rather important.

He didn't like getting lost.

"Here we are." stated the ninja.

Immediately, he began to walk his way to Konoha.

"Sleep tightly while you still can, Naruto." said Sasuke.

_Meanwhile..._

"Guess what, Levy!" exclaimed Happy.

"What?" asked Levy.

"Today's the day I'm going to use the interdimensional portal!" bellowed the Exceed.

"You are?" inquired the letter mage.

"I sure am." answered Happy.

Immediately, he began to walk his way towards the portal.

"Have fun then." stated Levy.

"I will!" exclaimed Happy.

Happy jumped through the interdimensional portal, happy to try out something for himself.

Quickly, the blue cat began to make his way towards Konoha.

However, in the process, he ended up encountering a ninja.

In this case, it was Kiba and Akamaru, the former of which was giving the latter some dog treats.

Akamaru simply happened to love them.

"You like these, don't you?" inquired the Inuzaka clan member.

"Ruff!" exclaimed the white dog.

"Wait, is that a dog?" questioned Happy.

All of a sudden, he began to sweat uncontrollably.

He began to gulp.

Suddenly, Akamaru noticed Happy.

"Oh no!" thought the Exceed.

Immediately, he began to bark at him.

Happy screamed like a little girl.

"Aah! I need to run for it!" bellowed the Exceed.

Frantically, he began to run back towards the interdimensional portal.

Akamaru began to chase after him, with Kiba in hot pursuit.

"Akamaru, where are you going? Come back!" bellowed the Inuzaka clan member.

Immediately, the chunin began to chase after him.

Happy quickly raced back towards the interdimensional portal, quickly jumping through it.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Back so soon, Happy?" inquired Levy.

Levy's shadow scratched her head.

"I'm being chased by a dog...but thankfully he's gone now." answered Happy.

"You sure?" asked the bookworm.

Suddenly, Akamaru leapt through the interdimensional partner.

"Aah!" screamed the Exceed.

Shortly afterward, Akamaru began to bark at him.

Happy began to hug Levy tightly.

"Save me!" screamed the Exceed.

"Now now now. We don't want any trouble." explained Levy.

"Akamaru! There you are!" exclaimed a voice.

"Huh?" asked Happy.

Suddenly, Kiba jumped through the interdimensional portal.

"What's gotten into you, boy?" inquired the Inuzaka clan member.

Akamaru began to lick Kiba in the face.

Suddenly, Happy began to feel rather strange.

"I feel weird..." stated the Exceed.

"Wait a minute...if he used the same interdimensional portal as Happy did...then that means..." thought Levy.

"Why'd you chase that cat, Akamaru? He never did anything to you!" bellowed Kiba.

Akamaru's response was rather...unexpected.

"I wasn't going to bite him! I just wanted to bark at him, that's all! Was that too much to ask?" inquired the dog.

Kiba gasped in shock.

Akamaru was rather surprised at the occurrence as well.

"I knew it." thought Levy.

"Did you...just talk?" asked Kiba.

"I think I did!" bellowed Akamaru.

"How are you doing that?" questioned the Inuzaka clan member.

"I don't know!" exclaimed the dog.

Unsurprisingly, Akamaru had a rather gruff voice.

"You and Happy must have become interdimensional partners." noted Levy.

Suddenly, Akamaru began to fly around.

"This keeps getting weirder and weirder." murmured Kiba.

"You said it!" exclaimed the dog.

Suddenly, Kiba began to fly as well.

"Hmm. This is interesting. You both seemed to have inherited Happy's flying abilities." noted Levy.

"Did I get anything too?" inquired Happy.

Suddenly, he felt the urge to run around.

Immediately, he began to do so...running much more faster than normal.

"I think you did." answered Levy.

"Gosh." stated the Exceed.

"I'm going to have quite a story to tell my clanmates." noted Kiba.

"You sure are." nodded Akamaru.

"I'll see you two later." stated Levy.

Immediately, Kiba and Akamaru stepped through the interdimensional portal.

Suddenly, Happy began to take a leak.

"Hey! Don't do that!" bellowed Levy.

"Sorry! I just want to test out my new abilities." stated the Exceed.

"Can you do that outside?" inquired the letter mage.

"Fine..." answered Happy.

_A few minutes later..._

"Hey there, Kiba!" greeted Hana Inuzaka. "How are you doing, my dear brother?"

"Pretty good. However, there's something I need to tell you." answered Kiba.

"What is it?" inquired Kiba's sister.

"It's my dog." explained the teenage boy.

"Akamaru? Is he sick?" inquired Hana.

"No no no. He's fine. However...he can talk." stated the Inuzaka clan member.

At that very moment, Akamaru entered the room.

Hana raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure he can do that?" inquired the Inuzaka clan kunoichi.

"Yes, I can." nodded Akamaru.

Hana's eyes widened in shock.

"I know. It was a big surprise for me too." answered Kiba.

"I wonder what's going to happen when I find a mate. Are my offspring going to get to talk too?" questioned Akamaru.

"I don't know..." stated Hana.

"Personally I find it rather ironic that I ended up becoming an interdimensional partner with a cat...but at least I can fly now." noted Kiba.

"You can fly now?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yes, I can." nodded the chunin.

"Sheesh." murmured Hana.

"I guess I should go on a mission so that I can try out my new abilities." noted Kiba.

"Maybe you should." answered the Inuzaka kunoichi.

Curious, he and Akamaru began to make their way towards the mission board, by flying.

"Have fun being comicbook superheroes." stated Hana.

"We will." answered Kiba.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Akamaru.

_Meanwhile..._

"Lady Tsunade, we've got bad news." explained a member of the ANBU force.

"What is it? That explains why I won some ryo at gambling..." noted Tsunade.

"A group of bandits and pirates have seized our harbor. They've made off with our valuables and now they're trying to get away on a stolen ship." explained the ANBU ninja.

"Which ship is it?" inquired the Sannin.

"The S.S. Hiruzen." stated the ninja.

"Darn it! That's the biggest ship we have!" exclaimed Tsunade.

"We know." nodded the jonin.

"We need to do something about this immediately." stated the Fifth Hokage.

"Alright then. I'll look for some ninja to give us a hand." explained the ANBU member.

Incidentally, Naruto happened to be nearby.

"Would you care to help us?" inquired the ninja.

"Sure. What is it?" asked the chunin.

"We need you to help stop a group of bandits and pirates from escaping with our resources." explained the ANBU ninja.

"Sure...I'll go look for help." answered Naruto.

At that very moment, Lucy decided to pay him a visit.

"Hey there, Naruto!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hey there...can you help me out?" asked Naruto.

"Sure...what do you need help with?" inquired the jinchuriki.

"I'm doing a mission." explained the chunin.

"Alright then. By the way, I hooked up with Shikamaru." nodded Lucy.

"That's great! I hooked up with Erza!" exclaimed Naruto.

"That's good to hear." answered the kunoichi.

At that very moment, they noticed Kiba and Akamaru flying in the sky.

"How are they flying?" questioned Lucy.

"I don't know, but I think they can help us. Hey, Kiba and Akamaru! Can you two help a brother out?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, we can!" exclaimed Kiba.

Immediately, the two of them descended to ground level.

Lucy began to pet Akamaru.

"We're bringing a dog with us? I think I'm going to look forward to this mission!" exclaimed Lucy.

"This feels good..." murmured the dog.

Lucy gasped in shock.

"Since when could Akamaru talk?" questioned Naruto.

"Since today." answered Kiba.

"You wouldn't happen to have become interdimensional partners with Happy, would you?" inquired Lucy.

"Is he a blue cat with wings?" asked the Inuzaka clan member.

Lucy nodded.

"Then yes, we did." answered Kiba.

"That explains a lot." nodded the kunoichi.

"Should we head to the harbor or should we look for more people?" asked Naruto.

"I think I see two more ninja up ahead." explained Kiba.

Sure enough, there was Sai and Sakura.

"Hey there! Can you help us?" inquired Akamaru.

Sai and Sakura's jaws dropped in shock.

Akamaru sighed.

"Can you help us with a mission?" asked Naruto.

"It feels weird working with a talking dog...but sure." answered Sai.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Let's get going. Time is ryo." noted Sakura.

Immediately, the six of them began to head towards the harbor.

Hopefully they would be able to stop the bandits and pirates before it was too late.

_Time for another cliffhanger! Were you surprised that Kiba and Akamaru became Happy's interdimensional partners?_

_In the next chapter, we're going to see Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna again. Speaking of which, Captain Bloodbeard now has a first mate._

_You'll find out who he is in the next chapter. See you later!_


	47. Chapter 47: An Evil Alliance

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto, Lucy, Sakura, Sai, Kiba, and Akamaru are going to try to thwart Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard's plan._

_However, we're also going to throw in some other characters. I try to give them screentime too, you know._

_And unfortunately, my old computer broke down…which is why I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that._

_I hope that you enjoy this._

**Chapter 47: An Evil Alliance**

For some strange reason, Wendy discovered that the path to the Fairy Tail guild happened to be a yellow brick road.

"Am I off to see the wizard?" asked Wendy.

Personally she wondered who would bother painting all those bricks yellow. It did seem like it would cost a lot of paint…and by extension money.

Suddenly, she heard rustling in the bushes.

"Whose there? Is it a tin man? A scarecrow? A lion? A wicked witch? A telemarketer? I hope it's not the last one…" said Wendy.

"Actually, it's an Exceed!" exclaimed a voice.

"Carla? Is that you?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

"Yes, it's me. Grandeeney sent me to make sure that you got to Fairy Tail without getting yourself hurt. She said that things were getting dangerous around Fiore these days." said Carla.

"Yeah…" nodded Wendy. There was even an evil necromanceress on the loose…and she heard that she kept on getting stronger.

When will the madness end?

"Are you going to fly me there?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

"I don't think that will be necessary…you're not far from there now." explained Carla.

"Oh." comprehended Wendy.

"See? Their guild hall is out in the distance." said the winged cat.

Curious, Wendy looked around, and noticed how big it was.

"Wow…why didn't I notice that before?" asked Wendy.

"Well, you did seem to be fixated on the yellow brick road." said Carla.

"I'm off to see the wizard…well, more than one wizard. I'm not in Kansas anymore, am I?" spoke the blue-haired girl.

"I don't think you were in Kansas to begin with." answered the Exceed.

"Why is that so hard to remember?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

Shrugging, she resumed her journey…which would be over in less than an hour.

Life was good…and she hoped that things would stay the way. Grandeeney did say that there was a storm approaching or something along those lines.

The sooner she got there, the better.

Personally she wondered who exactly she was going to meet there. She had heard that Fairy Tail was a very destructive guild.

Of course, considering the fact that she could blow down an entire house (even if it was made of brick), she would probably blend in.

"I wonder if I should try getting their autographs…" thought Wendy. She in particular wanted to get Makarov's autograph since he of course was the guildmaster.

Wouldn't that be something that she could tell to her friends?

Oh wait…that was right. Her friends were all illusions…except for Carla.

"It's been a lonely life…and I haven't even known it until now." noted Wendy.

Hopefully she would be able to make real friends this time rather than imaginary friends.

And while she was at it, she hoped that she would get to see Grandeeney again. Why did she suddenly have to go missing?

_At the Konoha Harbor…_

"Hmm…there are a lot of bandits and pirates here." acknowledged Naruto.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Lucy.

"I guess I should get ready to draw." said Sai.

Curious, Akamaru began to sniff to see just how many of them were there.

As it turned out, they had completely overrun the dock.

Not only that, but they appeared to be putting loot on an enormous ship.

"I think we had better hurry! They're making off with Konoha's valuables on a ship of the line!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"You mean the S.S. Hiruzen? That's the biggest ship Konoha has…" said Kiba.

It made sense that the pirates and bandits would want to steal it along with Konoha's precious loot.

They were going to have to hurry.

Sure enough, the bandits and the pirates were trying to bar them out. Some of the pirates were wielding large swords while some of the bandits were wielding large hammers.

"Oh dear…they've boosted their weaponry since our last encounter with them." acknowledged Lucy.

"It looks that way." nodded Naruto.

It looked like that stopping Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna wouldn't be so easy this time…especially now that they were working together.

Speaking of which, just where were they?

"Can you pick up their scent?" asked Naruto.

Unfortunately, Kiba and Akamaru could not get a precise smell…however, it appeared that they were both heading towards the S.S Hiruzen.

With them was Chihiro…and someone else.

"It appears that they're trying to make a getaway along with as many of their crew members as they can…" stated Sakura.

"All the more reason to make our way towards the S.S. Hiruzen, I suppose." nodded Kiba.

The sooner they got there, the better. If they failed in their mission, Konoha would probably be having some financial difficulties in the future.

Sure, they could always go on other missions so that they could get paid… but more often than not they tended to be dangerous.

How many psychopaths were there in the world of ninja anyway?

Immediately, Naruto tossed a Rasengan at one of the larger bandits, knocking him over.

However, they were sending in some wolves.

"They've got wolves now? They look vicious…" acknowledged Lucy.

Sure enough, they seemed to want human flesh.

"I'm not looking forward to being wolf chow." said Sakura.

Fortunately, she would not have to be.

Immediately, Sai began to draw some lions using ink.

Sure enough, they began to come to life and attack the pirates and bandits.

However, the pirates were summoning piranhas in retaliation. One of them bit Naruto in the posterior.

"Ow!" bellowed the chunin. Out of all places they could have attacked him…

Fortunately, Lucy whipped the piranhas to keep them busy…as well as some otters. Piranhas fled for the (underwater?) hills whenever they saw otters.

Oddly enough, she heard that piranhas were not as harmful as Hollywood made them out to be and that not all of them were even carnivores.

So, this was no time to panic.

However, she was worried about Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna. They were already ahead of them and the bandits and pirates were working on putting their stolen goods on the ship.

Hopefully they would reach them in time.

_Meanwhile…_

"Well, so far working with you is paying off…literally. We've already pilfered much of Konoha and it won't be too long before we're ready to leave." said Setsuna.

"Maybe we can go somewhere where the Land Of Fire can't touch us? Yarr!" asked Captain Bloodbeard.

"Yes…that would be a good idea. Personally I would recommend the Land Of Wind…that is my home village after all." explained the wind kunoichi.

Suddenly, she noticed that Captain Bloodbeard had a new pirate recruit with him.

"That's odd…I don't ever recall you having a first mate." questioned Setsuna.

"I met this scallywag at a tavern! Yarr! I love rum!" bellowed the captain.

"Yes…you already made that clear when we stopped at the bar on the way towards the ship." answered the kunoichi.

"Well, I still do! I just can't get enough! Yarr!" exclaimed the pirate.

"You sure we can pull this off?" asked Captain Bloodbeard's first mate.

"Of course we can, Pazu! Don't be ridiculous! Ye should know how capable we are!" exclaimed the captain.

"But I heard that a blonde-haired girl had already defeated you twice…" said Pazu.

Taking a closer look, Setsuna noticed that Pazu was wearing light purple overalls and was wearing a red bandana so that she couldn't see his hair…assuming that he wasn't bald.

"Well, it's not going to happen this time! If all goes right, we won't even have to fight that lass! Yarr!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"I hope so…she is so annoying…and so are her friends." answered Chihiro.

"Who is this girl?" inquired Pazu.

"Just a young lady who happens to have a nine-tailed fox living inside her…oddly enough I thought he was inside the Fourth Hokage's son…" questioned the kunoichi.

"Eep!" exclaimed the pirate. He had heard all about the ferocious nine-tailed fox and how he had laid waste to Konoha when it ended up being released.

"Relax…it's sealed up nice and tight…though admittedly she can use his chakra to help her win battles." explained Setsuna's apprentice.

"Can…can we do this?" inquired Pazu.

"Of course we can! We're stronger and better than before!" bellowed Chihiro.

Still, she wasn't quite sure of that question herself. Even when working with a vampire they had still been unable to take down Lucy and her friends.

But they might not have to fight them this time. If they could get a clean getaway, they would be home free.

Heck, they would probably even get to keep the ship. Imagine all the things that they could do with it…once Captain Bloodbeard redesigned it to be a pirate ship, of course.

Where would they get all those cannons? And where would they get all of those cannonballs?

"So…why did you choose Pazu to be your first mate?" asked Setsuna.

"Good question, me hearty. You see, Pazu here happens to specialize in destructive fire jutsu." explained Captain Bloodbeard.

"Fire jutsu? Wouldn't that potentially burn down your pirate ship?" inquired the bandit queen.

"Don't worry! He's got good control over it!" exclaimed the leader of a group of bloodthirsty pirates.

"He had better." answered Setsuna. She was not looking forward to drowning.

Sure enough, the S.S Hiruzen was nearby.

Now all they needed to do was wait.

_Elsewhere in the docks…_

Naruto, Sai, Sakura, Lucy, Kiba, and Akamaru continued fighting, hoping that they would be able to reach Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard in time.

Sure enough, Sakura punched one of the bandits in the face, sending him flying.

She then followed by smashing into them with a nice mace.

Suddenly, the bandits and pirates begin to laugh hysterically.

"What's so funny?" inquired Sakura.

"Sakura, your clothes!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Huh?" questioned the kunoichi.

Curious, she looked at her reflection in the water…

…and discovered that she was in her underpants.

"Not again!" bellowed Sakura.

"On the plus side, the bandits and pirates seem to be distracted…" acknowledged Lucy.

Shrugging, they used this opportunity to attack them…which worked out surprisingly well.

Sakura put her clothes back on shortly afterwards.

"Curse that stripping habit…" murmured Sakura. It was becoming such a pain.

Suddenly, they noticed that Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna were up ahead…or were they?

"Is it really them?" asked Lucy. She was under the impression that Chihiro would be with them…

…but taking a closer look, she realized they were clones.

"It appears that they've set up clones to keep us busy…" noted Lucy.

"I guess we'll have to deal with them quickly then." answered Naruto.

Fortunately, the clones were not as powerful as original…and therefore weren't as threatening.

Still, they would be able to buy Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard time.

Immediately, Captain Bloodbeard's clone lunged towards Naruto with his sword.

Quickly, he jumped out of the way, and shot a Wind Rasengan at Captain Bloodbeard.

However, the Setsuna clone began to use a wind jutsu to defend against Naruto's wind attacks. She was now covered with a wind barrier.

"Maybe we should try using a lightning technique…" suggested Sai.

"I'm on it!" exclaimed Lucy.

Pressing her hand on the ground, she summoned some electric eels to attack Setsuna's doppelganger.

This worked surprisingly well. The wind barrier immediately disappeared, and Setsuna's clone ended up being zapped.

However, she launched a tornado at Lucy in retaliation, sending her flying.

Fortunately, Kiba caught her before she took a nasty fall.

"Thank goodness you can fly now…" noted Lucy. She had heard that Kiba and Akamaru were now Happy's interdimensional partners.

It had been rather interesting considering how long she had known the Exceed. How many of her friends were going to become interdimensional partners, anyway?

Immediately, Captain Bloodbeard's clone summoned a whirlpool to draw them in…which succeeded in drawing in Naruto and Sakura.

"Aah!" screamed the chunin.

"This can't be good…" thought Sakura.

Naruto and Sakura were spat out a few minutes later, looking rather bruised and battered. Quickly, the latter began to use a healing jutsu to undo their injuries.

Unfortunately, Captain Bloodbeard's clone was lunging at the duo with his sword once again.

However, Sai was ready.

Immediately, he summoned some lions to attack the clone, who began attacking him viciously. Water droplets were starting to drip from the clone, oddly enough. Apparently, this was a water clone.

"Captain Bloodbeard's summoned a water clone…yeah, that makes sense." acknowledged Lucy.

Sai then followed by summoning some ink mice, which bit Captain Bloodbeard's clone and caused him to burst into water, which splashed over everything.

Unfortunately, this made Setsuna's clone angry, and she began to hit all five of them with wind attacks at once.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Aah!" screamed Kiba.

"This can't be good for anybody…" thought Akamaru.

"Am I going to suffer clothing damage again?" asked Lucy.

Sure enough, her ninja outfit had been torn a bit.

"I feel sick…" murmured Sakura.

"Aaugh!" bellowed Sai.

Sure enough, Setsuna's clone had gotten rather aggressive.

However, Sakura had enough of this fight at this point.

Suddenly, she pulled out an ice sword and swung it at the clone's neck.

This worked surprisingly well, and wind began to leak out of the clone.

"It looks like this one's a wind clone! Go figure!" exclaimed Naruto.

Shrugging, Lucy decided to use a fire dragon to finish off the clone.

Since she needed to save on blood and chakra, she summoned a rather small one.

This did the trick, and Setsuna's clone immediately burst into wind.

"Well, I guess we can move on now." noted Sakura.

"Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Believe it!" bellowed Lucy.

"Why did you just say my catchphrase?" asked the ninja.

"I inherited that from you, I suppose." answered the blonde.

"Oh yeah…again with us being interdimensional partners…" acknowledged Naruto.

"Being a jinchuriki makes me feel so special." noted Lucy.

"Just watch out for the Akatsuki…" warned the chunin.

"What?" asked the kunoichi.

_Meanwhile…._

"Darn it! Those landlubbers broke through our defences!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"You're really worthless, you know that?" asked Chihiro.

Pazu began to cry.

"I wasn't talking to you!" exclaimed the electric kunoichi.

"Now now, Chihiro. This isn't a big deal. Our helpers are almost done loading the ship with our treasure. Once they're finished, we'll be able to escape from Konoha and there will be nothing that our enemies can do about it." said Setsuna.

Still, she got the feeling that they weren't far from where they were now. She had sent her chieftain to make sure that they didn't get much further, but she got the feeling that he wouldn't be able to do the job anymore.

"C'mon, hurry…" murmured the kunoichi.

She had to admit, they had stolen quite a bit of loot from Konoha. It was no wonder that they had sent Naruto and Lucy to stop them. She had heard a few stories about them since her second arrest at their hands.

Apparently, they had faced the extremely dangerous Kenichi…and survived. That was something that not even she could do herself.

Of course, neither could Captain Bloodbeard and his pirate crew.

Speaking of which, he was currently thinking of how he was going to spend the stolen loot. Should he try buying a bigger ship?

Then again, considering that they were going to steal the S.S Hiruzen along with everything else they had taken from Konoha, maybe he wouldn't need a bigger ship. Setsuna probably wasn't interesting in having a ship like that, anyway. She never visited the sea…unless she wanted to travel like she did now.

"This is taking so long…" thought Chihiro. How long would it be before they would be able to leave? She was getting tired of waiting.

Curious, she noticed that Pazu was reading a book.

"What are you reading?" inquired Chihiro.

"I'm reading a book about fairies…" murmured Pazu.

"You're reading a book about fairies? You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed the electric kunoichi.

"Just because we're men doesn't mean we can't read about fairy tales!" bellowed the first mate.

"I'm a girl!" bellowed Chihiro.

"Sorry, sorry!" apologized Pazu. Why did Chihiro look like a guy, anyway? Maybe it was her short haircut? She didn't look that masculine otherwise.

"Meh, maybe I'll read through a few pages." said the female kunoichi.

Personally, she was wondering why Pazu would want to read a fairy tale, anyway. Terrible things always happened to villains in those kind of stories…and they of course happened to be villains themselves.

She in particular remembered the story where the evil witch who wanted to eat two kids ended up being roasted alive, ironically in her own oven, no less.

Why she wanted to eat two kids when her house was made out of candy, she had no idea.

Unsurprisingly, this fairy tale happened to be about a knight who wanted to rescue a princess from a dragon…

…but what's this? It turned out that the knight was actually a girl and the princess was actually a prince…who turned out to be a transvestite.

Oh, and the dragon was planning to give the prince back…because he really creeped him out with his crossdressing ways.

"That's one crazy fairy tale…" thought Chihiro. She was actually starting to see why Pazu was into it.

"How long do you think it'll be until the squad they sent after us gets here?" inquired Pazu.

"Hopefully they'll be too late…though somehow I doubt it. They're ninja…and ninja are pretty fast. Everyone knows that they can leap like a kangaroo…I should know since I'm a ninja myself." answered Chihiro.

"I wish I were a ninja…" said Pazu.

"You can use jutsu, can you?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yes…but Captain Bloodbeard says I'm a pirate." answered the pirate.

"Oh, that's right…" said the bandit apprentice.

Shrugging, they decided to wait for Naruto and Lucy to show up…or for the bandits and pirates to finish loading the valuables into the ship…whichever came first.

_Back at Konoha…_

Hanabi Hyuga knocked on the door to one of her neighbors.

Sure enough, a young man stepped out.

"What?" asked the young man.

"Never gonna give you up…never gonna turn around and desert you…" sang Hanabi Hyuga.

The young man sighed. Even when he was away from the internet he couldn't escape from being rick rolled.

It was one of the unfortunate facts of life.

Sighing, he began to close the door.

Smiling, Hanabi Hyuga decided to visit another one of her neighbors. She knew just what to do this time.

Immediately, she left a banana peel by his door.

She then rang the doorbell.

Curious, her neighbor decided to leave the house…

…and he immediately slipped over the banana peel.

"Oof!" bellowed the man.

Rubbing his head, he helped himself to his feet.

"Who left this banana peel here?" questioned Hanabi's neighbor.

As he went back inside, Hanabi Hyuga began to giggle.

Now it was time to make a prank phone call.

Immediately, she pulled out her cell phone…which her father had foolishly decided to give her so that she could talk to her friends.

She began to make a phone call to the local bartender.

"Hello?" asked the bartender.

"Hello, I'm working for Nateonmyface. First name Yuri." said Hanabi Hyuga.

Curious, the bartender decided to look for this mysterious individual, unaware that he was being set up.

"Hey everyone! Yuri Nateonmyface! C'mon! Hurry up, Yuri Nateonmyface! I don't have all day here!" exclaimed the bartender.

Immediately, the drunkards at the tavern began to laugh.

"Wait a minute, you little she-devil, when I catch you, I'm going to play dodgeball with your skull! You hear me?" inquired the bartender.

Hanabi Hyuga simply laughed as the bartender hung up. Fortunately, he had never heard of Caller ID, so she would stand a good chance of being able to prank phone call her again.

Suddenly, Inari approached her.

"What are you doing?" inquired Inari.

"I'm pulling some pranks on my neighbors…and the local bartender. Care to join me?" asked Hanabi.

"Won't you get in trouble for doing all those things?" questioned the boy.

"I'm part of the wealthiest family ever! Don't worry about it!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"If you say so…" answered Inari. Personally he wasn't so sure that this was a good idea.

Sure enough, she began to knock on yet another one of her neighbors' door.

"Follow my lead, alright?" asked Hanabi.

"Um…sure." nodded Inari. He wasn't quite sure about this.

Once again, one of her neighbors came out of her house.

"Never gonna give you up…" sang Hanabi.

"Never gonna turn around and desert you…" continued Inari.

"How sweet…" murmured the neighbor.

"Darn it! Before they were annoyed…but now they think what I'm doing is nice…" murmured Hanabi.

"Is that a bad thing?" inquired Inari.

"I suppose not…but now I want to try something else." answered the heiress to the Hyuga clan.

"What is that?" asked the boy.

Immediately, Hanabi pulled out a bag that smelled quite bad.

"Ugh! What's in there?" inquired Inari.

"I'll give you a hint…Kiba Inuzuka gave it to me." said Hanabi.

"Gross!" exclaimed the boy.

Immediately, Hanabi set it outside yet another one of her neighbors' door. How many neighbors did she have anyway?

She then used a lighter to set the bag on fire.

All of a sudden, Inari knew what she was going to do.

"Uh-oh…" thought the boy.

Sure enough, her neighbor answered the door.

He discovered the burning bag…and began to stomp on it to put out the fire.

This did not work out well at all.

"Aaugh! This is the worst day of my life!" bellowed the neighbor.

Hanabi Hyuga began to giggle.

"Well, I will admit that was kind of funny…but I still don't think we should have done that." murmured Inari.

"I'm going to go thank Kiba for generously providing me with Akamaru's droppings!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"Wait…where is Kiba anyway?" questioned the boy.

"Since my sister Hinata is his teammate…I guess I'll send her to look for him." said the Hyuga kunoichi.

"That seems as good of a plan as any." nodded Inari.

He had to admit…Hanabi Hyuga was a lot more mischievous than she appeared.

_Back at the Konoha Harbor…_

Unfortunately, it appeared that there was a roadblock for them up ahead. As it turned out, the bandit chief Kerai was up again…and this time he was wielding a giant hammer.

"You again?" asked Lucy.

"If you want to go through here, you have to defeat me first!" exclaimed the bandit chief.

"We don't have time for this!" bellowed Naruto. It would only be a few minutes before Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard successfully pulled off their heist.

"One of us is going to have to stay behind to fight him..." said Sakura.

"But who should it be?" inquired Sai.

"I'll do it." answered Kiba.

"What? You're going to stay behind?" asked Naruto.

"I will too!" exclaimed Akamaru.

"Alright…take care of yourself then." answered the chunin.

Immediately, the remaining members of the squad went after Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard while Kiba and Akamaru stayed behind.

"It looks like we have a challenger!" bellowed Kerai.

Sure enough, there were numerous bandits and pirates spectating the match. It reminded him of a gladiatorial arena.

Suddenly, Kerai smashed the ground with his hammer, causing the earth to shake. As it turned out, he had been researching earth jutsu since his previous encounter with Lucy Heartfilia.

He then followed by hurling some rocks at Kiba and Akamaru, forcing them to dodge.

In retaliation, Akamaru bit him in the ankle.

'Ow!" bellowed Kerai.

Frantically, he attempted to shake him off.

This gave Kiba the opportunity to scratch Kerai in the face with his claws…which were actually his elongated fingernails.

However, Kerai used his earth abilities to shake them back.

He then smashed the ground with his hammer once more, producing shockwaves and knocking the duo to the floor.

Immediately, the bandits and pirates began to clap and cheer.

"He's strong." thought Kiba.

Curious, Akamaru began to sniff him to see how strong he was. He had gotten rather powerful since the days he was an ordinary man.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Let's take to the air!" exclaimed the flying dog.

"Huh? Oh, that's right…we can fly now. How did we forget that?" bellowed Kiba.

"Well, this is kind of new to us…" acknowledged Akamaru. Who would have thought that they would be able to fly one day?

Curious, one of the bandits raised an eyebrow. He could have sworn that he heard someone talking other than the owner of that meddling dog…but who was it?

Sure enough, the duo began to fly.

"What the-" exclaimed Kerai.

Immediately, the bandits and pirates gasped in astonishment.

Trying to defend himself, Kerai continued smashing the ground with his hammer…but since they were flying now the shockwave technique was futile.

Grunting in frustration, he began to think of a way to shoot them down.

Suddenly, he found himself being dive-bombed by Kiba and Akamaru.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Kerai.

The bandits and pirates were not happy by this turn of events, and they began to boo at him, throwing rotten tomatoes.

Kiba sighed. He was hoping that he would have an audience to cheer him on, but no such luck.

Frantically, Kerai created an earth barrier to protect himself from the duo…

…only for Kiba and Akamaru to drill right through it. Apparently, he wasn't aware that the duo could drill through stone when working together as a team.

"Aah!" screamed Kerai as they pierced his skin.

This time, one of the bandits threw a rock at Kiba's head.

"Will you cut that out already?" inquired Kiba.

In retaliation, Akamaru urinated on some of the bandits, causing them to leave in disgust. They were going to have to find a way to wash that stuff off.

Why did Akamaru always need to use the restroom, anyway?

"My fans! No!" bellowed Kerai.

"That'll teach them to throw stones at us…those could break our bones!" exclaimed Kiba.

"You don't say?" answered the bandit chief as he began to toss some rather sharp-looking rocks at Kiba.

Fortunately, both of them were able to avoid the rocks…most of them anyway. One of them hit Akamaru in the head, causing him to whimper.

However, this had the unfortunate side-effect of making Kiba angry.

"Nobody messes with Akamaru!" exclaimed the dog owner.

Immediately, he began to tear into Kerai viciously.

"Aah!" screamed the bandit chief.

Realizing that the bandit chief was losing, all of the bandits and pirates began to leave. They did not want to stick around with Kiba and Akamaru considering how dangerous they were.

Eventually, Kerai was defeated…and it looked as if the two had won. However, since they had used up a large amount of their chakra…they wouldn't be able to participate in the mission any further.

Still, they had done the best that that they could and the rest of his clan would be proud of him for his efforts, so it wasn't all bad.

Sure enough, the bandit chief had something to say to them.

"You may have defeated me…but I'll get you…and your little dog too!" bellowed Kerai.

"I'm a big dog!" exclaimed Akamaru in response.

Horrified that Akamaru could talk, Kerai passed out on the spot.

"That wasn't what I was expecting…but I won't question something that I like." said Kiba.

"Um…Kiba, I think we used that joke already." said a voice.

"Huh?" asked Kiba.

As it turned out, it was none other than Hinata.

"Um, Hinata, not that I mind you coming to help me…but what exactly are you doing here?" inquired the dog user.

"My sister was looking for you…and yes, we used that joke before. I was actually there when it happened." said Hinata.

"But what the villain said was different!" exclaimed Kiba.

"Well admittedly, that's true…but I'm not sure if we should keep recycling the same jokes." questioned the fire kunoichi.

"Good point." nodded Akamaru.

"Wait, did Akamaru just talk? I heard rumors that you were an interdimensional partner now." said Hinata.

"Yes…we're interdimensional partners with some strange cat named Happy, I believe." answered Kiba.

"That's rather ironic…I happen to be interdimensional partners with his owner, Natsu. I looked after him once we switched places." explained Hinata.

"You looked after a flying cat?" asked the dog user.

"I know…it was an interesting experience. He sure made good company though. We're rather close…" said the kunoichi.

"That's rather sweet…but you know I'm not a cat person." answered Kiba.

"Well, that's true." nodded the fire dragonslayer.

Immediately, Hinata took Kiba back home so that he and Akamaru could get some rest…and so Hanabi Hyuga could thank him properly. Personally he was wondering why the heck someone would want Akamaru's leavings.

He was about to find out.

_Meanwhile…_

"Hurry, the ship's getting ready to sail!" bellowed Naruto.

"Stop them!" exclaimed Sakura.

"So long, Lucy Heartfilia!" shouted Setsuna.

"We'll see you later…once we're millionaires! Yarr!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Immediately, they went elsewhere into the ship where they wouldn't easily be spotted.

Fortunately, our heroes were able to grab onto the anchor before the ship took off. From there they were able to climb on board.

Would they be able to stop Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard on time?

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I enjoyed writing it. Do you like my portrayal of Hanabi Hyuga? I figured it would be funny if she had that kind of personality…I attempted to justify it somewhat in case you haven't noticed._

_And yes, she and Inari are going to have more crazy adventures like that._

_In the next chapter, Naruto, Lucy, Sai, and Sakura are going to battle onboard the S.S. Hiruzen, unaware that their sworn enemy is nearby._

_Can you guess who it is?_

_Bye!_


	48. Chapter 48: Battle On The SS Hiruzen

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to battle Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna's forces aboard the S.S Hiruzen in case you haven't already guessed by the title. This includes Chihiro and Pazu…and yes, the latter has the ability to use fire jutsu. Sakura and Sai are going to be taking them on._

_Are you glad that I gave Sai some time to change?_

_However, something terrible is going to happen that will immediately acquire their attention at the end of the chapter. Yikes!_

**Chapter 48: Battle On The S.S Hiruzen**

Soon after they had stowed away on the S.S Hiruzen, our heroes realized that it was night all of a sudden.

"How did night fall so fast?" inquired Naruto, looking at the full moon in the sky.

"Well, it was in the afternoon not too long ago." acknowledged Sakura.

This unfortunately made it a bit more difficult for our heroes than it was during the daytime, as it opened up the possibility of them being ambushed.

Not only that, but the bandits and pirates on the ship seemed a bit stronger than the ones they had fought previously, as they had applied a mild poison to their weapons, such as their arrows and swords.

And to make matters worse, there were several summoned creatures on the ship as well.

"This ship is huge! How are we going to find Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard?" asked Naruto.

"I guess we'll have to keep looking. Once we've defeated them, we'll have to take the ship back to Konoha. I'm sure that Tsunade will be glad to have it back." acknowledged Lucy.

"It sure was nice of Lady Tsunade to name this after the deceased Third Hokage." said Sakura.

"I know." stated Sai. It was rather unfortunate that he had never gotten the opportunity to know the Third Hokage too well, with him being killed by a deranged ninja and all that.

Fortunately, it appeared that the bandits and pirates hadn't noticed them yet, so it looked as if it was safe to search the ship.

However, they got the feeling this wouldn't be the case for long.

Already, they were starting to notice the pilfered treasure onboard the ship.

"How much did they steal?" asked Naruto. Something told him that they had enough to last a lifetime…though knowing the bandits and pirates, they would try spending their loot in one single place.

"Apparently, they had their hands full with this one." stated Lucy.

"Wouldn't this weigh down the ship?" questioned Sakura.

"Well, it does seem to be moving a bit slow." acknowledged Sai.

"You think if we successfully complete the mission, Grandma Tsunade will let us keep some of the treasure?" inquired Naruto.

"Probably not, she needs that to pay off her gambling debt." pointed out Lucy.

"Oh, right." said the chunin. What exactly was the point of getting herself in such an enormous debt anyway? Sooner or later she was going to bump into a loan shark…though admittedly she could probably just punch one away if they tried hurting her.

Fortunately, this would make getting the S.S Hiruzen back to Konoha all the more easier.

Suddenly, some piranhas began to emerge from a nearby pool and sink their teeth into Lucy.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy, attacking the piranhas with her whip.

Curiously, these piranhas were blue rather than the red piranhas they had encountered earlier. Apparently, they were a tad bit more vicious than their differently-colored brethren.

Fortunately, her healing factor given to her by the nine-tailed fox quickly undid her injuries.

"I was a bit worried about having the nine-tailed fox inside me at first…but I do admit it's coming in handy." said Lucy.

Already, her injuries had completely disappeared.

"Could I really heal that fast?" questioned Naruto. Perhaps the nine-tailed fox was a bit more generous with Lucy than he was with him considering that he had a thing for attractive females.

Suddenly, they found themselves attacked by a pack of wolves.

"You think they allowed animals on this ship?" questioned Sakura.

"Probably not." answered Sai.

To make matters worse, these wolves were foaming at the mouth, indicating they were rabid. They were much more aggressive than the ones that they had encountered earlier.

"They're sending rabid animals after us? Really?" inquired the girl.

Personally she wished that Kiba and Akamaru were still with them. They would know exactly how to deal with animals like this.

But since they had decided to stay behind so that the others could continue, it appeared that they would have to continue the mission with just the four of them.

Personally, Sakura hoped that they would be able to find Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna soon. These waters weren't too familiar to her.

And she got the feeling that something…dangerous was approaching.

Of course, maybe she was just imagining things. But she still wanted to finish the mission quickly.

_Meanwhile at the bridge…_

"Well, would you look at that…it looks like we've got stowaways." said Setsuna.

"Yarr! When will they leave us alone?" inquired Captain Bloodbeard.

Suddenly, they heard someone screaming like a little girl.

"Who was that?" asked the samurai.

"It was Pazu…he just saw a spider. Yarr." explained the captain.

"OK…" said Setsuna. Why did Pazu scream like that?

Speaking of Pazu, he was currently relaxing in a room along with Chihiro. The latter had pulled out a cigarette and was starting to smoke.

Pazu immediately began to cough.

"Aren't you a little underage for that?" asked the pirate. From what he knew about her, Chihiro was not eighteen. She was about seventeen at the most.

"We're not exactly on the bright side of the law here." pointed out Chihiro.

"Oh, right…" remembered the first mate.

Still, he had to question how Chihiro was going to stay healthy if she continued smoking those. And he heard that they were really addictive.

"Right then…where were we? Ah yes." said Setsuna.

Immediately, she attracted the bandits and pirates' attention using an intercom.

"Hey! We've got intruders on this ship! Straighten things out for us, will you? I'm sure you know what to do." inquired the samurai.

The pirates and bandits nodded, and went to deal with their unexpected guests.

"That's better." stated the wind kunoichi. Hopefully they would be able to sort things out this time. She had supplied them with poison, after all…though unfortunately it wasn't a particularly deadly one.

Still, it was definitely better than nothing.

"Do you think we'll be able to get away? Yarr!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"I think we might be able to do…but with our enemies on board the same ship as us there's no guarantee." answered Setsuna. She was smart enough not to underestimate her foes…especially considering that she had lost to them twice. Would she end up at Tsunade's slave camp?

Oddly enough, she got the feeling that they were going to have to evacuate the ship sooner or later, though she wasn't quite sure why. Were they going to hit an iceberg or something? She was keeping a careful eye on out for anything that could potentially sink their stolen ship…but you never know.

Fortunately, Captain Bloodbeard was experienced with sailing, so hopefully they would be able to handle any potential flooding if that happened.

Hopefully Chihiro and Pazu would be ready in case their army failed...she got the feeling that they wouldn't be enough. After all, they were dealing with a jinchuriki and a very powerful summoner.

Who would have thought that the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox would become one of their greatest enemies, anyway? Out of all the chances…

If all else failed, they would have to deal with the four of them themselves.

Fortunately, they would be ready.

_At the main deck of the ship…_

Unfortunately, it appeared that the bandits and pirates were getting more aggressive as the four of them got closer to Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna.

For starters, they were starting to summon bigger summons. Specifically, they were alpha wolves…and sharks.

Suddenly, one of the bandit archers hit Naruto in the shoulder.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the chunin.

All of a sudden, he was feeling a bit sick.

"Ugh…what was in that arrow?" inquired the chunin.

"I think it was poisoned." said Sakura.

"Oh no!" bellowed Naruto.

"Relax…I don't think it's going to kill you…though I'm pretty sure that it's going to impair your fighting ability." spoke the kunoichi.

"Is there anything you can do?" asked Lucy.

"Fortunately, yes. Tsunade taught me how to deal with poison like this." answered the kunoichi.

"Thank goodness." said the poisoned ninja.

Immediately, Sakura extracted the poison from Naruto's body so that he didn't feel bad anymore..

"Phew!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I was worried about you for a second." said Sai.

"Thank you for your concern." answered the chunin.

Oddly enough, whenever one of them managed to take down an alpha wolf, the regular wolves began to falter.

Still, they had their work cut out for them, as they could track them by scent.

"Ouch!" bellowed Lucy as an alpha wolf bit her in the leg.

It then tore a hunk out of her ninja outfit.

"Again with the clothing damage." murmured Lucy.

Sure enough, Naruto had suffered some clothing damage too. He had been bitten by a shark and some of his pants had been ripped off.

"Darn it! Now they can see my underwear!" bellowed Naruto.

Quickly, Sakura gave him something that he could use to cover the hole in his pants with.

"Sheesh…" murmured Sai. On the bright side, the bandits and pirates would probably die of laughter.

Personally he wished that he tried a different career for a change. Surely there were other options other than resorting to theft out on land or at sea.

Unfortunately, they were too greedy to listen to him.

"Money money money!" bellowed one of the pirates.

"These guys seem a bit crazy." murmured Sai.

"Well, they are part of a pirate crew." pointed out Sakura.

The bandits in contrast seemed a bit saner…though they still enjoyed pillaging nonetheless.

How many bandits and pirates did Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna have on their side, anyway? They had kind of lost count.

Since they were all over the ship, she would likely have a hard time doing so.

Suddenly, they began to hear noises coming from a door.

"Be careful, there's someone behind it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Those voices do sound familiar…" noted Lucy. Could it be who she thought it was?

Her hunch turned out to be right.

As it turned out, it was none other than Chihiro and Pazu. The latter immediately jumped in surprise.

"It's Chihiro! And some guy I don't know." said Naruto.

"His name is Pazu, in case you were wondering." clarified Chihiro.

Speaking of Pazu, he was currently sweating uncontrollably. Apparently, he was afraid of the foursome after how many bandits and pirates they had taken down.

"Where are Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna?" inquired Sakura.

"Well, they're not here." answered the electric kunoichi.

"I can see that." stated Sai.

"If it's a fight, then it's a fight you shall get!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Immediately, she began to activate her electric powers.

"Isn't that right, Pazu?" inquired the kunoichi.

Suddenly, she noticed that Pazu had mysteriously disappeared.

"Pazu? Where did you go?" asked Chihiro.

"I think he ran away." explained Lucy.

Sure enough, he had bolted right into a nearby door.

"Pazu, c'mon! Fight like a man!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Chihiro immediately ran up to Pazu…

…and Pazu immediately locked the door.

"Oh c'mon! Fight like a man!" bellowed Chihiro.

"But they're scary!" exclaimed Pazu.

"Well, at least we managed to inconvenience them…this was the most direct path towards the bridge, was it not?" asked the electric kunoichi.

"I…didn't notice that." answered the pirate.

Frantically, Naruto began to bang on the door. Unfortunately, it was made of titanium steel, so it looked as if this was futile.

"Darn it! We're going to have to find a way around that door!" bellowed the chunin. If only they had brought a lockpick.

"There's got to be a way towards Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna somewhere…" noted Lucy.

Suddenly, they noticed that there was a map of the ship on the table. Apparently, they had left it behind in their haste.

"What's this? This should make getting around a bit easier." acknowledged the summoner kunoichi.

However, it did not tell them where Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna were…as Chihiro and Pazu knew that already.

"Figures." said Sakura.

Shrugging, they decided to look at the map to see what would be a good place for them to hide.

"Maybe they're at the bridge? That would be a good place to monitor the ship…and they already seem to have noticed us." noted Lucy.

"Lucy, you're a genius!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah…I wonder why exactly I'm so smart." questioned the kunoichi.

"**Beats me." **said Kurama.

"The sooner we find them, the better." stated Lucy.

"I don't think they're too far though." noted Sai.

"Probably not. Still, we need to get going." agreed Sakura.

Hopefully they would be able to corner them before they continued causing trouble. They had defeated them twice before…but would they be able to do it a third time?

Then again, luck always seemed to be on their side these days. Did they find a four-leaf clover in their pocket today?

Immediately, Sai used his ink mice to help search for the duo.

They came back with some information.

"It looks like they are at the bridge." stated the ink ninja.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Naruto.

Now all that was left was to find and restrain the duo so that they could turn them in to the proper authorities.

After all, that was what they were for.

_At the Fairy Tail guild hall…_

"Excuse me, is this Fairy Tail?" asked Wendy.

Wendy immediately let out a yawn. It had been a rather long journey, and already night had fallen.

Erza answered the door.

"I was expecting someone older." questioned the S-Class Mage.

"Is this Fairy Tail? You didn't answer my question." said Wendy.

"Yes, this is Fairy Tail." nodded the knight.

Wendy gasped in surprise.

"I've heard of you! You're Erza Scarlet, the youngest mage in the guild to ever obtain the title of an S-Class Mage! Of course, I also heard that you've been wearing skimpy armor lately…but that's beside the point." said the wind dragonslayer.

"Well, I was hoping to impress my boyfriend." stated the knight in shining armor.

"You have a boyfriend now? I don't recall you having one before…" asked Wendy.

"Yes. His name is Naruto Uzumaki." explained Erza.

"Naruto Uzumaki? I've never heard of him." answered the wind dragonslayer. What kind of name was that, anyway? She hadn't heard anything like it.

"Me neither." stated Carla.

"That's because he's all the way from another world." explained Erza.

"What?" asked the wind dragonslayer.

"I see that you're making new friends." acknowledged Carla.

"It looks like you brought an Exceed with you." stated the S-Class Mage.

"Yes, I did. Why do you ask?" inquired Wendy.

"Well, Happy always did want a girlfriend." answered Erza.

"I'm not interesting in having a boyfriend right now, thank you." stated Carla. She couldn't seem to find an Exceed that was her type. Besides, she needed to look after Wendy

"Happy's going to be rather disappointed then." said the knight in shining armor.

"I bet he will be." nodded Wendy. Was he going to be single for all eternity? That would be one nasty curse.

"What's this about me getting a girlfriend?" inquired Happy. All of a sudden, he was feeling rather excited. He didn't want to be single anymore…to say the very least.

Curious, he noticed that there were guests…two of them, to be precise.

"Who are you?" asked the Exceed curiously.

"My name is Wendy. This is Carla, my Exceed. She helped me get to Fairy Tail." explained the wind dragonslayer.

"Can I help you?" inquired Carla.

With a big smile on his face, Happy began to jump and down.

"He sure is excited." thought Erza. Did he drink too much coffee?

"Please be my girlfriend! Please be my girlfriend!" exclaimed Happy, his eyes transformed into hearts for some strange reason.

"No, thank you." answered the white Exceed.

"Noooooo!" screamed Happy, tears leaking out of his eyes. Why did Cupid have to be so cruel? Was that really too much to ask?

He was under the impression that he was a real ladies' cat…but apparently he thought wrong. Not even Blair the flirtatious (and for some reason shapeshifting) cat seemed that interested in him…though she did invite him to take a bath with her.

"Tough break." stated Wendy.

Maybe he'll find his special someone someday…but not tonight. Was she going to have this much trouble finding a boyfriend when she got older? Grandeeney said that she was rather adorable…but dragons probably had different standards than humans.

Suddenly, she began to yawn once again.

"I'm sleepy…do you have anywhere to rest?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

"You can use the girls' dormitory, I suppose…I'm going to be sleeping in the boys' dorm…" said Erza.

"What?" asked Wendy.

"Have fun in Dreamland." spoke the knight in shining armor.

"OK…" murmured Wendy.

Trying to get that imagery out of her head, Wendy and Carla went into the girls' dormitory and went to bed.

Still, Wendy was rather curious about something.

What exactly did Erza mean by Naruto being from a different world? Was he a space alien? Did he want her to take him to her leader?

Of course, that would raise the question of why would Erza want to date an extraterrestrial…with him being her boyfriend all that.

If he really was an extraterrestrial, did he have an UFO? Laser guns? Plasma beams? A tractor beam in his spaceship?

She thought that aliens only existed on sci-fi shows…though that wouldn't explain the crop circle she had seen last week.

The questions Wendy had about Naruto being from another world continued to plague her mind as she went to sleep. Hopefully she would learn more about this matter tomorrow.

Currently, she was dreaming about being blown away to the Land Of Oz…since she had to use a yellow brick road to get to Fairy Tail. Wasn't that kind of an old movie reference? The author seemed to be making a lot of references to the Wizard Of Oz as of late.

At this rate, someone was going to melt…hopefully it would be an evil witch. Wendy remembered the time where an evil witch lured her into her house…for some reason it was made of gingerbread. Why would she want to eat her when she could devour her lawn?

"Zzz…" murmured Wendy as she went to bed.

_Back at the ship…_

"What's this? It looks like they're heading for us." said Setsuna.

"Yarr! Looks like they know where we are!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Suddenly, Chihiro and Pazu entered the room.

"Mistress, it's Naruto and Lucy! They're heading this way as we speak!" exclaimed Chihiro.

"I'm well-aware of that, thank you." answered Setsuna.

"I'm about to panic!" exclaimed Pazu.

"Keep yer shirt on." ordered Captain Bloodbeard.

"Is there anything you want us to do?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Yes…I need you to take them down…" explained the bandit queen.

"You want us to do this? You sure we're ready?" asked Pazu.

"Of course ye are!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

Pazu gulped. Somehow, he wasn't so sure that was true.

"But there's four of us and only two of you…" said Chihiro.

"Actually, there's four of us and four of them…I also believe there was a ninken user with them…but I'm not sure what happene to him." answered Setsuna.

"Where did that landlubber go?" questioned Captain Bloodbeard.

Setsuna shrugged. She had no idea.

"Ye best sharpen yer blade, me first mate!" exclaimed the captain.

"But my blade is already sharp…" pointed out Pazu. He had to be careful not to accidentally cut himself with it.

"Never mind then!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

"C'mon! We're wasting time! They're probably going to be here any minute!" bellowed Chihiro.

"But what if we're not ready to fight them?" questioned Pazu.

"Of course we are! Follow me!" shouted the electric kunoichi.

Sighing, the first mate followed Chihiro to search for the intruders. Hopefully they would find them before they found them.

Sure enough, they spotted them heading towards the bridge.

"Oh no, you don't!" exclaimed Chihiro.

"You again?" asked Naruto.

A few seconds later, a cage fell on Sakura and Sai, trapping them along with Chihiro and Pazu.

"I'm glad that you made it, Naruto and Lucy. I've heard all about you…and your heroic exploits. But I'd like to see you try to stop us now." said Setsuna.

"In just a few hours, we'll be at the Land Of Wind! Yarr!" exclaimed Captain Bloodbeard.

"It'll be an exciting trip…but unfortunately you're not welcome on this ship. Begone!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Sakura!" bellowed Naruto.

"Sai!" exclaimed Lucy.

"We'll keep them busy while you go on ahead! Don't worry about us!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I wonder which one we should take on…this is two on two…" noted Sai.

"I'll take on the kunoichi that looks like a dude…you take on the pirate with a sword!" answered the kunoichi.

"That seems as good of a plan as any." nodded the ink ninja.

Leaving the duo behind to an unknown fate, Naruto and Lucy continued onward.

"I guess it's just you and me now." said the chunin.

"It looks that way." nodded the celestial kunoichi. It was starting to feel a bit lonely all of a sudden.

It always felt funny working with her interdimensional partner. Hopefully they would be able to work together because of it.

"**Great…I'm going to be working with that brat again…" **murmured Kurama.

"What's so bad about Naruto?" asked Lucy.

"**Everything." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

Lucy rolled her eyes. Kurama was so immature. And to think he had been around long before she was born.

_At Shikamaru's house…_

Shikamaru was feeling rather bored. Currently he was lying on the couch channel flipping.

Hopefully there would be something interesting that he could watch on TV, but at the moment he wasn't having any luck. He was starting to wish that he had more channels. Perhaps he should switch to DirectTV?

"C'mon! I'm getting bored here!" exclaimed the shadow ninja.

Eventually, he found something that interested him.

"What's this?" asked Shikamaru.

It was a news report detailing a sunken ship.

Apparently, there had been a number of shipwrecks recently.

"We still are unaware what has happened to this ship…which contained over a hundred passengers." said the news reporter.

"A hundred passengers? That's a lot of deaths…" remarked the shadow ninja. He couldn't remember the last time Konoha had lost that many ninja.

By the looks of things, it had been caused by a ninja.

All of a sudden, he had a bad feeling who was responsible for this. Who else would kill this many people at once?

"Is it Kenichi again? It appears that he's out at sea now…apparently scouring the surface had finally gotten old for him." questioned the ninja.

Apparently, the seas were about as safe from him as anywhere else. He was starting to wonder if he was going to shoot down a plane later on.

"Remind me not to become a sailor later…" thought Shikamaru.

Who knows what ship he would send to Davy Jones' Locker next. At this rate, the clans would have to shut down their harbors…which would no doubt have a negative effect on their economy. That was where they got much of their goods, after all.

"This is such a drag…why can't Kenichi just leave people alone?" inquired the ninja.

Unfortunately, since Kenichi had no conscience, it seemed inevitable that he was going to kill again…and then some.

According to him, there were only two types of people in the world, the strong and the weak. His victims consisted of the latter.

Personally he wondered which of those two he was. Sure, he was smart…but he wasn't cut out for physical combat. He had to rely on using his shadow jutsu instead.

Either way, he did not want to run into Kenichi again…so he was going to stay away from water for now. Just how many nations were across the sea?

"I hope Lucy gets back from her mission soon." said Shikamaru. What was her mission again? Something about getting back what didn't belong to others?

Maybe he should consult Tsunade if she doesn't make it back from her mission by tomorrow. Of course, there was the possibility that she had been KIA.

Shikamaru shuddered at the thought.

"Well, worrying about her isn't going to solve anything. I guess I'll just keep channel flipping for now." said the Naru clan member.

Interestingly, he had heard that Naruto had gone on that exact same mission as well…surely with the two of them together they could handle anything, right?

They seemed like a formidable duo considering that they had inherited each other's abilities...and he knew how strong Naruto was. Maybe he would save his life one day.

Not only that, but Lucy had the nine-tailed fox on her side…though he got the feeling that he didn't like her too much.

"I have to wonder what being the jinchuriki would be like…then again, I've never been related to any of the Hokages." noted Shikamaru.

Oddly enough, he was the reason that Lucy had unlocked some of his power. Having a loved one being threatened like that typically set jinchuriki off.

If she kept unlocking more of his power, she could end up becoming a physical goddess.

Wouldn't that be interesting…especially considering that she was his girlfriend.

"Get back soon, Lucy…and stay away from the sea…" murmured Shikamaru.

_At a nearby village…_

Now that Chiyoye had a new toy to play with, she decided that she would start off small again.

However, she would not be doing the killing herself this time.

Instead, she would be testing out her newest creation.

"What is your bidding, my mistress?" asked the Death Knight.

"Oh, it's rather simple. I want you to slaughter everyone in this village…the village of Forsakon." explained Chihiro.

"Yes, mistress." nodded the undead warrior.

Immediately, he rushed towards the village and began to swing his sword at the villagers.

Chiyoye had to admit, he was awfully skilled with that sword.

And to make matters worse for them, he also was capable of using magic…as his creator happened to be a powerful sorceress.

Sure enough, he was using his sword to rain lightning bolts.

The villagers began to scream, but there was nothing that they could do.

Chiyoye laughed in delight. It was rather unfortunate that she couldn't simply create another death knight like this. She would need the corpse of someone powerful in order to create another one.

But it was still worth it. If only she had created one earlier with her deceased mentor back when she was killing everyone in Mana City…but since she had already obtained his old staff, maybe that wasn't so necessary.

Eventually, everyone in the village was dead, and Chiyoye was feeling a bit stronger.

"My bidding is done, mistress." said the Death Knight.

"Very good. We shall be moving on to more populated areas in the future." explained the sorceress.

"Wherever you take me, mistress." answered Chiyoye's finest warrior.

Immediately, she began to reanimate the deceased villagers into the undead. She never had to worry about having an army shortage when she could turn her victims into more of her loyal minions. Being a necromancer had its perks.

Well, now it was time for her to consider her next target. As much fun as targeting Fairy Tail would be, she still felt that she wasn't strong enough yet…though admittedly she was quite a bit closer to her goal than before.

At this rate, Makarov would never see what was coming…though she got the feeling that he was monitoring her power level.

How long would it be until he couldn't measure it anymore, anyway? She wasn't quite sure.

For now, she decided to think of a next target. Though she had still not absorbed Naruto and Erza, she could always try looking for someone else.

There was always another mage to drain…how long would it be until she ran out of victims, anyway? She was hoping for now, she decided to think of a next target. Though she had still not absorbed Naruto and Erza, she could always try looking for someone else.

There was always another mage to drain…how long would it be until she ran out of victims, anyway? She was hoping for never.

Maybe it was time to start looking for a guild other than Fairy Tail. There were a lot of guilds that were weaker than them…a guild that she could potentially destroy.

It was time for her to decide on a target.

"After all, there were a lot of guilds that were weaker than them…a guild that she could potentially destroy.

"Maybe I should try hitting my former friends…" thought Chiyoye.

Immediately, she decided to head towards her former guild along with her Death Knight.

_Near the S.S Hiruzen…_

Curious, Kenichi noticed something that surprised him on a nearby ship, and gasped in surprise.

It was none other than Naruto and Lucy, who were currently at sea.

"What a pleasant surprise…" murmured Kenichi.

"Do you know these people?" asked Akiko.

"As a matter of fact, I do." nodded the Darwinist ninja.

"Sounds like they aren't friends of yours." remarked the artistan kunoichi.

"Sink it." said Kenichi.

"What?" asked Akiko.

"Sink the ship!" ordered the ninja.

Akiko nodded, and began to draw a picture of a tidal wave.

Sure enough, a tidal wave began to strike the ship.

"Keep going!" exclaimed Kenichi.

Akiko nodded, and continued slamming into the ship using her artisan abilities.

Eventually, the ship was critically damaged, and it was inevitably going to sink. Already, water was starting to pour in through the windows.

Smirking in satisfaction, Kenichi left along with his new apprentice.

"Good riddance." murmured the dragonrider.

Even if Naruto and Lucy survived, there were still other people on the ship as well…surely at least one of them would end up drowning.

He was looking forward to the thought.

_Oh no! Kenichi's apprentice Akiko has attacked the S.S. Hiruzen…and now it's going to sink! Naruto and Lucy need to get off that ship pronto!_

_And of course, so will everyone on that ship._

_In the next chapter, we're going to have some more fighting sequences…which will be followed by an escape scene._

_Are you looking forward to it? I'll be seeing you there._

_Bye!_


	49. Chapter 49: The SS Hiruzen Sinks

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to battle Setsuna, Captain Bloodbeard, and their apprentices…and then get the heck out of there! They can't stay in that ship if they don't want to end up in Davy Jones' Locker, after all._

_Can they escape in time? You probably know the answer already…but I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway._

_It's going to be a bit intense…to say the very least._

**Chapter 49: The S.S. Hiruzen Sinks**

As they made their way towards Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna, Naruto noticed something alarming…the S.S. Hiruzen appeared to be shaking.

Quickly, he was starting to feel rather scared…and anxious.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto. Somehow, he got the feeling that something bad was going to happen soon.

His hunch turned out to be right.

Curious, Lucy looked around, and gasped in shock!

Water was beginning to leak out of the boat!

"This is really bad, Naruto! This is an emergency situation!" bellowed Lucy.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"I think the ship is going to sink!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What?" bellowed the chunin. Had they crashed into something?

"Someone must have damaged it!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Who could have done this?" asked Naruto.

"It must have been Kenichi…he's the only one in Konoha who has a grudge against us and would sink an entire ship just to have us out of his way…and I've heard that he's been sinking ships across the sea as of late." answered Lucy.

"He must be still trying to kill us…" noted the chunin. He had picked a rather nasty way to do it this time, he must admit.

"Yes…and I'm afraid he's chosen a terrible way to do it. In case you haven't noticed, we're far from the only ones on this cruise ship." stated Lucy.

"First the Land Of Waves, and now this…when will the carnage end?" inquired Naruto.

Personally he was starting to hate Kenichi more than any other ninja in the world...though Chiyoye still seemed to be his most personal foe considering everything that she had done to him and people that he had known personally.

"I wish I knew the answer to that myself…" answered Lucy.

"We've got to get out of here! We can't stay on this ship!" bellowed Naruto. Was this how his career as a ninja going to end? Going down with the ship?

"Before we do that, we should probably warn Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna…I don't want them to end up being killed by Kenichi, even if they are our enemies." answered Lucy.

She was well-aware of what had happened to the Element 4 (sans Juvia, who was fortunate enough not to be in Kenichi's vicinity when he attacked) at Kenichi's hands and what he had done to the Land Of Waves, and she didn't want anyone else to die because of him.

They were going to have to try to save as many people as they could, Sakura and Sai included.

"I believe Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna are all the way at some sort of battle arena…it's all the way at the end of the ship…deep below it, to be precise." answered Naruto.

"I guess we're going to have to find a way downstairs then." nodded Lucy.

Apparently, they could get in there through the engine room. Sure enough, it appeared to be heavily damaged.

"We need to do this quickly." warned the summoner kunoichi.

"Tell me about it!" exclaimed Naruto.

Unfortunately, the bandits and pirates were trying to bar them from their leaders. They were going to have to defeat them quickly.

"Here we go…" said the genin.

Immediately, he began to create some copies of himself to combat the pirates and ninjas.

Likewise, Lucy began to draw power from the nine-tailed beast.

This time, a chakra tail sprouted out from her body.

"Huh? That's new." said Lucy.

Oddly enough, for some strange reason, this caused whiskers to appear on her face.

"Huh?" inquired the kunoichi. She didn't recall having whiskers before.

"Funny…I use to have whiskers on my face before I became interdimensional partners with you…" questioned Naruto.

"That's rather strange." acknowledged Lucy. Maybe it had something to do with him being a jinchuriki?

Personally, she began to wonder if she was going to develop more fox-like features whenever she unlocked more power from the nine-tailed fox.

Apparently, being in an emergency situation made it easier for her to draw power from the nine-tailed fox.

"**I gave you some more of my power…now get off this ship before we die!" **bellowed the nine-tailed fox.

"I'm trying the best I can, alright? Thanks though." answered Lucy.

"**I'm not doing it for you…I'm doing it for me…though admittedly I do hate Kenichi for everything he's done…"** said Kurama.

"So does everyone else I know." answered Lucy. Personally she doubted Kenichi was truly a friend to anyone. He didn't care about anyone but himself…from what she knew about him, he was quite full of himself in fact. That was his motivation for almost everything he did, really…though he seemed motivated by wrath in their case.

And to think this all happened to survive a few attempts on their lives…

Personally, they wondered how Sakura and Sai were doing. Would they be able to make it out alright? They had left them behind in their quest to take down Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard so that they could hold off Chihiro and Pazu.

Right now, they were stuck inside a cage, so they wouldn't be able to escape the ship too easily. Would they be able to bust them out once they had defeated the duo?

_Meanwhile…_

Chihiro wasted no time in escaping, preparing to attack Sakura with a Chidori.

"Isn't that Sasuke's technique?" inquired Sakura. Personally she was under the impression that only Kakashi and Sasuke could use it…but apparently someone else knew it too.

"It is? What a coincidence." answered Sai. Maybe the Chidori technique was more powerful than he thought.

Noticably, Chihiro was fast enough to use the technique that the tunnel vision did not inhibit her too much, so it wasn't too easy for them to avoid. In fact, Sai almost got punched in the head.

Speaking of Sasuke, she really wished that he hadn't betrayed them so that he could get his revenge on his brother for wiping out his clan. Apparently, the thought never occurred to him of him becoming exactly like the one that he had sought revenge against.

…oddly enough, she got the feeling that Sasuke was currently hunting down Naruto at the moment, and was starting to feel a bit worried.

Just what did he have planned for him?

Likewise, Pazu was slashing at Sai with his sword…though due to how nervous he was he wasn't aiming with it too well.

"Hey! Watch it, buddy!" exclaimed Chihiro. Clearly he didn't want to accidentally stab your own teammate…that would be rather depressing.

"Sorry!" apologized Pazu, swinging at Sai again.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Sai, gaining a cut on his cheek.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he had actually been hit that time. Ninjas couldn't dodge everything regardless of how fast they were.

In retaliation, Sakura punched Chihiro in the face.

"Ouch! You little…" murmured Chihiro.

Feeling rather angry, she began to shoot lightning bolts out of her fingertips, hoping to fry Sakura.

"You're a real thorn in my mistress's side, you know that?" asked Chihiro. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

"I bet I am." nodded Sakura. Something told her that they were going to be fighting again sometime.

Likewise, Pazu began to shoot fireballs so that Sai would end up being barbecued.

"Just leave me alone!" bellowed the pirate.

"These two sure are a dangerous duo…" remarked Sakura. Not only were they being bombarded by lightning jutsu, they were under attack by fire jutsu as well.

Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna had taught them both well by the looks of it.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Sai, trying to use ink to make more summons to attack the duo.

Curious, they noticed something seemed…off about the ship.

They were starting to feel a bit worried in fact.

Hopefully Naruto and Lucy would be able to defeat Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna soon so that they could return the ship…

…but for some strange reason, they got the feeling that they weren't going to be able to return it.

Just what exactly was going on?

_At the ship's engine room…_

Growling, one of the bandits attempted to stab Lucy in the ribs with a knife.

"Don't play with those." said Lucy. Didn't his mother tell him that?

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be aware of what was going on. How could they be so apathetic? If they didn't get off the ship soon, they would end up at the bottom of the ocean…and of course, they couldn't breathe underwater.

Immediately, she began to attack the bandits with a whip. She had to admit, it had been a lot easier to use ever since she had drawn power from the nine-tailed fox.

She sure had been getting a lot stronger lately.

Immediately, Naruto summoned a Rasengan to plow through the bandits and pirates, hoping to create an opening that they could get through.

"Be careful not to hit one of the engines!" warned Lucy.

"Right, of course not…" nodded the chunin. They wouldn't want to make the situation any worse than it already was…which was pretty bad indeed.

They weren't even sure how much time they had until the ship sunk completely. Already, some water was starting to flow in.

"What's with the water?" questioned the bandit, noticing the leaking.

"Let's just say that you might want to get off this ship soon…" explained Lucy.

"And why would that be?" inquired one of the pirates.

Lucy sighed. They just didn't seem to understand what was going on. Why didn't they notice the shaking of the ship and the water slowly beginning to flow in?

She thought they would be more observant than that…though it would explain why it wasn't too hard to get the jump on them.

Apparently, she was just going to have to plow through them like dominoes sand warn Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna. Maybe they could talk some sense into them.

After all, they were the ones leading them…and the ones that had stolen the S.S. Hiruzen in the first place. Of course, had they known that Kenichi was going to sink it, they probably wouldn't have bothered doing so.

Speaking of which, it looked like their mission was going to be a failure. First their diplomacy mission, and now this.

"I hate Kenichi so much…" thought Lucy. It was one unforgivable act after another for that man…if she could call him that.

Quickly, Naruto began to summon some Celestial Spirits to help him out of this mess.

He decided not to use Aquarius since the ship was already flooding as it was. He didn't want to make things worse.

It was a shame, considering that she was the most powerful out of Lucy's Celestial Spirits.

Speaking of celestial spirits, would he be able to find celestial spirits of his own one day? Lucy had let him use her spirits due to the fact that they had traded their abilities.

"Which one do you think I should summon?" inquired Naruto.

"Whatever can take down the bandits and pirates quickly." answered Lucy.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to summon Taurus.

"Did you need me?" inquired Taurus.

"Yes…we're in an emergency situation…and we need to warn everyone we can. Right now we're trying to get to Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna…but unfortunately, these bozos are in the way." explained Naruto.

Taurus nodded, and began to help Naruto and Lucy get through.

Immediately, they noticed that there was a large metal door up ahead.

"You think Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna are behind there?" asked Naruto.

"I suppose they could be." answered Lucy. She wasn't quite sure of that herself though.

Shrugging, they decided to open the door using a nearby switch.

They had to admit, it opened rather slowly.

"C'mon, c'mon!" bellowed Naruto.

"Hurry up already!" demanded Lucy.

Fortunately, the door opened before too long, and they were able to go behind it.

Curious, they began to walk down the hallway to see what was up ahead.

Sure enough, there were Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna, who by the looks of it were at some level expecting them.

"What's this? It looks like you've finally found us…" stated Setsuna.

"I bet yer going to turn us in now, yarr? I can't say we approve of that!" continued Captain Bloodbeard.

"Actually, there's something rather important than we need to tell y-"

Before Lucy could finish the sentence, Setsuna immediately lunged towards Lucy and began to attack her with her blade.

"I'll make ribbons out of you!" bellowed Setsuna.

"She's gotten fast." thought Lucy as she quickly leapt out of the way. Clearly she had been preparing herself for yet another encounter.

"I'll say!" bellowed Naruto. And to think that she was a wind specialist like he was…at least before he became a summoner.

Likewise, Captain Bloodbeard wasted no time attacking as well. He pulled out a cannon and launched several shots at the duo.

"Listen, you need to get out of h-"

Unfortunately, Naruto had no time to explain the situation to them while they were fighting. Not only that, but the door had closed on them, so there wasn't any running away.

Hopefully the ship would last long enough for this fight to rage on…it wouldn't be good for any of them if the ship suddenly sank while they were fighting.

Sighing, Naruto launched a Rasengan at Captain Bloodbeard, causing him to leap in surprise.

"Your ball of energy won't save ye this time!" bellowed the pirate captain.

In retaliation, he began to use a Rasengan of his own…though this one was made of water.

"Uh-oh!" thought Naruto.

Narrowly, Naruto avoided being struck by his own weapon. He was well-aware of how devastating it could be. He had used it before after all.

As usual, Setsuna was beginning to whip up a tornado.

Quickly, Lucy tossed a Rasengan of her own to prevent Setsuna from doing so…causing the tornado to significantly diminish in size.

However, it didn't stop her from hitting her.

"Darn it! My clothing's starting to get ripped!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Captain Bloodbeard slashed Naruto as well…though this only grazed him, it did leave a gaping hole in his shirt.

"Darn it! Again with the clothing damage!" bellowed Naruto.

Nowadays, Naruto and Lucy both suffered from the same curse.

"Yarr! How would ye like a whirlpool?" asked Captain Bloodbeard.

"That doesn't sound good…" answered Naruto, not looking forward to being sucked in the depths.

"Funny…this is rather similar to my tornado technique…" questioned Setsuna.

Captain Bloodbeard shrugged. Maybe he should come up with something more original? A water fireball, maybe?

Immediately, Bloodbeard began to summon a whirlpool to suck Naruto and Lucy in, who frantically began to leap away from it.

"I wonder how Sakura and Sai are doing…" thought Naruto. It had been a while since they had left them behind to fight Chihiro and Pazu.

"I hope they're doing alright…" answered Lucy.

_Inside the cage at the bridge…_

Pulling out an ice mace, Sakura lunged towards Chihiro, hoping to whack her on the noggin and knock her out…well, cold.

Unfortunately, Pazu immediately used his sword to block the mace, sweating with fear as he did so.

"Whew! That was a close save!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Pazu then set his sword on fire, causing the ice mace to slowly melt.

"Well, at least it's not melting instantly." answered Sakura. Gray's ice techniques were surprisingly resistant to heat despite most of them involving ice…though this didn't stop them from potentially melting if things got too hot.

Realizing that Sakura was potentially going to be stabbed, Sai pulled out a scroll and began to draw a picture of a giant tiger using ink.

"What is he doing?" questioned Chihiro.

They were about to find out.

Much like Akiko's drawings (which were albeit made of paint), the tiger came to life and began to claw and shred the duo.

"Aah!" they screamed.

"Looks like we have the upper hand!" bellowed Sakura.

"That's a relief." said Sai.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Chihiro and Pazu weren't going down without a fight.

"Let's do something about this tiger, shall we?" inquired Chihiro.

"Y-Yes!" bellowed Pazu. He wasn't looking forward to being ripped to shreds, after all.

Pressing her hand against the ground, she began to whip up some wolves.

"I was starting to wonder where those wolves we fought earlier were coming from…" murmured Sakura.

Immediately, the wolves began to attack and maul Sai's ink tiger, causing it to roar.

"Uh-oh…" thought Sai.

Eventually, the tiger burst into ink…and now they had to deal with the vicious pack of wolves that Chihiro had summoned.

Sure enough, they were coming right for them.

Immediately, Sakura set up an ice shield to defend themselves, causing the wolves to crash into it.

However, a few cracks had already begun to appear on the shield. It clearly wasn't going to last forever.

Shrugging, Sakura decided to see if she could apply some spikes to the shield so that she could counterattack…which she could.

Immediately, the wolves found themselves unable to attack the shield without getting stabbed. By the looks of things, they were getting rather exhausted.

Sighing, Chihiro asked Pazu to do her a favor and try to melt the shield with his fire abilities.

"Um…s-sure!" exclaimed Pazu.

"Why do you keep stuttering?" asked Chihiro.

"The heat of the battlefield m-makes me n-nervous!" bellowed the pirate.

Chihiro rolled her eyes. If only Pazu wasn't such a coward.

Reluctantly, Pazu began to do as she asked, causing the ice shield to slowly begin to turn to water.

"I'm starting to wish that I became interdimensional partners with a water mage instead of an ice mage…" questioned Sakura.

Just how long was the ice shield going to hold out?

Well, she wasn't going to stick around to find out.

Immediately, she dropped some rather large icicles on Pazu's head.

"Ow!" exclaimed Pazu, rubbing his noggin.

This unfortunately made Chihiro angry…and she began to summon more wolves.

"They sure look hungry…" noted Sai.

Immediately, one of them bit him in the arm.

"Ow!" exclaimed the teenage ninja, clutching it in pain.

And to make matters worse, it was starting to bleed. Apparently, it had bitten deep.

"Ugh…" murmured Sai.

Fortunately, Sakura was able to heal him using her healing jutsu.

Unfortunately, Pazu successfully managed to break through her ice shield.

"I guess I won't be able to use that to defend myself with that anymore." noted the kunoichi.

That was a rather unfortunate problem.

"Oh dear, it looks like your defense shield is down. I guess now it's time for me to hit you with everything I have!" exclaimed Chihiro.

Immediately, she prepared to do so.

Unfortunately, Sai was too quick for her. Immediately, he began to create as many ink drawing as he could.

All of a sudden, Chihiro found herself being surrounded.

"What? Uh-oh." said the teenage kunoichi.

Immediately, the ink drawing began to pummel into submission…until she was out cold.

"One down, one to go, I suppose." stated Sai.

Unfortunately, they would not have the numbers advantage for long.

As it turned out, seeing Chihiro fall made Pazu rather angry.

All of a sudden, he began to slash into the ink drawings viciously, before pulling out a rather large-looking cannon.

Immediately, he used the cannon to shoot several large flaming cannonballs at him.

Suffice to say, Sai now understood why he had been chosen as Captain Bloodbeard's first mate.

This nearly killed Sai…but just rendered him heavily unconscious instead.

"Sai!" exclaimed Sakura.

Now it was down to just Sakura and Pazu.

At that very moment, he was gasping for breath. He was feeling rather exhausted.

Shrugging, Sakura took the opportunity to punch him in the face, causing his bandana to fall off.

She immediately gasped in surprise.

As it turned out, he had pink hair just like she did. Apparently, Pazu was also a Haruno.

"Well, I was under the impression that he was from the Land Of Fire…" thought Sakura.

"You're a Haruno?" inquired the kunoichi.

"Y-yes, I am!" exclaimed Pazu.

"This is a rather interesting coincidence…" noted Sakura. How many Harunos were there in the world, anyway? For some strange reason she was the only Haruno as far as she knew that resided in Konoha…she wondered why.

Was her clan really that small?

Personally, Sakura wondered if he had any of his clan's traits. After all, most clan members shared similar characteristics. The Haruno clan in particular were well-known for being rather smart, somewhat like Shikamaru and Lucy.

She did have to admit, she did find a way to take care of her ice shield rather quickly once he realized that the wolves weren't able to do so too well.

However, he was currently charging at her right now.

"Yah!" exclaimed Pazu. Apparently, he had used up most of his chakra taking down Sai, so he was simply charging at her headon.

However, Sakura immediately retaliated by punching him away from her, causing him to hit his head on the bars and knock him out as well.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. She was a bit surprised that she had been able to win considering how dangerous their opponents were. But apparently they were able to handle the situation.

However, there was still the matter of getting out of the cage they were in. It looked awfully…sturdy.

Shrugging, Sakura decided that she should start healing up Sai for now. He looked rather…messed up.

Hopefully, she wouldn't have to take him to Lady Tsunade. She was rather busy nowadays…though she got the feeling that she would love a day off.

_Back at the arena inside the S.S. Hiruzen…_

"Yarr!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard, sending a tidal wave towards Naruto and Lucy.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Naruto and Lucy, being knocked off their feet.

"Ye shouldn't mess with the most feared pirate captain in the history of ever! Yarr!" exclaimed the pirate captain.

Lucy rolled his eyes. Why did Captain Bloodbeard have such a tremendous ego?

Lucy, Naruto, Captain Bloodbeard, and Setsuna were about to continue fighting, when suddenly an automated message rang out from the ship.

"Warning: Ship Is Critically Damaged. Please evacuate the ship immediately." said the voice.

Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna gasped in shock. They had no idea what was going on until now.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" inquired Setsuna.

"We were going to tell you what was happening…but you insisted on fighting us first and talking to us later." explained Naruto.

"Oh…maybe we should have been more hesitant to draw our blades." acknowledged Captain Bloodbeard.

Immediately, they opened the door and began to run out of the ship.

At this point, the bandits and pirates were beginning to evacuate as well.

Quickly, Setsuna and Captain Bloodbeard knocked down the cage so that Chihiro and Pazu could get off the ship as well.

Since they were both knocked out, they put them on top of their respective summons and began to evacuate the ship.

Likewise, Naruto and Lucy decided it would be best for them to leave as well.

Immediately, Naruto summoned Gamabunta.

"Well, hello again, Naruto…and your sister?" inquired Gamabunta.

"Don't you recognize me? And just for the record, I'm not his sister…we just happen to have an uncanny resemblance." answered Lucy.

"What? Oh, that's right…Jiraiya had you summon me." answered the giant toad.

"Naruto, what's going on?" inquired Sakura.

"The ship's going to sink! We need to get out of here, pronto!" bellowed Naruto.

Sakura gasped in shock.

Fortunately, Tsunade had taught her how to use her personal slug summon Katsuyu, which could float on water.

Immediately, she summoned Katsuyu and put both herself and Sai on her back so that they could ride away home.

"He sure gotten beat up, didn't he? I hope he's OK." answered Naruto.

"Well, he's breathing at least." stated Sakura.

Quickly, the four of them began to evacuate…and not a moment too soon, as the ship was starting to shake rigorously.

A few minutes later, it finally sink.

"That was a close one…" remarked Naruto.

"I know…" nodded Sakura.

Likewise, Captain Bloodbeard and Setsuna watched the ship sink as well.

Unfortunately, many of their crew members had not made it, and they began to feel really depressed.

Who could have sunk the ship?

A few hours later, Naruto, Sakura, Lucy, and the still unconscious Sai arrived back at Konoha.

"The depressed looks on your face tell me that the mission didn't go too well." noted Tsunade.

"I'm afraid not. It was Kenichi! Again! He sunk the entire ship and all of its cargo!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Well then, I'm not going to fault you for that. Once again, you were lucky to make it out alive." noted Tsunade.

"I know…" nodded Sakura.

Suddenly, Tsunade gasped in surprise.

"Did Kenichi do this to Sai?" inquired the Sannin.

"No, fortunately. He got beaten up by Captain Bloodbeard's apprentice." answered Sakura.

"Oh dear…" murmured Tsunade.

"On the plus side, I think he's going to recover." stated the kunoichi.

"Well, I suppose you can go to bed now." said the Sannin.

Naruto, Lucy, and Sakura nodded as two medi-nin went to take Sai to the infirmiary.

Hopefully, he would be ready for another mission. Sakura doubted that he would like it if he was forced into retirement like Rock Lee was.

If only Gaara hadn't used his sand abilities to shatter his arms and legs. Granted, Tsunade had managed to heal him, but still.

Immediately, Lucy went through the interdimensional portal to head back towards her apartment while Naruto headed towards his own apartment. Likewise, Sakura went back home to her parents.

It had been a rather long night.

_The next day…_

Wendy woke up from her nap, ready to start the new day. She had to admit, she was looking forward to being part of Fairy Tail.

Curious, she began to talk to Erza about her boyfriend literally being out of this world. Did she really mean that?

"What exactly did you mean by that?" asked Wendy.

"He came in through the interdimensional portal inside our guild…since then, we've gotten closer and closer." answered Erza.

She in fact remembered the time they worked together as a duo back when they were in the Tower Of Heaven. It was a rather exciting experience.

"What interdimensional portal?" asked Wendy.

"Well, it's right up ahead if you want to use it." answered Erza.

Curious, Wendy went to check it out. She had to admit, it was rather large.

"So, if I want to check out the world your boyfriend came from, I just need to jump right in?" inquired Wendy.

"Pretty much. It's that simple." nodded the knight.

All of a sudden, Wendy couldn't wait to try out the interdimensional portal.

"However, there is something about the portal that you might want to k-"

"Here I go!" exclaimed Wendy.

Immediately, Wendy jumped through the interdimensional portal, leaving Erza unable to finish that sentence.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe I'll be an interdimensional partner one day." thought Erza.

However, she wondered who that was going to be if that ever occurred.

At that very moment, Konohamaru was waiting outside. He had heard that Naruto's latest mission had been a failure, and began to feel rather disappointed. He thought for sure that he was going to complete the mission…but he had thought wrong.

And to think it was all because of Kenichi. He had heard that he had murdered a young boy just like him…and felt rather frightened to be honest. Chances are that young boy could have been him if he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, at that very moment, something surprised him.

Suddenly, Wendy leapt through the portal.

"Yahoo!" bellowed Wendy. That had been a rather exciting ride.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Konohamaru, nearly falling out of the tree stump he was sitting in.

It appeared that once again someone from Fairy Tail was using the interdimensional portal.

However, he was expecting someone older. So far, all the mages he had seen from Fairy Tail were teenagers. Why were they suddenly sending someone so young?

"Hey there! Sorry, did I scare you?" apologized Wendy.

Though, Konohamaru had to admit, the latest person to use the interdimensional portal was rather…intriguing.

Already, his cheeks were starting to blush.

"No no, it's fine. Welcome to Konoha. Did someone in Fairy Tail show you around?" inquired Konohamaru.

"Yes…I'm the latest recruit." explained the wind dragonslayer.

"Funny you should mention that…I happen to be in training to become a ninja myself. Right now, I'm almost done." answered the boy.

"Sounds perfect!" exclaimed Wendy.

"Yeah…but there are these guys that keep ruining my life." stated Konohamaru, referring to the school bullies who liked beating him up on the way to school.

The sooner he graduated, the better.

"What?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

"Never mind. Why don't I show you around Konoha?" asked the preteen.

"Sure!" exclaimed Wendy.

Immediately, Konohamaru went to show Wendy around the city. Sure enough, she was looking around with excitement.

Apparently, she liked what she saw.

"This place is huge." said Wendy.

"I know…" agreed Konohamaru. Maybe they should start handing out maps so that people wouldn't get lost. It wasn't one of the five elemental nations for nothing.

_Elsewhere across the sea…_

Realizing what had happened, Kenichi snarled in rage. Why wouldn't his enemies just die already? He was getting so sick of seeing them live.

"What's the matter?" inquired Akiko.

"It's those pests that I keep encountering every time I go and slaughter the filth of the ninja…they're still alive!" bellowed Kenichi.

It appeared that his foes were going to live to see another day.

"Oh." answered the artist. That did sound rather frustrating.

"When I get my hands on them, I'm going to tear them to shreds!" exclaimed the evil ninja.

Akiko gulped.

But for now, he was going to go back to do what he did best. Maybe it was time to move on elsewhere.

Besides, even if he hadn't killed Lucy and her companions, he had still slaughtered many people onboard the ship…people that he believed did not deserve to live. So it was not a total loss.

After all, there was always another clan for him to exterminate, and this time, he was not going to do this alone this time.

Immediately, he left along with Akiko. Hopefully he would be able to straighten out his enemies before too long.

How did they keep surviving?

_Back at Fairy Tail…_

Laxus was feeling rather frustrated. Before Fairy Tail had been a group consisting of mages and mages alone…but know it contained ninjas and what were basically ninja-mage hybrids. Was using the interdimensional portal even safe? Personally he thought that Levy should have tested it out a bit more.

Basically, it was driving him crazy. Why did Makarov decide to open an interdimensional portal anyway? For all he knew strange creatures could come out of it and start devouring everyone in Fairy Tail.

Why was he so trusting of the ninja, anyway? He hadn't even met them in person up until now…granted, the ninja had been rather nice to Lucy while she was stranded in the alternate world from what he knew…but how long was that going to last?

The more he thought of it, the more he decided he should be the one running things, not his grandfather. Clearly he had gone crazy.

Maybe if he succeeded in conquering Fairy Tail, he could give him a strait jacket? While he was at it maybe he should give him some crazy pills.

"Hmm…" thought Laxus.

If he wanted to conquer Fairy Tail, he needed to come up with a plan. Perhaps he could bring his Thunder God Tribe into this?

However, there was a problem…Fairy Tail had allies from Konoha that would happily defend the guild if it ended up in trouble.

Perhaps he should try gaining allies from Konoha himself? That seemed as good of a plan as any. He wasn't quite sure who he should find…but he was sure that he could find someone that was interested in helping him.

Maybe now he could get Makarov to see the light…or lightning, for that matter.

"He thinks that he can just let ninjas into his guild whenever he feels like it? I'll show him…" thought Laxus.

_Well, it looks like that's the end of that little team up…Kenichi's gone and sunk the S.S. Hiruzen._

_Fortunately, Naruto and his companions managed to make it out alive…but at the same time they failed another mission. Not again!_

_On the plus side, Wendy's decided to visit Konoha. But on the negative side, Laxus is planning to declare war on Fairy Tail. Oh dear._

_I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter! I'll see you later!_


	50. Chapter 50: Ms Fairy Tail

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Wendy is going to explore Konoha with Konohamaru…and in the process he's going to help him against the school bullies that have appeared earlier. I hope you enjoy the results._

_Also, the girls in Fairy Tail are going to get ready for the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant…incidentally, Sakura and Ino will be part of it as well…this is a crossover, after all._

_Unfortunately, Laxus's gathering an army to invade Fairy Tail as we speak…it turns out someone's not happy with how someone's running things as well._

_I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Chapter 50: Ms. Fairy Tail**

"Thanks for showing me around Konoha. I think I'm going to like it here…" said Wendy.

"Glad that you're enjoying it!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

Suddenly, he heard rustling.

"Oh no…" murmured Naruto's apprentice.

"What's the matter?" inquired Wendy.

"I think it's the school bullies again…" answered Konohamaru.

Oddly enough, despite being chunin, Konohamaru took a few lessons at the ninja school every now and then…just so he could remember what he learned. It was rather helpful.

As he had said earlier, he was almost done with his lessons there…which he was grateful for.

Sure enough, it was none other than the Sorority.

"Guess what! We're going to toss you in that dumpster over there!" exclaimed Momoo.

"Oh no…" thought Konohamaru. For some strange reason, he got the feeling that they were going to do that this time.

However, there was someone there to defend him this time.

"Hey! Put him down!" exclaimed Wendy.

Immediately, Momoo noticed Wendy, and began to laugh.

"You decided to have a little girl walk with you so that you'd be safe this time? You've got to be kidding!" exclaimed Momoo.

Momoo and his gang all began to laugh.

"C'mon! What did he ever do to you?" inquired Wendy.

"Well, he did humiliate us at the Chunin Exams. Now we have to wait forever until we can participate again!" exclaimed Momoo.

"Well, that does sound like a disappointment." nodded the wind dragonslayer.

"Now then, where were we? Toss him in!" exclaimed Momoo.

"Stop this!" demanded Wendy.

"Or else what? You'll cry like a little baby?" taunted the boy.

Wendy sighed. She didn't want to do this…but apparently she had no choice.

Suddenly, she began to exhale a rather intense amount of wind, knocking Konohamaru out of the bullies' hands in the process.

Much to their shock, they found that their clothes had been blown away.

In the process, Konohamaru got to see them in their underwear…and all of a sudden, he knew why they were called the Sorority.

"Run away!" screamed Momoo.

Quickly, the bullies ran away, still in their underpants.

Wendy began to gasp for breath shortly afterwards. She didn't know she had that in her.

Suddenly, she found herself being hugged by Konohamaru.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Wendy. This time, it was her turn to be surprised.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" bellowed the grateful boy.

Suffice to say, this could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

"You're welcome. I just wanted to defend you…I'm sorry if I scared you…again." answered Wendy.

"Are you kidding? That was awesome! Do it again!" demanded Konohamaru.

Shrugging, Wendy used her Wind Dragon's Roar again.

"I wish I could do that…" answered the boy.

"Well, if you want to do that, you'd need to be a wind dragonslayer…" stated Wendy.

"I wish I were a wind dragonslayer…" said Konohamaru.

"Well, in order to do that, you'd have to go visit my mother, Grandeeney." explained the wind dragonslayer.

"Alright then…" nodded Konohamaru. Maybe he should pay her a visit.

However, he wasn't quite sure what a dragonslayer was.

"Is there anything I can do to repay you?" inquired Konohamaru.

"Well, I would like to hang out with you some more." answered Wendy.

"Yes!" cheered the boy. He was having the best day of his life.

Hopefully now the bullies would finally leave him be. They sure looked like they had been humiliated.

If not, he could just have Wendy use her wind dragon roar on them again. That would be priceless.

It was nice having a bodyguard for a change.

_Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail guild…_

Naruto leapt through the interdimensional portal, curious to see what he had heard about there being a Ms .Fairy Tail contest on his pager.

"What's this all about?" asked Naruto.

"We're having a contest to see who is the most popular mage in Fairy Tail…the most popular female mage that is." explained Makarov.

"Really? I'm rooting for Erza!" exclaimed the chunin.

"I bet you are." answered the guildmaster.

"Where are they, anyway?" asked Naruto.

"Right now they're taking a soak in the hot spring…" stated Makarov.

"Oh…do you have one for boys?" inquired the chunin.

"As a matter of fact, we do." answered the powerful mage.

"Alright then! I'll go check it out!" stated Naruto.

Immediately, he went to change into his swim trunks.

Sure enough, there was a map detailing where he could find the hot springs.

"Here I come!" exclaimed Naruto.

But unbeknownst to Naruto, one mage was playing a rather nasty prank on his fellow guildmates.

"Heh heh heh…" murmured Gajeel.

As it turned out, he had switched the signs so that the girls' hot spring was the boys' hot spring and vice versa.

At that very moment, Naruto began to walk by, and Gajeel began to hide himself.

"This is going to be priceless." thought Gajeel.

Immediately, Naruto opened the door to the hot spring…and gasped in shock.

There were the female mages of Fairy Tail…and they were naked!

As soon as they noticed him…they began to scream…with one exception.

"Hey there, Naruto. How's it going?" asked Erza.

At this point, Naruto had fainted.

"Oh dear…it looks like he passed out." stated the Requip mage.

"What is he even doing here?" inquired Bisca.

"Well, I do have a lot of fanboys." noted Cana.

"Get him out of here!" demanded Levy.

"Um, sure." nodded Erza.

Immediately, she picked up Naruto and began to take him out of the girls' hot spring.

"You forgot to put on a towel!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Er, yeah…I…forgot." answered Erza, doing as Mirajane asked.

At this point, Gajeel was beginning to snicker.

"This was just too good!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Suddenly, he heard someone growling at him.

It was none other than Sakura, who had also been invited to the Ms. Fairy Tail Contest. She in fact wanted to compete.

"You thought that was funny? Well then, I guess now I'm going to have to pummel you with my fists!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Round 3 with you? Perfect!" bellowed Gajeel.

Immediately, Sakura picked up Gajeel and tossed him as hard as she could.

Unfortunately, she ended up accidentally tossing him into the girls' hot spring.

"Um…hey, Gajeel!" greeted Levy nervously.

Unable to believe that there were two "peeping toms" in one day, the other Fairy Tail members immediately picked up Gajeel and tossed him out of the hot spring.

"I'll see you later at the Ms. Fairy Tail contest!" exclaimed Levy.

"I…actually didn't mean to do that." answered Sakura.

"Let's see how you like it!" bellowed Gajeel.

Immediately, he picked up Sakura and tossed her into the boys' hot spring.

Sure enough, there was Natsu and Gray, who was currently relaxing.

Quickly, they noticed her presence.

"You do realize that this is the boys' hot spring, right?" asked Gray.

Her face turning red, Sakura immediately leapt out of the hot spring.

"I didn't say you couldn't relax here!" bellowed the ice mage.

Feeling rather angry, Sakura began to punch Gajeel in the face, who began to punch back.

At this point, Mirajane and Levy had left the hot springs and were wearing towels. Also, they were eating popcorn.

"Wow! This is really entertaining!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Will Gajeel win this time?" asked Levy.

Suffice to say, they were fighting rather vigorously.

"You think you can defeat me?" inquired Gajeel.

"You bet I can!" exclaimed Sakura.

Immediately, Sakura began to form weapons made out of ice and swing them at Gajeel…but he quickly began to break them.

"Grr…" thought the kunoichi.

Gajeel simply laughed.

Suddenly, Sakura punched Gajeel and sent him flying a big distance.

"Huh. That was actually a nice shot." complimented Gajeel.

"Thank…you?" answered Sakura.

"But not as good as this!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Gajeel hit Sakura with his Iron Dragon's Roar.

At this point, they were both feeling rather exhausted.

"Well, I guess we should both heal each other up now." noted Sakura.

"Not another stalemate!" exclaimed Levy. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Meanwhile, Erza took Naruto to a nearby bed in the boys' dorm.

"What happened?" asked Naruto.

"You passed out because you went into the girls' hot spring by accident." explained Erza.

"I think someone switched the sign…" answered the chunin.

"They did? Well, I suppose that makes sense." nodded the knight.

"What were they thinking?" inquired Naruto.

"I'm not quite so sure of that myself." answered Erza.

"When is the contest going to start?" asked Naruto.

"About a few hours from now." explained the knight.

"Sounds good!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Oddly enough I didn't see Lucy in the girls' locker room…" questioned Erza.

"Really? Where is she?" inquired Naruto.

"Hey there, Naruto." answered Lucy.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" asked Erza.

"There's a problem with that…every time I go into the girls' locker room, my nine-tailed fox giggles hysterically…it creeps me out." explained the kunoichi.

"I don't recall my nine-tailed fox being perverted…" questioned Naruto.

"Well, he wasn't trapped in a teenage girl's body until I went to Konoha." answered Lucy.

"True…" nodded the chunin.

"Can't you just use your apartment to get ready?" inquired Erza.

"There's a cockroach infesting it." explained Lucy.

At that very moment, Gajeel came in.

"You're afraid of a single cockroach? Girls are afraid of everything!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

"If you think it isn't intimidating, why don't you go in there and get rid of it yourself?" answered Lucy.

Gajeel simply smirked and went to take care of the disgusting cockroach…

…only to find himself being thrown out a few minutes later. Ironically, he screamed like a little girl.

"This is my apartment! Stay off my property!" demanded the giant cockroach.

"Good lord! That cockroach was a beast!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"See why I can't get into my house?" asked Lucy with her arms crossed.

"Can't you just call the exterminator?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"I tried calling them…but they won't deal with insects that are above the size of my foot." explained the kunoichi.

"Sucks to be you." said Gajeel as he ran away like a sissy little coward.

"Hmph." murmured Lucy.

Curious, she wondered if Kurama would help her with the matter…but she then remembered that he wanted her to use the girls' hot spring rather than her shower.

Why was he such a pervert?

_Meanwhile at the Hyuga household residence…_

Curious as to how Hinata had become a fire dragonslayer, Neji wondered if he should use the interdimensional portal himself.

However, he wasn't sure whether he should use it or not.

"I could use a sign, I suppose." said Neji.

Suddenly, a rather large man stepped out of the portal.

"And I guess that's my cue." stated the Hyuga clan member.

Immediately, Neji went through the interdimensional portal.

"Right then…all I need to do now is look for some ninjas to join my cause…" answered Laxus.

Surely there were at least some of them that would be interested in helping him with his conquest.

He would find the help that he was looking for a few minutes later.

Sure enough, there were two Hyuga branch members nearby…and they seemed rather angry about something.

Specifically, they were angry at Hiashi Hyuga for enslaving them using the seals on the foreheads.

"Darn it, Hiashi Hyuga! Why did he make us part of the branch house instead of the main house!" exclaimed a branch member.

"How I hate that man!" bellowed another branch member.

Curious, Laxus noticed that they seemed unhappy about the Hyuga clan was run…much like he was unhappy with how the Fairy Tail guild was run.

Perhaps they could help each other out?

'What's this? You seem unhappy about how things are being run around here…" stated the lightning dragonslayer.

"As a matter of fact, we are. Can you keep a secret?"

"What secret would that be?" inquired Laxus.

Quickly, the branch members of the Hyuga Clan took Laxus to an abandoned house where the ANBU wouldn't hear them. They wouldn't be happy if they found out what they were planning…and quite frankly, neither would the campers.

"Right now, the head of the Hyuga branch household, also known as Naraku in case you were wondering, is planning a revolution against the main house!" exclaimed one of the Hyuga branch members.

"Is he now?" inquired Laxus. He was intrigued.

"However, due to the seals on his foreheads, we weren't able to get it underway…it's rather unfortunate, really." answered the Hyuga branch member.

Apparently, Hiashi Hyuga had thought of a branch member trying to betray him.

"The seals on your foreheads?" inquired Laxus.

"Hiashi can use them to fry our brain if he thinks we're plotting to stab him in the back…as much as we like to." explained the Hyuga clan member.

"Oh…do you need any help? I know a few people who might be able to assist you…" explained the lightning dragonslayer.

"Really? You will?" inquired the Hyuga branch member.

"I happen to be in a similar situation myself…if you can help me get what I want I'll help you get what I want as well…" explained Laxus.

"Alright then! Let's take them to our leader, shall we?" asked the conspirator.

Immediately, the two Hyuga branch members took them towards Naraku's evil lair.

_Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail guild…_

"So…this is where Hinata got her powers…" said Neji.

"Do you know Hinata?" inquired Natsu.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I happen to be her cousin." answered the Hyuga prodigy.

"You happen to be her cousin? I think we'll get along then!" exclaimed the fire dragonslayer.

Immediately, he went to shake his hand.

"Yeah…Hinata's been talking a lot about you lately. Apparently, you two are close." stated Neji.

"You bet we are! We even worked together on a mission!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Really? I heard that she had gone towards a tower after one of her friends had gotten kidnapped…did that have anything to do with it?" asked the Hyuga ninja.

"That was the one!" bellowed the fire mage.

"Alright then. Anything you want to tell me about Fairy Tail?" inquired Neji.

"Well, we're about to have a Ms. Fairy Tail pageant!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Really? Maybe I should tell Hinata." noted the Hyuga clan member.

"Yeah…maybe you should. She'd probably be interested in joining in…I in particular would love her to wear a swimsuit." explained the fire mage.

"What?" inquired Neji.

"Never mind. Just thinking to myself." said Natsu.

"I heard that you were the one that she inherited her fire abilities from…" noted the Hyuga prodigy.

"Yeah…the interdimensional portal will do that." answered Natsu.

"I used the interdimensional portal to get here, actually…I also saw a man stepping out of it…he had blonde hair and was really muscular." stated Neji.

"Laxus? What's he doing outside of Fairy Tail?" questioned the fire mage.

That was rather strange, to say the very least.

"I'm not sure…I never really got the opportunity to talk to him…he seemed single-minded about something…" answered Neji.

Shrugging, Natsu decided that it was nice talking with Neji.

"So, are you going back home now?" inquired Natsu.

"I suppose. I don't want my uncle to get too worried about me." nodded the Hyuga prodigy.

"Don't you mean your father?" asked the fire dragonslayer.

"My father's dead. I live with my uncle now." explained Neji.

"Sorry to hear that…I didn't really get to know my foster father myself until recently." noted Natsu.

"That's unfortunate." nodded the nephew of Hiashi Hyuga.

"I'm still not quite sure why he suddenly disappeared." nodded the fire mage.

"Goodbye." said Neji as he stepped through the interdimensional portal.

Curious, Natsu began to wonder why Laxus had left. Should he tell Makarov about this?

Laxus did seem to be acting a bit odd. In fact, he had hardly seen him as of late.

Shrugging, he decided to go hang out with Happy. He was sure that he would enjoy the company.

_Meanwhile…_

"Are you ready, Erza?" asked Mirajane.

"I'm ready. Just give me a minute." answered Erza.

"Thanks for looking after me while I was unconscious…but why are you still wearing a towel?" inquired Naruto.

"I wasn't paying attention, I guess." explained the knight.

Immediately, she changed into her armor so that she would be ready for the Ms. Fairy Tail contest.

"Good luck out there! I'm going to be voting for you!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I'm rooting for Bisca!" bellowed Alzack from the hallway.

"I know that." nodded Erza. Who else would he vote for?

"I hope you get second place at least!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Thanks. I appreciate it. Maybe there will be a Mr. Fairy Tail contest…" noted Erza.

"If so, I'm looking forward to it…though Natsu and Gray will probably be fierce competition…" acknowledged the summoner ninja.

"That's true." nodded the knight.

Immediately, Erza left Naruto while he rose from his bed.

"I can't wait for the competition to start." he thought.

Personally he wondered who was scoring first place. Of course, he was hoping that Erza would win the 1st place trophy…but he would also be happy if any of the other mages he had won, since they were all his friends.

He in particular wondered if Lucy would win. Granted, she wasn't very good at flirting with men…but there was always the possibility.

Shrugging, he began to wonder what he could do to pass the time.

He could try looking at the latest copy of the Sorceror's Magazine…but Sakura would probably catch him doing that.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"I know! I'll go eat some ramen noodles!" exclaimed Naruto.

As he was well-aware, ramen noodles were delicious.

Since he had some time on his hands, Naruto decided to head back to Konoha. That was where Neji had headed, after all.

However, he got the feeling that Neji wasn't quite the same anymore…did he become an interdimensional partner too?

If so, he was likely partnered with Laxus…but what powers did he have anyway? He wasn't quite sure since he had never seen him in action.

_At a nearby pool…_

On the way back home, Neji decided to relax at a nearby pool. It always felt nice to relax after some hard training. It also helped him to cool off.

So far, he had hit a dummy 67 times. He was getting better all the time.

Fortunately, the pool was rather shallow, so he didn't have to worry about bringing a buddy with him…or a lifeguard.

Still, he wondered if he should have brought his inner tube. Wearing it was rather fun…even if it was rather embarrassing to wear around his friends.

Suddenly, he noticed someone approaching him.

"Huh?" asked Neji. Did someone else want to take a few laps in the pool?

Curious, he took a look at the man approaching him, and groaned.

It was none other than Takeshi, who was once again trying to kill people.

"Oh, brother." said the Hyuga clan member.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi, bloodthirsty as ever.

Curious, Neji wondered what weapon he had this time.

Immediately, he glanced at Takeshi's hand, and gasped. He was wielding a toaster!

All of a sudden, he knew what he was going to do.

Giggling like a school girl, Takeshi tossed the toaster into the pond, causing surges of electricity to flow through it.

"Yes! I did it! I killed him! Hooray!" cheered Takeshi.

However, much to both of their surprise, this did not hurt Neji as well.

"What?" asked Neji. He could have sworn that he was going to get fried…but apparently, this wasn't the case.

Perplexed that he had been unharmed by the electricity, Neji decided he might as well pulverize Takeshi for being so crazy.

Immediately, he began to seal off Takeshi's chakra points, causing him to pass out.

"You're…a cheater…" murmured Takeshi as he fell unconscious.

"Well, he's gone off the deep end. I think Tsunade will be happy to see him in her custody." noted Neji.

Immediately, he went to go tell Tsunade about the criminal that he had caught. He still wasn't sure how he kept escaping…

…and how he survived so many volts.

_Meanwhile at Naraku's hideout…_

"What's this? It looks like we've finally gotten someone who isn't part of the Hyuga branch household to help us! Perfect! If we keep this up, we will be able to begin!" cheered Naraku.

Immediately, the Hyuga branch household raised their arms in the air, with their hands clenched in a fist.

"You sure seem excited." noted Laxus.

"As a matter of fact, we are! If we keep this up, we shall rule over the Hyuga clan in no time flat!" bellowed the deranged ninja.

"I take it you want to be leader of your clan, just like I wish to be leader of my guild?" inquired Laxus.

"You are correct, sir!" exclaimed Naraku.

"I think we'll get along then." answered the lightning dragonslayer.

"So…do you know anyone else who would be interested in joining my cause?" inquired the evil Hyuga clan member.

"Well, I bet my tribe would be interested…they always do whatever I tell them to." answered the muscular man.

"Perfect! We may be able to go through with my plan!" exclaimed Naraku.

Immediately, the conspirator Hyuga branch members began to cheer.

However, one of them pointed out something that might be of Naraku's concern.

"Wait a minute! You're not a ninja! You're not even wearing a ninja headband!" exclaimed one of the Hyuga branch members.

Suddenly, the rest of the conspirator ninja gasped in shock.

"Hmm?" inquired Laxus.

"If you're not a ninja, then how do we know that we can trust you?" asked one of the traitorous Hyuga ninja.

Immediately, the Hyuga branch members began to grow suspicious of him.

Curious, Laxus wondered how he was going to get the Hyuga branch members to trust him…now that he thought of it, he probably wouldn't be too willing to allow someone into his conspiracy if they turned out to be a ninja…granted, he had been trying to recruit a few ninja to help him with his scheme…but that was the exception.

However, as it turned out, he didn't have to say anything.

"Wait a minute! I think we can trust him! He has our seal on his forehead!" exclaimed a Hyuga branch ninja.

"What?!" exclaimed the other Hyuga branch members.

Curious, Laxus looked at himself at a nearby mirror, and gasped.

Sure enough, there was the mark of the Hyuga branch ninja on his forehead. How did it get there?

He wasn't sure…but at least this would hopefully cause the Hyuga ninja.

"Alright, that mark has me convinced. However, this also means that you won't be able to attack Hiashi Hyuga…otherwise you'll likely end up dead…" noted Naraku.

The other Hyuga ninja nodded.

"Hmm…" thought Laxus. That was a problem. He was going to attack Hiashi Hyuga with his lighting bolts…but now apparently, he couldn't do so.

However, as far as he knew, the Thunder God Tribe did not possess these seals…as such, they would be able to attack Hiashi Hyuga.

Let's see now…on his side he had Freed…Bickslow, Evergreen…

…all of a sudden, he knew exactly what to do.

"Everyone! I have a plan!" bellowed Laxus.

The Hyuga clan members cheered.

"And what is that?" asked Naraku.

"I'll just get Evergreen…she'll be a great help for us…" explained Laxus.

Once again, the traitorous Hyuga ninja began to laugh maniacally.

_Meanwhile at the Hyuga household…_

Hiashi Hyuga was drinking wine at the table, when suddenly he shivered.

"What's the matter?" asked Hinata.

"I just felt a chill go down my spine." explained Hiashi Hyuga.

"Maybe you put too much ice in your beverage?" questioned Hinata.

"Maybe…" nodded the chieftain of the Hyuga household.

For some strange reason, Hanabi couldn't help but shake the feeling that they should try checking on the Hyuga branch members…though she wasn't quite sure why.

_Elsewhere in Konoha…_

"Where are you going, Naruto?" inquired Kakashi.

"I'm going to the Ms. Fairy Tail contest! It's going to start soon!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Do you mind if I come with?" asked the jonin.

"I suppose you could tag along…why do you ask?" questioned the chunin.

"Well, apparently Sakura and Ino are interested in competing in the contest…" noted Kakashi.

"Hmm? Well, they do appear to be racing towards the Fairy Tail portal…" nodded Naruto.

"Besides…I kind of like attractive females." explained the jonin.

"What? Oh, now I get it!" exclaimed Naruto.

Together, the duo set out towards the Fairy Tail guild.

Little did they know that at that very moment…a conspiracy was underway…a conspiracy that could spell doom for Fairy Tail.

_Back at the Hyuga household…_

"Do you hear something?" asked Hiashi Hyuga, suddenly taking a break from drinking his wine.

"Hmm?" questioned Hinata. She thought that she had something too…but she wasn't quite sure

At that very moment, several Hyuga branch members broke into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?!" exclaimed Hiashi. Couldn't they have just knocked?

Curious, he got the feeling that this was some sort of mutiny…which he found to be rather strange considering each member of the Hyuga branch had a seal on their forehead to prevent them from betraying the main house.

However, he quickly noticed that for some strange reason, there was a woman with them that he did not recognize.

Apparently, they had hired some sort of mercenary to work around the seal.

"Clever…" thought Hiashi Hyuga.

Suddenly, he found himself transformed into stone, much to the horror of Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga.

"Father!" exclaimed Hinata.

They found themselves turned to stone a few minutes later.

"Mission accomplished!" exclaimed Naraku cheerfully.

"Are you going to fulfill your end of the bargain? Or am I going to have to use my Thunder Palace to lock you in until you agree to my demands?" asked Laxus.

"Relax! Just because I'm a crazy psychopath doesn't mean I'd lie to you! Just take us to Fairy Tail and we'll be ready!" bellowed the evil leader of the Hyuga branch.

Personally, Laxus had to question what Hiashi Hyuga was thinking when he let him in charge…but at least he had the army he was looking for.

"What about the girls?" inquired Evergreen.

Curious, Laxus noticed that Hiashi Hyuga's daughters had both been turned to stone as well. Apparently, they had been looking in the same direction as their father was.

"The girls? Well, you can just leave them there for now…however, I do believe we'll have use for them later. Just wait and see!" exclaimed Naraku.

Curious, Laxus wondered what he was planning. He wasn't quite sure of that himself, though they were currently working together as a team.

Granted, the statues Evergreen made did eventually crumble after a while…but hopefully they would return before then.

Immediately, Naraku picked up the statue of Hiashi Hyuga and began to take him towards his lair along with Evergreen and Laxus.

However, unbeknownst to the trio and their comrades, red cracks were slowly beginning to appear over the statue that was once Hinata Hyuga.

_Back at Fairy Tail…_

Lucy let out a sigh. She just didn't have a way to get ready for the Ms. Fairy Tail contest. Was she going to have to miss out? She hadn't even got to participate in a contest like that before.

Suddenly, Sakura approached her.

"Is something the matter?" asked Sakura.

As it turned out, she was wearing a pink dress. Apparently, she was ready for the Ms. Fairy Tail contest…despite not being in Fairy Tail for nearly as long as some of the other members.

"I can't get into my apartment." explained Lucy.

"Why not?" inquired the kunoichi.

"There's a giant cockroach inside. He already beat up Gajeel when he tried to get rid of him…" said the kunoichi.

"Can't you just use the girls' locker room?" asked Sakura.

"That's what Kurama wants me to do." answered Lucy.

"Oh…wait, did you say that he beat up Gajeel?" inquired the medical kunoichi.

"Yes, he did. Why do you ask?" questioned the jinchuriki.

"Nobody beats up Gajeel except for me!" bellowed Sakura.

"OK…" answered Lucy.

Immediately, Sakura burst into the apartment. Sounds of scuffling were heard…and apparently, the giant cockroach was losing.

The giant cockroach left Lucy's apartment a few minutes later.

"Alright, you win! It's all yours! I surrender!" bellowed the cockroach, tears forming out of his eyes.

Apparently, he shouldn't have beaten up Gajeel. Sakura was the only one allowed to punch and kick him.

Sakura herself exited the apartment a few minutes later.

"Alright, I'm done. I will admit that it was kind of hard to fight in a dress…but I think that you can enter now." explained the kunoichi.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"**Nooooooo!" **bellowed Kurama. He was so hoping that Lucy would give up and use the girls' room…but he had thought wrong.

Immediately, Lucy got dressed in an outfit that she thought would impress Shikamaru.

"Let's see how he likes it…" thought the kunoichi.

_Back at the Hyuga household…_

Hinata Hyuga stretched out her arms as she freed herself from her enchantment. Thank goodness she was resistant to curses…otherwise she would be stuck like that for quite some time.

However, she quickly noticed that her younger sister Hanabi Hyuga had been petrified as well…and wondered if she could find a way to free her.

Deciding that it was worth a shot, Hinata Hyuga pressed her hands on the statue of her sister…

…slowly, she began to turn back to normal.

"What happened? I felt like I was at an art museum…which I personally find to be boring." asked Hanabi.

"You got turned into stone…" answered Hinata.

"What? Did Medusa break into our house?" questioned Hinata's younger sister. She had read about her in a mythology class.

"Sort of…I think this is some sort of twisted conspiracy…I think the Hyuga branch want to be in charge now…" explained the kunoichi.

"What?" inquired Hanabi.

"I know! I seem to recall seeing the man Natsu and I met earlier right before I got petrified…speaking of which, he tried to kill him!" exclaimed Hinata.

Now that she thought of it…he didn't seem to like Hiashi Hyuga too much. Perhaps this was why he was doing this?

"That's terrible!" bellowed the prankster kunoichi. All of a sudden she was starting to think that Naraku was a madman…which was very true indeed.

"I know! But apparently he's not going to stop there…clearly he wants to take over our entire clan!" shouted the fire dragonslayer.

"Noooo!" screamed Hanabi. She didn't want to be ruled under by a maniac! Especially not one that had turned her father into a statue!

On the other hand, her father did want a monument in his honor. He said that it would make him feel special.

"So far, he appears to be succeeding in his plans…judging from the fact that our father doesn't appear to be present…he's probably already captured him and dragged him off to his base…I believe he was turned into stone like the rest of us." answered Hinata.

That was rather unfortunate, as that meant that she couldn't change him back.

"What are we going to do?" inquired Hanabi.

"Well, I suppose we should try to figure out what the next stage of their plan is." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she used her Byakugan to search for her father and her treasonous Hyuga branch members.

Much to her surprise, she found that the traitor Hyuga ninja were dancing around the statue of her father like wild Injuns.

"Well, that's kind of weird…" questioned Hinata.

Clearly, they were very excited about this plan.

However, she quickly noticed Naraku was talking to someone…taking a closer look, she gasped in surprise.

It was none other than Laxus Dreyar!

"Laxus Dreyar? What's he doing working with Naraku? And why is he helping him take over the Hyuga clan?" inquired the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Laxus opened a yellow interdimensional portal, and the evil Hyuga ninja began to leap through it.

Deciding that she had seen enough, she deactivated her Byakugan.

"Oh no! They're going to attack Fairy Tail next!" bellowed Hinata.

"They're what?!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"Hanabi, I need you to stay here while I go warn Makarov about this. The Hyuga clan clearly isn't the only thing that's in danger here." explained the kunoichi.

"But what about you?" inquired Hinata's younger sister.

"Don't worry about me. Just try to relax. Panicking is only going to make things worse, alright?" asked Hinata.

"Alright." nodded Hanabi.

"If Neji stops by, tell him that I went to go save Fairy Tail." explained Hinata.

Hanabi nodded.

Immediately, Hinata raced towards the interdimensional portal.

Hopefully she wouldn't be too late to stop this conspiracy.

_Oh no! An enormous conspiracy has unfolded and now both the Hyuga clan and Fairy Tail are in danger! And yes, I played with the crossover aspect once again…just like I had Juvia kidnap Naruto instead of Lucy and Hinata bail him out of there…I thought that would be rather funny…which apparently it was._

_In the next chapter, the Ms. Fairy Tail contest is going to begin…but of course everything is going to go wrong. Why can't life be full of pleasant surprises instead of just surprises?_

_Have a good one!_


	51. Chapter 51: The Battle Begins

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, the Battle Of Fairy Tail is going to begin…you know what that is, don't you?_

_Oh, and Naraku's going to try to get Hinata to surrender the Hyuga Clan to him…she is related to Hiashi Hyuga by blood, after all._

_And of course, there's going to be fighting among the Fairy Tail mages…luckily for Lucy, she's not actually going to turn to stone in this fanfic…that's because she was late for the party. Talk about a blessing in disguise, huh?_

_Let the fighting commence!_

**Chapter 51: The Battle Begins**

Hinata frantically leapt through the interdimensional portal. She needed to warn Makarov as soon as possible. Things were about to get nasty, she just knew it.

Hopefully she would be able to warn them in time. From what she had seen already, Laxus was wasting no time in his plan to conquer Fairy Tail.

And in the process, he had put the Hyuga clan in danger as well. Who would have thought that he would have teamed up with a traitor from her clan?

Immediately, she began to look for him using her Byakugan.

However, she ended up being interrupted.

"Hey there, Hinata!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Wha-hey there, Naruto!" greeted Hinata.

"Is there something you wish to tell me?" asked the boy.

"I need to warn Makarov! There's a huge crisis coming!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"What? How come?" inquired Naruto.

"It's my father! He's been turned to stone!" bellowed Hinata.

"What?!" screeched the chunin.

"This is terrible, Naruto! By the way, where are all the female mages? I'm starting to feel like the Smurfette in the Smurf Village here!" inquired the kunoichi.

"Oh…they're getting ready for the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant." explained Naruto.

"Really? That sounds nice." noted Hinata.

Suddenly, Lucy arrived on the scene. For some strange reason, she was wearing a rather revealing cat outfit.

"**Meow!" **cheered the nine-tailed fox.

"Hey there, Lucy…is there a particular reason you're dressed like that?" inquired Hinata.

"I figured that Shikamaru was a cat person…so I figured I would dress like this for him…" answered Lucy.

"That makes sense." nodded the kunoichi.

"Do you know where the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant is going to begin? I don't want to get there too late…" noted the jinchuriki.

"I'm not sure…I need to tell Makarov something urgent though. Maybe you should look for him too…" suggested Hinata.

"Alright. Wait, what's this about something urgent?" inquired Lucy.

"Let's just say that Fairy Tail might be in a lot of trouble…" answered the kunoichi.

"That doesn't sound good…" noted the jinchuriki.

"Believe me, it's not." nodded Hinata.

_Meanwhile where the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant is going to take place…_

"I'm looking forward to this!" exclaimed Levy.

"Me too." nodded Sakura, who was wearing a pink dress.

"Try not to strip down while you're at the pageant, will you, Sakura?" asked Ino.

"You know about that?" inquired the kunoichi with a blush on her face.

"I saw you do it while you were at Konoha." stated the psychic kunoichi.

"Oh…" said Sakura. Her and her stripping habit.

"You think Naruto will like my outfit?" inquired Erza, hoping to impress her boyfriend.

"You're requiped into your sarashi and flame pants…" pointed out Juvia.

"Well, I know how much Naruto likes that outfit…" stated the knight. That was what she had worn when she and Naruto were in the Tower Of Heaven together, after all.

She had to admit, things had been rather…eventful.

"You think Droy will like my outfit?" inquired Cana.

"You're in a swimsuit…a skimpy swimsuit." pointed out Juvia.

"I just love my bandeau bikini top…" said the alcohol lover.

For some strange reason, she found Droy to be attractive…she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe she had a thing for big eaters?

Or it could be that she had a thing for plants. She wasn't quite sure.

"I wonder whose going to win this year…" questioned Bisca.

"I'm going to be the winner…thank you very much." said a mysterious voice.

"Who said that?" inquired Cana.

The next thing they knew, they had all been turned into statues.

As it turned out, it was none other than Evergreen.

"Well, it looks like we have our hostages." noted Evergreen.

Oddly enough, she got the feeling that someone was missing from the roster…but she wasn't quite sure why.

Then again, maybe it was nothing.

"I'll go tell Laxus the good news." stated the sorceress.

He would be rather happy to hear it. So far, everything was going according to plan.

_A few minutes later…_

"I think I'm going to enjoy this show…" noted Makarov.

"So am I." nodded Kakashi.

Suddenly, Hinata burst into the room.

"Is something the matter?" inquired the guildmaster.

"This is an emergency!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Oh really?" asked Gajeel.

As it turned out, the male members of the guild had all gathered together so that they could watch the show.

"Go, Cana!" cheered Droy.

"Go, Levy!" exclaimed Jet.

"Go…Sakura?" inquired Gajeel.

"I'm rooting for Lucy…" said Shikamaru.

"Go, Ino!" bellowed Choji.

"I wish Hinata was in the pageant…" stated Natsu.

"Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Hey there, Hinata! Why aren't you in the pageant?" questioned the fire dragonslayer.

"We've got a bad situation on our hands…" explained the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Laxus arrived on the stage.

"I've got a very important announcement, so listen up!" bellowed the lightning dragonslayer.

Hinata gasped in shock.

"Don't worry, Hinata. He's in charge of the pageant…" said Natsu.

"That's what I'm worried about…" answered the fire dragonslayer.

Suddenly, Laxus opened the curtain…revealing the petrified contestants.

"Laxus, what is going on?!" exclaimed Makarov.

"I'm taking over your guild!" bellowed Laxus.

"What?!" shouted the guildmaster.

Suddenly, Laxus's Thunder God Tribe arrived on the scene.

Sure enough, there was Evergreen, Bickslow, and Freed, who began to wave at the male members of Fairy Tail…and Hinata.

Curious, Gajeel noticed that Sakura was among the petrified victims.

"Hey! Nobody turns Sakura into stone without my say so!" bellowed Gajeel.

"Now that we've got our hostages…let's explain the rules of the game, shall we?" inquired Laxus.

"Let them go, Laxus!" demanded Makarov, shocked that his own grandson would betray him like this.

"We're going to decide who gets to keep Fairy Tail…your goal is to make it to me. But in order to do that, you'll have to defeat each member of my Thunder God Tribe." explained Laxus.

All the members of the guild (minus the ones that had been petrified, of course) began to listen intently.

"In the process, you will inevitably have to face off against other members of the guild…you didn't think that things would be that simple, now would you?" inquired Laxus.

Immediately, the mages all began to wonder who they were going to face.

"Oh, and just for the record…I don't think you should take too long. The statues start to crumble after a while…Evergreen's magic is kind of faulty." continued the lightning dragonslayer.

The mages gasped in shock. Were they going to lose their girlfriends?

"Wait, where's Lucy?" inquired Shikamaru.

At that very moment, Lucy burst into the room.

"I knew I was missing somebody…" noted Evergreen.

"Sorry, I'm late…wait, what's going on here?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Shikamaru noticed that Lucy was wearing a black cat uniform…which showed off quite a bit of skin.

"That's hot…" thought the shadow ninja.

"Let the games begin, shall we?" inquired Laxus.

Immediately, Laxus's Thunder God Tribe scattered across the guild. Oddly enough, Laxus himself did not.

As it turned out, he wanted to talk to Hinata.

"Ah, there you are! Funny, I thought Evergreen turned you to stone along with your father and your sister…but no matter. A friend of mine's been looking all over for you…come right this way." stated the founder of the Thunder God Tribe.

Shrugging, Hinata decided to follow him. She wasn't exactly in a position to disobey, after all.

Still, she wondered what exactly he wanted.

"Where is he taking Hinata?" questioned Natsu.

"I wish I knew…" answered Naruto.

Immediately, the mages scrambled so that they could find Laxus's Thunder God Tribe before it was too late.

Of course, there would inevitably be fighting among them due to the rules of Laxus's morbid competition.

"I can't believe that my own grandson has betrayed us like this…" said Makarov.

Suddenly, Makarov found himself trapped in a sphere of thunder.

"What the-" exclaimed the guildmaster.

Curious, he noticed that there was a sticky note attached to the thunder sphere coated in rubber.

"Sorry, Grandfather. Can't let you participate in the game…that would make things too easy." read Makarov out loud.

It figured.

"I must save Erza!" bellowed Naruto.

Suddenly, he found himself teleported away into a battle arena.

"Huh? Where am I?" inquired the chunin.

As it turned out, he was in the dining room.

"Who am I up against?" asked Naruto.

As it turns out, there was Choji, who was currently munching on a chicken sandwich.

"Oh, I guess I'm up against him." noted the chunin.

Already, Choji was starting to inflate himself.

Curious, he noticed that there was a number counting down.

Shrugging, he pulled out his keys so that he could get ready to summon.

As soon as the countdown reached 0, he began summoning his Celestial Spirits.

In this case, he decided to summon Taurus and Aries.

Unfortunately, he had a problem…due to how fat Choji looked, Taurus and Aries were worried that Choji was going to eat them.

"He'll make hamburgers out of me!" screamed Taurus.

"He'll make lamb chops out of me!" screeched Aries.

"Oh no…" murmured Naruto. Apparently, his fight with Choji was already off to a bad start.

Immediately, Taurus and Aries disappeared in a burst of yellow light, leaving Naruto alone with Choji.

And to make matters worse, he had brought some food pills with him.

Already, he was stuffing a spinach pill in his mouth.

"Don't those poison your body and slowly kill you?" inquired Naruto.

"Those were just a prototype. These are much safer…" answered Choji.

"That's a relief…I don't exactly look forward to you punching me so hard you leave behind a crater on impact though…" noted the chunin.

"I'm not going to kill you…I'm just going to knock you out so that I can save Ino…" stated the Akimichi clan member.

"That's awfully sweet…but I need to save Erza." said Naruto.

"Fair enough." nodded Choji, charging straight towards Naruto with astonishing speed.

Meanwhile, Natsu began to search for Hinata with her Byakugan. As it turned out, she was with Laxus…and a bunch of ninja that he thought that he had seen once before.

"Where have I seen them?" questioned Natsu.

Suddenly, he found himself teleported into a battle arena.

As it turned out, he was in the foyer…along with Gray.

"Well, this is rather ironic…" thought Natsu. They had been fighting long before this crazy competition.

"I'll say!" exclaimed Gray.

By the looks of things, Natsu was going to have to defeat Gray if he wanted to save Hinata.

Likewise, Gray needed to do the same if he wanted to save Juvia.

After the countdown, Gray and Natsu prepared to fight.

"I'm going to put you to ice!" exclaimed Gray.

"You're barbecue!" bellowed Natsu.

Sure enough, the two of them were already fighting tooth and nail.

Elsewhere, Lucy was desperately searching for the members of the Thunder God Tribe.

"If I don't do something, I'm going to be the only girl left in Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Lucy. Who would have thought that Laxus could turn them all into statues?

"**Save them already, Lucy! They're the sexiest girls alive!" **bellowed Kurama.

"I wish I were as sexy as Erza…" said the kunoichi.

"**I'm with you there." **nodded the nine-tailed fox.

Lucy sweatdropped.

Suddenly, she found herself transported outside the guild.

"What's this?" inquired Lucy.

Sure enough, there was Alzack, who was brandishing his gun.

"It looks like you're my opponent." said the cowboy.

"Opponent? What are you talking about?" inquired Lucy.

"The competition, remember?" questioned Alzack.

"Are we supposed to fight each to the death or something?" inquired the jinchuriki.

"Something like that…though I don't think Laxus wants us killing each other. That's something at least." noted Alzack.

"I suppose." nodded Lucy.

Suddenly, they heard a voice counting down. Apparently, Laxus wanted them both to have time to get ready.

Immediately, Lucy pressed her hand against the ground while Alzack loaded his gun.

As soon as the countdown was over, they wasted no time in attacking.

Elsewhere in the guild, Shikamaru began to look for Lucy. At least she wasn't one of the petrified victims.

Thank goodness she had shown up late.

However, he found himself being transported into a battle arena…he was in the boy's dorm, it seemed. Boys will be boys.

"Here I go." said Shikamaru.

As it turned out, his opponent was Jet.

"Well, hopefully my shadow jutsu will be able to restrain him." noted the shadow ninja. He was well-aware of how fast he was.

Thankfully, he had some time to come up with a strategy, as there was a voice counting down.

However, Jet was ready to dash into him…and use Ino's psychic powers to mess with his head while he was it.

Why did he have such a big brain, anyway?

"Here goes nothing…" said Shikamaru.

_Elsewhere in the Fairy Tail guild…_

"Right then…I'll leave you with Naraku now…" said Laxus.

"Wait, what?" inquired Hinata.

Curious, Hinata looked around, and gasped in shock.

It was none other than her father, who much like the unfortunate Ms. Fairy Tail contestants was completely petrified.

In front of the statue was Naraku as well as the traitorous Hyuga clan members.

"It makes me so happy to see Hiashi like this…" noted Naraku.

"What do you want, Naraku?" asked Hinata. Undoubtedly, he was plotting something terrible.

"Oh, it's rather simple. I just need you to sign a contract, that's all." answered the treasonous Hyuga branch member.

"Contract? What contract?" inquired Hinata.

Immediately, one of the Hyuga traitors handed Hinata a pen.

"That still doesn't answer my question." said Hinata.

"I was getting to that." answered Naraku.

Sure enough, Naraku handed Hinata said contract.

Curious, she began to look over the terms written on the piece of paper, and gasped in shock.

As it turned out, signing the paper meant surrendering the clan to Naraku.

At the same time, she was a bit confused.

"Shouldn't you be having my father sign this?" inquired Hinata. He was the leader of the clan, not her.

"Not necessarily…as long as a Hyuga clan member is directly related to Hiashi by blood…then they can sign it and hand the clan over to me. And you just so happen to be his daughter, so it all works out perfectly." explained Naraku.

"Oh, that makes sense…" nodded the fire dragonslayer. Maybe Hiashi Hyuga should have thought out the terms of the contract a bit more.

"I look forward to being the new leader of the Hyuga clan…now then, are you going to sign the contract? Or are you content for your father to be at the mercy of the pigeons?" asked the traitor.

Personally he was looking forward to Hiashi being used as an avian lavatory…but he decided if he could become leader of the Hyuga Clan nothing else mattered. It made him feel so excited.

"Ugh…" murmured Hinata. That didn't sound pleasant at all. Thank goodness she was able to break out of her granite prison and free her sister.

For a moment, Hinata considered surrending the clan to Naraku and letting him have what he wanted. Her father was at stake after all, and she didn't want him to end up getting killed. Laxus did mention something about Evergreen's petrification magic being potentially lethal if they were turned to stone for too long.

However, at the same time, she was rather hesitant to do so. Naraku probably wasn't a natural-born leader. She was well-aware of what could happen if a clan ended up in the wrong hands. She was well-aware of how Kimimaro's clan ended up when they waged one war too many.

Where was Kimimaro, anyway? Did he not show up for the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant? That was a shame…she would really appreciate his help.

Suddenly, she remembered something that concerned her stance on the hostage situation.

Now that she thought of it…isn't this the last thing that her father wanted? He had worked pretty hard to get where he was today…well, not really. He was appointed leader of the clan by bloodline while his dearly departed brother became leader of the branch house before Naraku, but still.

"Go ahead, Hinata. Sign the contract already. I don't have all day, you know…and quite frankly, neither does your father." said Naraku.

"Hmm…" thought Hinata. This was a rather difficult choice.

"Wait…won't Tsunade find out that you betrayed your clan? She'd probably have you executed for high treason…" noted Hinata. The electric chair looked particularly lovely.

"I thought of that…you see, after I get my hands on the clan, I'll make sure that each member of the main household gets a cursed seal on their forehead…that way if they try to say anything, I'll use it to fry their brains…" explained Naraku.

"Oh…now I get it." nodded Hinata. Apparently he had thought the plan through.

"Now then, where were we? Sign here, please." said the traitor.

"What should I do?" inquired the kunoichi.

Hinata thought and thought of what she should do…it was either her father or her clan. It was a rather difficult choice.

However, she finally came to a decision.

Taking a deep breath, she said…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"No." said Hinata.

"What, you're not going to sign the contract?" inquired Naraku.

"My father would be really unhappy if he lost everything he ever worked for. He's been the leader of the clan since forever." pointed out the kunoichi.

"Well, it still counts if I make you sign it." said Laxus's Hyuga partner.

"Huh?" inquired Hinata.

Immediately, he grabbed Hinata's arm and started trying to force her to sign the contract.

"Let go!" demanded the kunoichi.

"Hahaha! I cannot be stopped!" laughed Naraku.

Unfortunately for Naraku, Hinata got impatient with him, and she lit her arm on fire.

"Ouch!" screamed Naraku, clutching his hand which now had several first-degree burns. Apparently, trying to grab someone's arm when they were pyrokinetic wasn't such a good idea.

Gajeel had learned that the hard way during their fateful duel back when he was still in Phantom Lord.

Hinata then proceeded to use her fire abilities to burn the contract into ash. She was not going to be signing it anytime soon.

Naraku was…displeased with the turn of the events. Unfortunately for him, it appeared that Hinata was not going to help him with his mad schemes. Who would want to give him a hand, anyway?

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to print off another one! No matter…I'm sure your younger sister will be more cooperative with us…" said Naraku. For some strange reason, she had disappeared off the face of the earth up until The Last: Naruto The Movie. How could Kishimoto be so forgetful?

Immediately, Naraku and several of his Hyuga lackies began to leave the room to head towards the interdimensional portal.

Hinata attempted to pursue them, but several Hyuga ninja barred her way out of the room. Apparently, they didn't want Naraku to be pursued.

"I guess I'm going to have to fight my way out." noted Hinata.

Granted, she was pretty strong ever since she had become Natsu's interdimensional partner…but could she take them all on? These weren't ordinary ninja she was dealing with here.

"I hope Natsu's doing OK…" thought the fire kunoichi. Last time she checked, he was stuck in a rather bizarre competition along with everyone else in Fairy Tail…minus the Fairy Tail girls.

Basically it was a fight…involving a bunch of hot guys.

"Why am I drooling?" inquired Hinata.

Deciding that she needed to stay focused, Hinata began to fight the Hyuga ninja.

She had to admit, it felt rather strange facing members of her own clan…but her sister was potentially in danger, and so was her father. She had to put those thoughts behind her.

Curious, she wondered if she could seize the opportunity to free her father…but she then remembered that the Hyuga ninja were getting ready to punch and kick her…if she tried to do so, the statue might end up shattering…and her father's life would be shattered…literally.

Apparently, now wasn't the time. She was just going to have to fight the ninja solo…at least until reinforcements showed up.

"Bring it!" bellowed Hinata.

_Meanwhile…_

Natsu immediately started by trying to punch Gray in the face. However, he ducked underneath it and attempted to kick him in retaliation.

"You're going to pay for the wedgie you gave me back when I was five!" bellowed Gray.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're going to pay for the time you drank from my juice box back when I was seven!" countered Natsu.

"I was thirsty! Give me a break!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Your juice box was already full!" bellowed the fire mage.

"I didn't like that particular flavor!" shouted Gray.

"Then you should have asked first!" yelled Natsu.

"You never shared your food and drink! Never never never!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Oh yeah…I was a greedy little piggy…" noted the fire mage.

Immediately, Gray used Sakura's super strength to send Natsu flying.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Natsu. Gray had gotten really strong ever since he had become Sakura's interdimensional partner.

Natsu retaliated by breathing fire on Gray…but he quickly used Sakura's healing jutsu to heal himself.

Why exactly had he relied on Juvia to use Sakon and Ukon's healing abilities again? Then again, he had been pretty messed up in a time.

Who would have thought that Takeshi could be that deadly? He did seem to have a lot of weapons these days…though some were less effective than others depending on the target.

A flamethrower against Hinata? Seriously? What was Takeshi thinking Granted, he had been attacking her friends as well at the same, but still.

Hopefully he would be able to take down Gray soon. Hinata was probably in danger. What exactly did Laxus want Hinata for, anyway? Her wealth?

Natsu was jolted back into reality when Gray suddenly pulled out an ice cannon.

"Say hello to my little friend!" bellowed Gray.

"I thought this was one on one…" questioned Natsu.

Gray sweatdropped.

Shrugging, he decided to aim it at Natsu's head, before launching snowballs.

"I wish I had a snowball launcher…" complained Natsu. Maybe he should try creating a fireball launcher? That would be awesome…and Hinata would be impressed…if he could reach her, that is.

Curse Laxus and his stupid game.

Immediately, Natsu countered by surrounding himself with fire, causing the snowballs to melt.

Grumbling in frustration, Gray realized that he was going to have to try a different tactic.

Quickly, he began to make a lance out of ice so that he could toss it at Natsu.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still fighting off against Choji. Personally, he wished that Choji hadn't brought those food pills with him. Things would be so much easier otherwise.

But apparently luck just wasn't on his side today. Of course, considering that Laxus had decided to wage war against Fairy Tail, maybe today was the worst day of his life.

He had to come up with something that could stop Choji in his tracks…otherwise he would be flattened like a pancake.

Speaking of which, Choji appeared to be awfully hungry. When did he stop eating?

Suddenly, he got an idea. Personally, he didn't recall being this creative before…maybe he had inherited Lucy's brainpower?

Immediately, he pulled out a bag of potato chips and left them on the floor.

Sure enough, Choji stopped what he was doing and began to eat the potato chips…

…and suddenly he began to feel sick to his stomach.

"Ugh…I feel sick…" murmured the Akimichi clan member.

Curious, he decided to read the expiration date on the bag…

…and realized that they had expired years ago.

"Oh snap!" bellowed Choji.

Immediately, he began to vomit all over the floor.

"Huh…this actually worked…" thought Naruto.

Already, Choji was moaning in pain.

"Did I win?" inquired the chunin.

Unfortunately, it appeared that though the potato chips had poisoned his body, Choji was down for the count.

"Not bad, Naruto…but I still have two food pills left." pointed out the sumo wrestler of a ninja.

"Oh, right…how could I forget about that?" inquired the summoner. Apparently, things weren't going to be so simple.

Immediately, Choji swallowed the curry pill, causing his strength to increase dramatically.

Not only that, but he was growing bigger…already, he was starting to tower above Naruto.

"Where's a beanstalk when I need it?" asked the chunin.

_Elsewhere…_

Lucy began to summon animals to attack Alzack…

…but unfortunately, he had a gun.

Immediately, he began to shoot the animals, causing them to disappear into smoke. Lucy was not pleased with the turn of events.

"Who do you think you are? Percival McLeach?" questioned Lucy.

"It's not like I use antlers in my decorations…" pointed out Alzack.

"Who would do that?" inquired the teenage girl. That was not something she would do…she loved animals, especially after she became a jinchuriki for a giant fox.

Speaking of which, foxes never seemed to be caught by hunters…she wondered why.

Alzack shrugged. He wanted his decorations to be less repetitive than that. Besides, there were no deer in the desert where he used to live.

Immediately, he aimed his rifle at Lucy's head.

"Headshot…" murmured the gunner.

"I wish I decided to wear a bulletproof vest instead of this cat outfit…" questioned Lucy.

"You have nine lives now, don't you?" inquired Alzack.

"Yeah…but it probably doesn't matter. You're the one with a gun…not me." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"**Why can't I have a gun? That would be awesome." **said the nine-tailed fox.

"How can you use a gun? You don't have fingers." pointed out Lucy.

"**Oh, c'mon!" **bellowed Kurama in frustration.

Now that she thought of it…the fox living inside her had nine tails…what a coincidence.

"Why are you even dressed like that?" asked the cowboy.

"I was hoping to impress Shikamaru…speaking of which I hope he's doing alright…" answered Lucy.

"He's probably fighting another mage like the rest of us…" suggested Alzack.

"What? Oh dear…I hope he's not up against Elfman…he'd probably get clobbered." noted the jinchuriki.

"Where is Elfman, anyway? You'd think he would be fighting like the rest of us…" said Lucy.

Alzack pointed to the statue that was in the arena with them.

"Oh dear…he must have tried to fight Evergreen…and failed." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"Is there anyone that can face that bespectacled psychopath without getting turned to stone?" inquired Alzack.

_Meanwhile…_

"This is too easy…anyone that tries to fight me gets turned to stone…you'd think they'd know better than to try to fight me by now…" said Evergreen.

"You don't say?" inquired Kakashi.

As it turned out, Kakashi was not none too happy that Evergreen had turned one of his students into stone as well as her best friend…granted, nowadays she was Tsunade's apprentice rather than his, but he still wasn't too happy nonetheless.

Immediately, Evergreen attempted to turn Kakashi to stone…

…but for some reason, it didn't work too well on him.

"Why isn't this working?" inquired Evergreen.

Curious, Kakashi was wondering the same question. Perhaps it was because of his Sharingan? It did allow him to copy his opponent's techniques…

Well, he wasn't going to question something that he liked.

Unfortunately, Evergreen's Stone Eyes weren't the only trick she had up her sleeve. Elfman had found that out during his ill-fated battle with her. He was petrified just like the unfortunate girls that had participated in the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant aside from Lucy.

Immediately, she began to toss needles at Kakashi, who thankfully was able to avoid them. He had dealt with several ninja tossing kunai at him in the past…in fact, he typically dodged them Matrix style.

Why did he do that again? Maybe he liked to take things slow.

"Thank goodness Lucy arrived late…" thought Kakashi. He would be rather upset if something happened to his student's interdimensional partner.

Personally he wondered why another one of his students had become the interdimensional partner of a stripper…it was rather..awkward.

Immediately, he began to summon his attack dogs to bite into Evergreen.

Unfortunately for her, she could not use her petrification abilities on animals.

Not only that, but they looked rather vicious.

"Personally I wonder what it would be like if I was Kiba Inuzaka's teacher…" questioned Kakashi. That would be rather interesting.

On the other hand, his student Sasuke happened to have the Sharingan dojutsu like himself…and he had decided to abandon Konoha and team up with Orochimaru. Where was he now, anyway?

_Meanwhile…_

Sasuke Uchiha continued to make his way towards Konoha. As he was a wanted criminal, he would have to be careful not to let the Konoha ninja spot him…but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

It seemed like just yesterday when he had gone through this forest to get to Otakagure along with the Sound Four. Speaking of which, he heard that they had mysteriously disappeared.

Apparently, they had been murdered by somebody, somebody that was…sadistic.

Speaking of which, he noticed three other bodies lying on the ground.

Much to his surprise, they didn't appear to be ninja.

"Who are they?" inquired Sasuke.

For some strange reason, the trio reminded him of the Sound Four, with the exception of Sakon and Ukon.

He wasn't quite sure why.

Apparently, someone had not shown them any kind of mercy…they had been murdered quite gruesomely.

He was actually rather disturbed by the sight…though admittedly he was working with Orochimaru, who was a serial kidnapper.

Personally he wondered who had done such a thing, and if they were around nearby.

Curious, he sent out his hawk once again.

Thankfully, his hawk did not find any trace of their killer.

Still, he was feeling a bit worried. Hopefully he wouldn't run into them on their way to Konoha.

As it turned out, Kenichi was elsewhere at the moment.

Deciding that he should try to complete his mission for now, Sasuke continued sneaking his way towards Konoha.

However, for some strange reason, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that Naruto wasn't at Konoha in the moment, and that he would have to play the waiting game.

Sometimes ninjas went on faraway missions away from home…it was just a fact of ninja life.

He in fact was going on a mission away from his new home himself. By the way, what was it about a Beast Of Otakagure?

Orochimaru had mentioned it to him at one point, though it didn't seem to concern him.

Maybe after he was done with that mission he could help hunt down this so-called beast. Orochimaru would probably appreciate it considering that the Ota ninja seemed concerned about this monster.

"Naruto can't hide from me forever." thought Sasuke.

He had to admit, it felt rather funny seeing Naruto again like this. Things had changed quite a bit over the last two and a half years.

But he had managed to defeat Naruto last time and had grown stronger since then, so surely he would be able to capture Naruto once again this time…

…right?

_Oh dear. Things aren't looking good for Fairy Tail and for Hiashi Hyuga right now…on the plus side, Hinata decided not to sign the contract that would hand over the Hyuga clan to Naraku and his cronies…so at least that's something._

_As Hinata said…that was the last thing Hiashi Hyuga would want…but it's not going to matter if Naraku can get Hanabi to sign it…unfortunately, Hinata isn't an only child, even if his sister mysteriously disappeared prior to Naruto Shippuden…_

_Anyways, how are all these crazy battles going to turn out? Well, you're going to find out next time in the next chapter of this fanfic._

_See you later!_


	52. Chapter 52: Feminine Reinforcements

_Ninja Tail_

_In this chapter, the girls are going to join the fight. Why do you ask? Let's just say that things aren't going to turn out so well for Evergreen…_

_Afterwards, they'll start fighting the other members of the Thunder God Tribe…of course, they're going to have to work their way towards Laxus._

_Oh, and Sasuke Uchiha will appear as well…I assure that Naruto will eventually be fighting him…that's what you want, right?_

**Chapter 52: Feminine Reinforcements**

As Konohamaru continued to show Wendy around Konoha, Wendy noticed something that intrigued her.

"Ninja…Academy?" questioned Wendy.

"It's where people go when they want to become ninja…which is virtually everyone in Konoha." answered Konohamaru.

"Are they recruiting?" inquired the wind dragonslayer.

"I believe so." nodded the boy.

Immediately, Wendy went into the Ninja Academy to check it for herself.

A few minutes later, she came out wearing a diploma hat.

"How did you graduate so fast?" inquired Konohamaru.

"I'm not sure about that myself…" answered Wendy.

"Did you show them your wind abilities?" questioned the boy.

"Yes…and my healing abilities too." stated the wind dragonslayer.

"You have healing powers?" asked the young boy.

Wendy nodded.

"Perfect! Now I can start living my life dangerously…" noted Konohamaru.

"You're not going to beat yourself up, are you?" inquired Wendy. She kind of liked Konohamaru to be honest. It would be rather depressing if he turned out to be a masochist. Why did people punch themselves in the face, anyway? She knew she wouldn't try that…though she wouldn't find some friendly tickle torture every once in a while.

"Of course not…but it makes it so much easier to go out on dangerous missions when you have medical backup." answered the Third Hokage's grandson.

"Good point." nodded Wendy. It would be rather nice to have a mage to patch her up every time she got an injury. Fortunately, she already had an enormous dragon for that…she in fact had taught her healing magic so that Wendy didn't have to worry about falling off a cliff or something…so long as it wasn't about a thousand feet tall or so…

"Would you like to go out on a mission? My jonin teacher might let you tag along." questioned Konohamaru.

"I might do that…but I don't want to stay in this world for too long. Carla might miss me." answered the wind dragonslayer.

"Carla?" inquired the genin.

"She's my cat." answered Wendy. Specifically, she was a flying cat known as an Exceed…but she wasn't sure that Konohamaru would understand that.

"That's awfully nice of you…by the way, were you named after a restaurant?" asked Konohamaru.

"Very funny, Konohamaru…though considering who my mother is that might be the case…" noted Wendy. Dragons did have large appetites.

Speaking of which, she would like a juicy hamburger right about now. She was getting a bit hungry from staying in this world so long.

Maybe Fairy Tail would have something to eat?

Immediately, Wendy walked away towards the interdimensional portal.

_Meanwhile…_

Laxus smirked with satisfaction. So far everything was going to plan. Naraku was going to get to be the leader of the Hyuga clan, and of course he was going to be the guild master of Fairy Tail.

"Well, I don't think we'll need this interdimensional portal anymore…I really don't want any more ninja joining Fairy Tail, after all. What was my grandfather thinking?" inquired the lightning dragonslayer.

Immediately, he began to close the interdimensional portal, causing it to grow smaller and smaller and smaller.

In less than a minute, it was completely gone. Nobody would be getting in and out of Fairy Tail without his say so…unless they were a wise guy and decided to use the front door….which he would know about.

"There! No more ninja in Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Laxus. Now the guild was finally going to live up to its name once again.

Finally things could now go back to the way that they used to be…just the way he liked it.

_A few minutes later…_

No sooner had Wendy ran off to use the interdimensional portal again, she came back towards him a few minutes later.

"What's the matter?" inquired Konohamaru.

"It's the interdimensional portal! It's closed on me!" exclaimed the wind dragonslayer.

"Oh dear…I'm afraid that already happened to Naruto…I happen to be his apprentice." explained Konohamaru.

"Oh no…" thought the adopted daughter of Grandeeney. Maybe she should have looked before she leaped.

"I'm sure that the interdimensional portal will open eventually again though, don't worry." said Konohamaru.

Wendy let out a sigh of relief. It was rather unfortunate she was now trapped in the world of ninja…but at least she would eventually be able to leave once the interdimensional portal reappeared.

Still, she found it rather odd that the interdimensional portal had suddenly closed. Levy hadn't warned her that the portal was unstable. It in fact had looked pretty stable when she decided to use it…though it was possible that she had thought wrong.

"Wait…did anyone else use it when you came out?" inquired Konohamaru.

"I don't think so…why do you ask?" questioned the wind dragonslayer.

"Hmm…I think someone might have deliberately closed it." answered the preteen boy.

"What? Why would they do that?" asked Wendy. The mages of Fairy Tail seemed rather happy to use it considering that they had apparently used it many times before. Why would they suddenly decide to cut off all ties with the ninja world?

"I don't know…but I'm starting to wonder if something is happening on the other side. Now that I think of it…I do believe Naruto happens to be in the world of magic at the moment…" noted Konohamaru.

"He is?" questioned the blue-haired girl.

"Yeah…I do hope he's doing alright." answered the preteen boy.

"Yeah…if the interdimensional portal ever reopens, I might want to ask him what's going on." suggested the preteen boy.

"I hope Carla's doing alright…" questioned Wendy.

_Meanwhile…_

As it turned out, Carla was taking a catnap…despite all the fighting going on.

"Zzz…" murmured the Exceed.

Nearby, Evergreen was fighting against Kakashi.

"Do you honestly think that a man such as yourself can defeat me?" inquired Evergreen.

"If you keep talking like that, you almost certainly will be defeated." answered the jonin.

Evergreen simply scoffed.

However, she was having a hard time dealing with Kakashi's dog summons. They literally were dogpiling her. Though she was able to keep them away using her knives, they were awfully persistent.

It was a shame that her stone eye ability wasn't working on Kakashi or his allies…that would make things so much easier.

Immediately, she began to fly up in the air so that the dogs would have a harder time attacking her…which she did.

"Hmm…maybe you should try making a ladder…" suggested Kakashi.

The dogs nodded, and they began to do so.

However, they were having a hard time keeping a balance…especially with Evergreen tossing knives at them.

Perhaps Kakashi needed to try something else.

Fortunately, he had an idea…why didn't he try using his Chidori? Maybe that would do the trick.

Sure enough, this proved to be rather effective. However, Evergreen managed to dodge the technique, albeit barely.

"That was rather close…" thought Evergreen. Maybe Kakashi was right. Maybe she shouldn't underestimate him.

Still, she did hate the thought of losing to a man that wasn't even a magician. Granted, he was immune to her Stone Eyes technique, but still.

Perhaps it was time to use some of her fairy glitter…besides, it was so much fun making art with it…even if said art typically ended up with people being dead.

Immediately, she casted the spell.

However, Kakashi was proving to be too quick. Why wouldn't he hold still?

_We now return to Naruto and Choji…_

Naruto frantically avoided having Choji step on him…he did not look forward to being a ninja pancake.

Granted, they weren't fighting each other to the death since that was too barbaric for both of their tastes (especially considering how pacifistic they were), but it still wouldn't be fun for Naruto if Choji fell on top of him.

Speaking of which, he was trying to body slam him.

"There's got to be a way for me to stop him…" thought the teenage boy.

Personally, he wondered if there was a way that Naruto could make Choji shrink…since he relied on chakra to keep himself giant he would inevitably start to grow smaller after a while…but he didn't have all the time in the world.

He was going to have to come up with a different plan than that.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

Immediately, he summoned Cancer to help him deal with Choji…and give him a haircut while he was at it. When was the last time he had shaved?

"How may I help you, master?" inquired Cancer.

"I need you to deal with this giant that's trying to flatten me…" answered Naruto, narrowly avoiding Choji stomping on him.

Immediately, Cancer pierced Choji in the gut, causing him to deflate and for him to clutch his stomach.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed Choji. Naruto was so strong…no wonder he was the son of the Fourth Hokage.

Granted, this was in part due to him being Lucy's interdimensional partner, but still.

"Yes!" cheered Naruto.

Unfortunately, Choji had one last food pill to use, so the fight still wasn't over yet…though it was going to be over soon, one way or another.

Immediately, he stuck it into his mouth, causing wings to sprout from his back.

Also, butterflies were beginning to appear.

"I don't think I want to follow those butterflies…" noted the jonin.

Suddenly, Choji began charging chakra in his right hand.

"Uh-oh…" thought Naruto.

At this point, things had really gone downhill for him. It was bad enough that Choji had one of those chakra pills…but three? He might as well pull out a white flag and surrender.

"How am I going to beat him now?" questioned the teenage boy. He was well-aware what had happened to Jirobo when he had tried fighting Choji in this state…it had ended badly.

Was he going to end up lying unconscious in a crater when Choji punched him? He was feeling rather worried.

But he didn't want to give up just yet. It would be a shame if he went down without a fight.

"Bring it!" exclaimed Naruto, pulling out more summoner keys.

_Elsewhere in Fairy Tail…_

To be honest, Hinata was starting to wonder why her father had considered her to be too weak to become the heiress of the Hyuga clan. She was toppling the bodyguards like dominoes.

Still, they were awfully persistent. It appeared that no matter how many times she knocked them down, more of them showed up. Others simply got back on their feet.

How many traitorous Hyuga ninja were there, anyway? Hinata was starting to wonder if her father was really unpopular.

Still, she wondered if the other members of Fairy Tail were doing alright. Laxus had set up a rather interesting tournament without their permission…

Hopefully Natsu was doing alright at least. Personally she was under the impression that he could take on everyone in Fairy Tail…except for maybe Erza. Erza was basically a medieval Chuck Norris.

Unfortunately, one of the Hyuga members had decided to put a bucket of water on her to put out her fire.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Hinata. It appeared that she wasn't going to use fire against the Hyuga clan traitors for a few minutes.

But at least she was still able to use her Gentle Fist technique. She had gotten surprisingly good at it as of late. Maybe because Natsu had given her superhuman strength?

Unfortunately, it appeared that some of the traitors were going to get reinforcements. What exactly did they have in mind?

Though Hinata did in fact enjoy fighting other ninja nowadays (due to her inheriting some of Natsu's personality), she was worried that she couldn't take on all the Hyuga ninja alone.

There was only so much that a ninja/mage could do, even if she was a fire dragonslayer and a Hyuga kunoichi.

_Since Hinata brought Natsu up, let's check on him…and Gray._

Things had gotten rather messy between Natsu and Gray, who showed no sign of letting up their fierce battle. Unfortunately, it had not occurred to them that they could try talking to each other to solve their problems rather than simply solve their problems with violence.

But since they were stuck in a tournament and were being forced to battle each other, it didn't matter that much at the moment. Basically it was dog eat dog…and before you ask, Akamaru was not going to have to resort to cannibalism. He wasn't even present in this arc for some strange reason….

Still, they were probably going to have to go to the Fairy Tail hospital when this was over. They were just getting warmed up…or Natsu was anyway.

"Gray, you're a big fat loser!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Oh really? I assure you that you're morbidly obese!" bellowed Gray.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're ugly!" screeched the fire dragonslayer.

"Please? Juvia thinks I'm handsome!" exclaimed the ice mage.

"Well, she's in the minority!" bellowed Natsu.

"More like the majority!" exclaimed Gray.

At that very moment, Happy showed up.

"Are you going to keep trading insults or are you going to keep fighting?" questioned the Exceed.

"Who are you rooting for, anyway?" questioned Sakura's interdimensional partner.

"Natsu!" exclaimed Happy.

"Darn it!" bellowed Gray.

Natsu smirked in satisfaction. He knew that he could count on Happy.

Immediately, Happy pulled out a flag with Natsu's face on it.

"Where exactly did you get that?" inquired Natsu.

"I found it in your closet!" exclaimed Happy.

"Wait…when was the last time I cleaned my closet?" questioned the fire dragonslayer.

"I was nearly buried alive!" bellowed the Exceed.

Natsu's jaw dropped in shock.

Gray tossed an icicle at Natsu, hoping to hit him in the face…but he simply melted it.

"Why did I have to go up against a fire mage?" questioned the ice mage. He might be at a disadvantage.

Eventually, the battle resulted in a big dust ball of violence. For some strange reason, Natsu and Gray's arms and legs kept sticking out of it.

Curious, Happy decided to take a whiff of the dust…

…and he immediately went crazy.

Immediately, he began to run around Fairy Tail, his mouth foaming and mumbling completely random things such as "I'm A Crazy Monkey!"

Fortunately, the effects would eventually wear off…or unfortunately if you liked Happy going crazy. Gajeel knew he did.

Speaking of Gajeel, he was looking forward to fighting an opponent. However, it appeared that all the other mages were fighting at the moment.

This really stunk, to say the very least.

However, he began to wonder if maybe if everyone else was occupied, maybe he could try fighting Laxus.

However, there was a problem…Laxus was a more powerful mage than he was. If he challenged him, he probably wouldn't win.

Perhaps he could try fighting Evergreen since that was what Kakashi was doing. However, he ran the risk of being turned into stone just like Sakura did.

Why did she have to go and get herself turned to stone, anyway? He would love to duel with her again.

If only Evergreen couldn't turn people to stone just by making eye contact with them. It was so annoying.

Speaking of which, he wondered if Kakashi was going to win. If so, that would be a surprise.

Now that he thought of it, wasn't he Naruto's jonin teacher? If so, he might not want to tell him that he had used Naruto as a punching bag…and had ripped off his shirt and caused his fangirls to go crazy.

To be fair, Hinata had already beaten the pulp out of him for beating up who was practically her brother, so maybe Kakashi would cut him some slack…but he didn't want to risk it.

Shrugging, he decided to go look at the statues to see if they were crumbling yet.

Fortunately, they were not.

Suddenly, he noticed one of the members of the Thunder God Tribe…specifically, it was Bickslow.

Apparently, he was observing the statues.

Shrugging, he decided to punch him in the face.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Bickslow. If he wasn't wearing a mask to protect his eyes, he would probably have a black one.

Gajeel smirked in satisfaction. Perhaps now he would have the opportunity to fight someone and satisfy his love of combat.

Unfortunately, Bickslow decided to cut and run, causing him to frown.

However, he did leave behind something that he could fight…namely a ventriloquist dummy.

"What the-" exclaimed Gajeel.

Immediately, the dummy slapped him in the face.

"Do you know any attractive girls that I can make my slave?" inquired the dummy.

"Pervert…" thought Gajeel.

"You want a fight? Bring it on, Slappy!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

Personally he wondered why the author was referencing Goosebumps when he could be referencing the Haunting Hour or Child's Play…but at least now he would finally have something to do.

Now, where was the nearest wood chipper?

_Let's check on Lucy and Alzack…_

As it turned out, Lucy had a plan to deal with the cowboy. Granted, her loved one wasn't in danger like his was…but Kurama had insisted on her not losing to a Texas ranger…he in fact claimed that she would never live it down.

"He's not exactly Walker…" pointed out Lucy. That was a relief really…if Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked her she would probably be vaporized.

"**Who cares?" **inquired Kurama.

Immediately, Lucy summoned a tiger, a rhino, a panda bear, and an elephant.

"You do realize that every time you try to summon thing, I shoot it, right?" inquired Alzack.

"Of course I'm aware of that…" noted Lucy. Already, several of her summons had vanished into smoke.

However, she knew what to do this time.

Immediately, she sent all four animals after Alzack.

As before, he shot the animals causing them to disappear.

"What did I tell you?" inquired Alzack.

"About that…I don't think the PETA is going to be happy with you…" answered Lucy.

"The PETA?" asked the cowboy.

"Yeah, the PETA…in case you haven't noticed…you just shot a bunch of endangered animals…" pointed out the blonde.

"I don't get it…what does that mean?" inquired Alzack.

Suddenly, he was swarmed by a mob of angry PETA members. They didn't like it whenever poachers were around.

"Wow…" thought Lucy. They were really beating the stuffing out of him.

"**This is perfect!" **exclaimed Kurama.

Within a few minutes, Lucy was free to resume the Battle Of Fairy Tail.

"I hope Shikamaru's doing alright…" noted the kunoichi.

Immediately, she went to search for Shikamaru, who was still battling Jet.

Unfortunately, there was an electric barrier preventing her from approaching.

"How do I get past it?" inquired Lucy.

"**Maybe you should get a suit of rubber?" **asked Kurama.

"Where would I get that on such short notice?" questioned the jinchuriki.

"**That is a problem…" **noted the nine-tailed fox. Perhaps Lucy should try using a wind jutsu.

Suddenly, Lucy sprouted a tail. Apparently, being worried about Shikamaru was triggering her nine-tailed transformation.

Once again, it made her look a bit more fox-like as well.

As it turned out, Shikamaru had successfully grabbed Jet using his shadow jutsu.

"Not so fast now, are you?" inquired Shikamaru.

Jet growled in frustration.

Shikamaru then attempted to use his shadow strangle on Jet…he wasn't going to strangle him to death, thank goodness…but he was going to knock him out.

"Now I know how Bart Simpson feels!" exclaimed Jet.

"Aye carumba!" bellowed Lucy.

Suddenly, Shikamaru noticed Lucy.

"Lucy, is that you?" inquired Shikamaru.

This unfortunately gave Jet the opportunity to break free…since this had disrupted Shikamaru's concentration.

He then followed by attacking Shikamaru so fast that he could blink an eye and be punch three times in the face.

At this point, something came over Lucy…much like it had done before.

Immediately, she tossed a Rasengan at Jet, breaking the thunder barrier in the process.

It hit him straight on the head, and he was knocked out cold.

This of course allowed Shikamaru to break out from the arena.

"Thanks for the help, Lucy…but I think you could have let us out of here without knocking out Jet…" pointed out Shikamaru.

Lucy sweatdropped. Why didn't she think of that?

She then remembered that using the nine-tailed fox's chakra did make her more impulsive…though she had better control over it than Naruto did.

"I think we should try to bust the others out of these arenas…I think that they could really use our help." noted Lucy.

"Yeah…I in particular think that you should try helping the girls…in case you haven't noticed, they're still petrified." pointed out the shadow ninja.

"You're right…you think Laxus is going to go through with his threats?" inquired Lucy.

"Probably not…but I think we should still try to release them. I'm sure that they would appreciate it." answered Shikamaru.

Lucy nodded.

However, as it turned out, they would not have to lift a finger.

As it turned out, Kakashi had successfully managed to take down Evergreen. Specifically, he had pinned her down using his dogs.

Not even her glitter was able to do the trick against him. She had been outmatched.

But as it turned out, Evergreen had one last trick up her sleeve…well, figuratively. She wasn't actually wearing sleeves. She liked to wear dresses…strapless dresses.

"Fine, you win. But it doesn't matter…unless you surrender to me, you'll never get the girls of Fairy Tail back…" pointed out Evergreen.

"Don't do it…" thought Lucy.

"**You think that she'd go out on a date with me?"** inquired Kurama.

"If you weren't inside me I'd slap you in the face right about now." pointed out the summoner kunoichi.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Kakashi had decided to surrender. Immediately, he dismissed the dogs, and bowed before Evergreen.

"Noooo…" murmured Shikamaru. Why did Evergreen have to pull a dirty trick like that? It just wasn't fair.

Evergreen laughed in delight. For a moment, she thought that she was going to lose…but it looked like she was going to be the big winner.

However, as it turned out, it appeared that the fight wasn't over yet.

Suddenly, "Kakashi" disappeared into smoke, causing Evergreen's glasses to nearly fall off her face in surprise.

"Where did he go?" inquired Evergreen.

Evergreen's question was answered when Kakashi hit Evergreen with his Lightning Blade. Evergreen screamed as the attack knocked her into unconsciousness.

Kakashi faintly smiled in satisfaction. It had been a long battle, but it looked like he had managed to win. He had dealt a rather big blow to Laxus, it seemed.

However, Bickslow had noticed this as well. He was going to have to tell Laxus what had happened so that he wasn't caught by surprise.

Immediately, he went to alert his boss of the bad situation. He would not be happy to hear the good news…but it had to be done.

Immediately, Kakashi leapt after him, hoping that he would be able to take down another member of the Thunder God Tribe.

"You think he will defeat him too?" inquired Lucy.

"Maybe…" answered Shikamaru. Deep down, he wasn't that sure however. Evergreen was enough of a hassle as she was.

_Back where Naruto and Choji are…_

Unfortunately for Naruto, it appeared that Choji was now too strong in this state for him to effectively handle. Every time he tried summoning something, Choji simply punched the summon and it burst into yellow smoke.

There was only one thing left for Naruto to do.

"Hey, Choji! There's a food court right behind you!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Where?" asked Choji, looking behind him.

This gave Naruto the opportunity to hit Choji on the head with a shovel.

Sometimes you had to be pragmatic…

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as Choji's wings disappeared. It looked like had won…through being a cheapskate.

Hopefully the rest of his friends were doing alright…and that Choji would wake up soon. How hard he had he whacked him, anyway?

One thing was for sure…Choji was going to be unconscious for a while. He in fact had a rather large bump on his head.

If only Laxus hadn't forced the two of them to fight each other…he would probably be a big help fighting Laxus and his minions.

But as it was, Naruto was going to have to fight in his stead. Besides, he had already used up all of his food pills anyway. He had only brought three…and he had used them all on himself, so he wouldn't be able to share them.

Immediately, Naruto went to search for the other mages. He needed as much help as he could get if he wanted to take down Laxus and defeat Fairy Tail.

Somehow, he thought that he wouldn't be able to pull it off alone.

_A few minutes later…_

Kakashi pursued Bickslow and discovered that he had gone into Laxus…

…only to discover that it was an ambush. Apparently, he had gotten carried away and had not watched where he was going.

As it turned out, Bickslow had summoned several dolls to protect Laxus from the Fairy Tail mages that wanted to bring him to justice.

Not only that, but Laxus himself was there to greet Kakashi.

"Crap…" thought the jonin. It looked like he was outnumbered.

With nowhere left to run, Kakashi tried tossing a few kunai at Laxus…

…but they bounced off his abs.

"How is that even possible?" questioned the jonin. Personally he thought that it violated the laws of physics.

Laxus immediately zapped Kakashi with a bolt of lightning, followed by Bickslow's dolls opening fire on Kakashi.

This was too much for even a jonin like Kakashi, and he immediately passed out. Bickslow immediately laughed with delight.

"Yes! Take that, you filthy ninja!" exclaimed Laxus. He was rather happy that he had gotten to take out a ninja himself, especially a ninja of Kakashi's caliber.

However, things weren't all good for the lightning dragonslayer.

"There's some bad news…" pointed out Bickslow.

"What?" inquired Laxus.

"Before I lured him here…he managed to take down Evergreen." answered the doll user.

Laxus gasped in shock. How could one of his Thunder God Tribe lose? Personally he was under the impression that they were…unstoppable.

But apparently they weren't as invincible as he thought. In fact, the other members of his tribe might be in trouble. How exactly was Freed was doing?

Fortunately for Laxus, as it turned out, he was alright. He was currently using his magic to make runes.

"Wait a minute…if Evergreen's down…then that means…" said the lightning dragonslayer.

Sure enough, cracks were beginning to appear on the imprisoned Fairy Tail girl statues.

"We're going to have to do something about this immediately!" exclaimed Laxus.

"Sir, yes, sir!" bellowed Bickslow, saluting Laxus with respect.

Immediately, Laxus began to cast a spell so that they could continue the tournament uninterrupted. He left the room and went deeper into the Fairy Tail guild.

Naruto entered the room shortly afterwards…happy to have finally defeated Choji…

…only to discover that Kakashi had been knocked out.

"Nooooo!" exclaimed the ninja. Why did he have to go down? Well, at least he managed to take down one of Laxus's Thunder God Tribe before he went.

Suddenly, he noticed that the girls were breaking free from their concrete prisons…much to his pleasant surprise.

"Thank goodness…" thought Naruto. He was worried that his girlfriend was going to become dust.

The girls immediately began to stretch out their arms. They felt like they were taking a long nap.

"What happened? Did I have a hangover?" questioned Cana.

"Why do I feel like punching a lady with glasses on in the face?" inquired Sakura.

"Is the pageant over?" asked Ino.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Naruto? What's going on?" questioned the pink-haired girl.

"You got turned to stone…but thankfully you're back now." answered Naruto.

Bisca let out a sigh of relief.

"Wait, where's Erza?" inquired the chunin.

Suddenly, Erza entered the room. Judging from the cake that she had on a plate…she had burst out of her granite prison long before the others had.

"That cake is so delicious…" noted Naruto.

"Erza?! Where have you been!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Hi Naruto…I went to get some cake…" answered Erza.

"Help!" screamed Naruto.

"What's the matter?" inquired the knight.

"We're under attack by Laxus! He's taken all the girls in Fairy Tail hostage and now he's forcing us to participate in a twisted tournament!" exclaimed Naruto.

"A twisted tournament?" questioned Erza. Now that she thought of it, all the other mages seemed to have disappeared…which was rather strange considering that there was a large audience watching them earlier.

Had they all gotten bored of the show and had decided to leave? She was under the impression that all of the Fairy Tail mages had done their bets.

"Wait…if you girls are all free…then that means I don't have to play anymore!" bellowed the chunin.

Immediately, Naruto began to dance. It looked like Fairy Tail had won. They didn't have to participate in the tournament anymore…Laxus was going to have to pack up and go home, it seemed.

However, his victory was short-lived.

"Um…what's that lightning out in the distance?" inquired Juvia.

Curious, Naruto stopped dancing and looked outside.

"Oh no…" noted the chunin. Somehow, he knew that this was Laxus's doing.

As it turned out, he had casted his Thunder Palace spell.

Suddenly, they heard Laxus's voice on an intercom.

"It appears that Evergreen has been defeated and the Ms. Fairy Tail contestants have been freed from their enchantment. However, this does not mean that the tournament is over. If you decide not to play my game, I will destroy Magnolia Town." explained the lightning dragonslayer.

Naruto and the Fairy Tail mages gasped in shock.

"I guess the game isn't over yet…" noted the chunin. Would he really destroy Magnolia if his demands weren't met?

Granted, he was probably bluffing…but they couldn't afford to take that risk. It was bad enough that Laxus managed to acquire hostages from the Fairy Tail guild as it was.

It looked like they were going to have to keep continuing the game.

The sooner they managed to find Laxus, the better…

Unfortunately, it appeared that he had gone into hiding following Evergreen's defeat. They were going to have to look for him.

"Where did he go?" inquired Naruto.

"I guess we're just going to have to hunt him down." noted Erza.

Immediately, the remaining Fairy Tail members went to search for Laxus…

…unfortunately, they were going to have to continue fighting each other in the process.

That was just the way things were going to be.

Suddenly, Sakura noticed that Gajeel was fighting what appeared to be a ventriloquist dummy…who was slapping him in the face.

"Cut that out already!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Fortunately, Sakura still had the axe that she had used to chop down the door to Lucy's apartment.

Immediately, she used it to chop the evil dummy to pieces.

"I hate ventriloquist dummies…" remarked Sakura.

"I suppose I should thank you…" answered Gajeel.

"You're welcome…I guess." stated the kunoichi.

Suddenly, they found themselves trapped in an arena when lightning surrounded the duo.

Apparently, this was Laxus's magic flaring up again.

"Finally! I was hoping to get to challenge another Fairy Tail mage!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"I bet you were." answered Sakura.

However, as it turned out, Sakura was going to be his opponent.

"You're making me face Gajeel again? Really?" inquired Sakura.

"Are you talking to the author or Laxus?" questioned Gajeel.

"Both, I guess…but mainly Laxus." answered the kunoichi. Would Fairy Tail even be standing when Laxus was through with it? Personally she thought that the lightning dragonslayer had gone off the deep end.

A tournament to decide who gets to keep Fairy Tail? Turning people into stone? Taking Magnolia Town hostage? Really?

If she ever managed to defeat Laxus, she was going to put him in a strait jacket.

And to think that he was Makarov's grandson, too. So much for blood relatives.

"3, 2, 1, fight!" exclaimed Laxus's voice.

Smirking with satisfaction, Gajeel got ready to punch Sakura.

However, she was ready as ever.

This time, she decided to summon some slugs like Tsunade had taught her. This might give her an edge.

Apparently this was the case, since the acid they spat was able to penetrate Gajeel's armor.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer. These slugs were kind of grossing him out…who exactly was Sakura's teacher again?

_It looks like the female mages have been freed and that they can join the fray…but unfortunately Laxus is not going to give up so easily._

_After all, I don't think this arc would be nearly as long if Laxus suddenly decided to fold cards…granted, sometimes it is best to fold cards, but still!_

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going to take on Bickslow and Freed…of course, once they're done with that, they're going after Laxus himself._

_As for Naraku…well, you can probably guess whose going to handle that…let's just say that the female Fairy Tail mages aren't going to be the only reinforcements…_

_Get the hint?_

_See you!_


	53. Chapter 53: Playing With Dolls

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto's going to battle Bickslow. He's not going to be happy that he helped take down his jonin teacher, to say the very least. This time he isn't going to cut and run…_

_Also, Lucy's going up against Freed…sound like fun?_

**Chapter 53: Playing With Dolls**

At this point, Natsu and Gray had both fought vigorously. It appeared that one of them was going down soon.

However, Gray had stripped down to his boxer shorts.

Much to his surprise, Natsu noticed that he was wearing his Hello Exceed underpants today, and decided to point this out to him.

"Hey, Icicle head! You're wearing your Hello Exceed underwear!" exclaimed Natsu.

Looking down, Gray gasped in shock.

Shortly afterwards, he collapsed from embarrassment.

It looked liked Natsu had won today.

"I'm not sure what just happened…but I won't look a gift Exceed in the mouth." noted Natsu.

Immediately, he was allowed to leave the battlefield and go elsewhere.

And he knew exactly where he wanted to go.

"I'm coming, Hinata!" exclaimed Natsu.

Hopefully he would be able to get there in time. From what he already knew, Hinata was probably in peril. Apparently, one of Laxus's lackeys wanted her for their evil plans. He wasn't sure what exactly those plans are, but he was sure that they were up to no good.

Perhaps they wanted a position of authority like Laxus did? If so, Hinata's clan may be in trouble. He needed to do something.

Fortunately, his Byakugan didn't make it difficult for him to find her. Thank goodness he had inherited such a thing.

Immediately, he began to leap across the guild. There was no time to lose!

_Elsewhere in the guild…_

Bickslow laughed maniacally. It felt so satisfying to help take down such a strong ninja.

For some strange reason, he was in a room that resembled a giant toybox. He had no idea how that got there…but he liked it.

Suddenly, Naruto burst into the room. He was very mad.

"Hey, you! You beat up my sensei!" exclaimed Naruto, shaking his fist at the Thunder God Tribe member.

Bickslow was a bit confused.

"Your sensei?" inquired the laughing mage.

"My sensei! He's always covering one of his eyes!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Oh…you mean him." answered the mage.

Immediately, Bickslow began to chuckle nervously.

For a moment, he considered cutting and running like he did with Gajeel…but he then realized that since Naruto was angry with him, he was probably going to hunt him down.

Besides, he didn't want Laxus to think that he was a coward, and he didn't think Naruto was as threatening as Gajeel was.

He decided that he was going to fight Naruto here and now.

Wasting no time, Bickslow began to summon some dolls.

"You're summoning dolls? I was under the impression that you were more masculine than that…" questioned Naruto.

"Don't question my magic!" exclaimed Bickslow as the dolls began to shoot lasers at him.

"You're not going to turn me into stone if I look into your eyes, are you?" inquired Naruto.

"No…I'm going to turn you into a doll." answered the doll mage.

"That can't be good…" thought the chunin. Perhaps it would be best if he avoided making eye contact with the Thunder God Tribe whenever possible.

On the plus side, Bickslow didn't appear to be using that technique yet, so maybe he had a chance.

Naruto tried tossing a Rasengan at Bickslow, but unfortunately he used some dolls to defend himself. It appeared that they were good for both offense and defense.

"Grr…" murmured Naruto.

He then followed by summoning a doll to attack Naruto by the name of Talky Tiffany.

"Hello, my name is Talky Tiffany…and I don't like you very much." said Talky Tiffany.

"What did I ever do to you?" inquired Naruto.

Immediately, Talky Tiffany pulled out a knife.

"Uh-oh…" thought the chunin.

_Meanwhile…_

Unfortunately for Erza, it appeared that if she wanted to progress through the tournament, she was going to have to deal with none other than Mirajane.

"Well, I suppose we were going to duel each other eventually, anyway. We do happen to be rivals, after all." nodded Erza.

Mirajane nodded.

"Wait, where is my brother?" inquired Mirajane. She didn't see him anywhere. Hopefully nothing had happened to him. Big sister instinct, she supposed.

"He got beat up trying to take down Evergreen…but thankfully she's out of the picture too." answered Erza.

"Oh yeah…" nodded the demon mage. It was a good thing that Kakashi had taken her down when she did.

However, she wondered how the mages were going to deal with the other members of the Thunder God Tribe. Apparently, Evergreen wasn't the only one that could use Eye Magic.

And it appeared that the only way that they were going to deactivate the Thunder Palace spell was to defeat Laxus himself.

Would they be able to pull it off? Their numbers were really starting to dwindle ever since they had been forced to fight each other.

However, she got the feeling that one of them was fighting another member of the Thunder God Tribe as they spoke, so at least that was something to look forward.

Deciding to start off the battle, Mirajane used a darkness spell on Erza, who leapt out of the way.

"It's a good thing I have armor to protect myself from darkness attacks." thought Erza.

However, she was well-aware that may not be enough to defeat Mirajane alone, since she was capable of shapeshifting into demons.

Personally she wondered if Laxus was making the two of them fight each other on purpose. They were both S-Class mages after all.

In retaliation, Erza pulled out her swords and began to swing them at Mirajane.

However, she was proving to be rather agile as well.

"I see that you've been working out as well." noted Erza.

"Did you think that I spent all my time on Sorceror's Magazine?" inquired Mirajane.

"I don't need to be on Sorceror's Magazine…I can just pose for Naruto." answered the knight.

"I've really got to get a boyfriend…" complained the demon mage.

"I'm sure that you'll find one someday." answered Erza.

Mirajane shrugged. Maybe one day she would get lucky. Now that she thought of it…her younger brother Elfman was single too.

The Strauss Siblings were really unlucky, it seemed. Especially Lisanna. Poor, sweet Lisanna. How long had she been dead, anyway?

_Meanwhile…_

"Where did you get these powers?" inquired one of the traitorous Hyuga clan members as Hinata tossed a fireball. He had never seen anything like them from a Hyuga clan member.

"She got them from me!" exclaimed Natsu, bursting into the room.

"Natsu!" cheered Hinata. It looked like he was there to help. She had been worried about him.

Sure enough, he began to attack the Hyuga ninja that were surrounding Hinata. It appeared that things would be a lot easier now that they were working as a team.

Personally it reminded her of when Shikamaru decided to assign them to work together back at the Tower Of Heaven. Since they had complimented their abilities rather well, it wasn't very surprising why.

Immediately, Natsu began to breathe fire on the Hyuga ninja, causing them to run away.

It appeared that they were losing.

"How many more do you think there are?" inquired Natsu.

"Well, they're bound to run out of ninja sooner or later." answered Hinata. They had been hard-pressed to take her down as it was.

Suddenly, she noticed that cracks were beginning to appear in Hiashi Hyuga's statue.

"Huh?" inquired the kunoichi.

A few minutes later, Hiashi Hyuga was released from his confinement.

"Ugh…what happened?" inquired Hiashi Hyuga.

"Father!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she went to hug her father. She was glad that he wasn't going to be turned into dust, to say the very least.

Hopefully this would be enough to thwart Naraku's plans.

However, she realized that if Naraku made Hanabi sign the contract handing over the Hyuga clan to him, he might still have a chance for victory.

Where exactly did he go?

"Hinata? Is that you? Where am I?" inquired Hiashi Hyuga.

As it turns out, he was feeling rather weak.

"Ugh…" murmured Hinata's father.

"Are you alright?" inquired Hinata.

"I think so…" answered Hiashi. Apparently, he had been transformed to stone for a while and he was going to need to rest.

"Don't worry about us, father! We'll handle things!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Yeah!" bellowed Natsu.

Hiashi Hyuga faintly smiled. He had to admit, his daughter had gotten rather strong as of late.

She had really come a long way since the day she was disinherited.

_We now return to Naruto and Bickslow…_

"My name is Talky Tiffany, and I'm going to kill you." stated Talky Tiffany.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'd like to live thanks." answered Naruto.

Immediately, he tossed a Rasengan, sending Talky Tiffany flying and breaking her legs off.

However, she was still crawling towards him.

"My name is Talky Tiffany, and I'm never going to forgive you!" exclaimed the evil doll.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I wouldn't have done that if you haven't attacked me!" bellowed Naruto.

Naruto tossed another Rasengan. This time, he knocked off the doll's head.

However, the doll's body was still moving.

"My name is Talky Tiffany, and you'd better be nice to me!" bellowed Talky Tiffany.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and you don't need to tell me your name about a million times! Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto. He had already memorized it.

Tossing one last Rasengan, he successfully destroyed Talky Tiffany completely.

However, Bickslow was still going to fight.

"So you defeated my doll…big deal! Let's see how you like this! Hahahaha!" laughed Bickslow.

Immediately, Bickslow began to summon several toys. For some strange reason, they reminded him of an old movie that he really liked that was part of a trilogy.

One of the toys was a sheriff, who appeared to be leading the other toys. Next in command was a space ranger. This was then followed by a cowgirl, a slinky dog, a T-Rex toy, a horse toy, two Potato Heads, a piggy bank, and last but not least, three Little Green Martians.

"Well, at least the author isn't referencing the Twilight Zone anymore." answered Naruto. That show creeped him out.

Immediately, the male Potato Head pulled out a Etch and Sketch and drew a picture of Naruto being hanged.

Naruto gulped.

_Meanwhile…_

As it turned out, Juvia was about to enter a catfight of her own. She was up against Cana.

"I'm an alcohol lover whose up against a water lover…this makes sense." noted Cana.

"I suppose." nodded Juvia.

Personally she wondered who had beaten up her beloved Gray…she wanted to battle them and get her revenge.

Granted, they were trapped in a tournament and didn't really have a choice on who they could battle or not…but still!

How exactly was Laxus deciding who got to battle who anyway? Did he decide at random? Or did he want the battles to thrive on old grudges and the like?

Either way, it looked like everyone in Fairy Tail was battling rather fiercely.

Cana started by tossing some playing cards at Juvia, who quickly ducked out of the way so that she didn't end up with paper cuts.

She retaliated by blowing bubbles at Cana…which was surprisingly effective.

"Gah! Not enough alcohol!" screamed Cana.

Juvia sweatdropped. This was kind of awkward…

…but at least she appeared to have the advantage for the time being.

_Elsewhere, where Naruto and Bickslow are duking it out…_

Unfortunately for Naruto, it appeared that he was outnumbered. He was being attacked by a bunch of evil and highly dangerous toys.

Personally, it reminded him of the time that Ebemener Scourge made Santa turn to the dark side.

And to make matters worse, their leader was even singing a song about it.

"You've got an enemy…" sang the sheriff toy, playing his banjo.

Naruto ducked as the space ranger toy shot a laser beam at him, which left a gaping hole in the wall.

"You've got an enemy…" continued the evil sheriff.

Naruto screeched as the cowgirl kicked him in the right shin.

"When the road looks smooth ahead…and you're just a few feet away from your bed…" sung the cowboy.

Naruto yelled as the cowgirl's horse kicked him in the left shin.

"Remember what your old foe said…" stated the sheriff.

Naruto screamed like a little girl as the T-Rex toy bit him in the right shin.

"Boy, you've got an enemy. You've got an enemy…" continued the cowboy.

Naruto collapsed on the ground as the piggy bank tackled him.

"You've got an enemy…you've got an enemy…" sung the ranger.

Naruto frantically hid behind a statue of Makarov as the Potato Heads began to shoot at him.

"You've got an enemy…I've got problems, and lots of them…" said the psychopathic cowboy.

"Uh-huh!" bellowed Naruto.

"There isn't anything I wouldn't do to you…you get close to me and I'll run you through…" sung the evil sheriff.

Naruto yelled as the slinky dog bit him in the leg. At this rate he was going to start bleeding.

"You've got an enemy…you've got an enemy…some other folks might be a little bit more evil than I am…more malicious and spiteful too…maybe." noted the sheriff.

"You don't say?" inquired Naruto.

"But none of them will ever hate you the way I do…it's me and you, as the years go by, boy, our animosity will never die…" continued the cowboy.

"That's too bad…" noted the chunin. Why couldn't we all just get along?

"You're gonna see that it's our destiny…" answered the chunin.

Naruto gasped in shock as the aliens pulled out laser pistols and destroyed the statue he was hiding behind.

"You've got an enemy…you've got an enemy…" said the sheriff.

At this point, he decided to stop singing and attack Naruto himself. He just so happened to have a gun of his own…a Desert Eagle, to be precise. But at least it wasn't a laser…

"Am I done for?" inquired the chunin. Dealing with an evil doll was one thing…but dealing with an army of evil toys? Was there any way that he could even the odds? Unfortunately, it appeared that nobody else was here to give him a hand. He was fighting solo.

Suddenly, he remembered something rather important.

"Oh, that's right…I'm a summoner mage…" noted Naruto. Why didn't he remember that? Personally he thought that he would have tried summoning something by now so that he could surround Bickslow.

Immediately, he began to summon a bunch of his personal summons to help him deal with the deadly toys that hated him so much.

It looked like he wasn't outnumbered anymore, to say the very least.

"Thank goodness…" remarked Naruto.

Quickly, he began to order his summons.

"Attack!" exclaimed the chunin.

His Celestial Spirits nodded, and they began to fight back against the evil toys.

Hopefully they would be strong enough to defeat the twisted examples of a child's plaything.

However, Naruto wondered if he would have enough magic and chakra left to deal with Bickslow once and for all.

He wasn't going to be easy to defeat…but if his sensei Kakashi managed to defeat Evergreen…

…maybe he could defeat him.

It was just a guess.

_Back at the Hyuga household…_

Neji made his way back home, glad to finally have the opportunity to relax.

"Uncle, I'm home!" exclaimed Neji as he opened the door.

However, much to his surprise, he didn't hear his voice.

Curious, he used his Byakugan, and noticed that several Hyuga bodyguards had been knocked out.

"What the-" exclaimed Neji.

It appeared that they were in a coma. Apparently, they had been underneath Evergreen's spell for quite some time. The Ms. Fairy Tail contestants had gotten off easy.

Immediately, he began to worry about what was going on.

Curious, he noticed his cousin Hanabi Hyuga, who was currently watching TV. She was apparently having a good time as she had a wide smile on her face.

She was happy to see him come home, to say the very least.

"Hey there, Neji! I'm watching robots beat the scrap metal out of each other!" exclaimed Hanabi.

As it turned out, Hanabi was watching Transformers.

"I didn't know that you liked this show…" noted Neji.

"I sure do! I also like South Park and Walker Texas Ranger!" bellowed the preteen girl.

Neji sweatdropped. Something told him that Hanabi Hyuga wasn't the most feminine girl in the world.

Then again, if he wanted feminine, he had his other cousin Hinata.

"Where is my uncle?" inquired Neji.

"Oh, he got abducted by a bunch of backstabbing Hyuga ninja…" answered Hanabi.

"What?!" bellowed the teenage ninja.

"Yeah…apparently, their leader wanted to take over and make us the branch house…" noted Hinata's younger sister.

"This is a disaster! Where is Hinata?" inquired Neji.

"Oh, she went to try to stop the Hyuga ninja if you want to join her…she told me to stay here where I'd be safe…I'm sure that she'll be able to handle things." answered Hanabi.

Neji nodded, and he immediately went to look for the interdimensional portal. Perhaps Hanabi was right…but he didn't want to take any risks. Fairy Tail probably needed all the help that they could get…even if he hadn't really gotten to know the guild.

He wanted to be a hero, after all. That's what his uncle would want, right? At least, that's what he thought he would want. His father did die as part of a heroic sacrifice, after all.

However, much to his surprise, he found the portal to have disappeared.

"Where did it go?" inquired Neji.

Perhaps it had moved somewhere.

Shrugging, Neji decided to try searching for another interdimensional portal. Personally he thought he would be doing more fighting and less recon.

But apparently he could function as well on Team 8 just as well as Team Guy…though he wasn't planning on leaving Team Guy anytime soon. Tenten and Rock Lee would mess him…well, maybe Tenten would miss him more than Rock Lee.

Sure enough, he found another interdimensional portal…unlike the one that Fairy Tail used, it happened to be yellow. He could see it out in the distance.

It was rather peculiar…but apparently it would work as he saw ninja entering and exiting from it.

However, it just so happened to be guarded by some of the traitorous Hyuga ninja. It appeared that they didn't want Fairy Tail to receive reinforcements.

It looked like he was going to have to fight his way inside if he wanted to help them.

"Well, I might as well get started." thought Neji.

Taking a deep breath, he began to walk inside the traitor ninja hideout.

Who would have thought that they would declare mutiny?

_Let's check on Sakura and Gajeel now…_

Gajeel and Sakura were fighting rather vigorously, to say the very least. In fact, several statues had been toppled over and had smashed to pieces. Not only that, but several chairs and tables had been smashed.

"We're really making a mess of things, aren't we?" inquired Gajeel.

"Yeah…I'm not cleaning that up." noted Sakura.

"But there's a dustpan and mop right over there…" pointed out the iron dragonslayer.

"Really?" inquired the kunoichi, looking in the other direction.

Suddenly, she found herself being backhanded by Gajeel.

"Ouch! Darn it, Gajeel!" exclaimed Sakura. Was he really going to fight pragmatically like that? If so this battle wasn't going to be fun.

"What can I say? You're just so cute when you're angry…" murmured the iron dragonslayer.

"Really? You think so?" inquired the kunoichi.

Gajeel began to blush upon realizing what he had said.

"Hmm…this is making fighting you more difficult…" answered Sakura.

"Yeah…" nodded Gajeel.

"Maybe if we stop fighting, maybe then Laxus will release us…" questioned the kunoichi.

"But what about Magnolia Town?" inquired Gajeel.

"Well,, I don't think he can hold that spell forever…" answered Sakura. No magic spell lasted forever.

"True…" nodded the iron dragonslayer. It did look like it used up a lot of magic.

_Back where Naruto and Bickslow are duking it out…_

The evil toys and Naruto's summons lunged at each other, hoping that their side would achieve victory.

Already, Taurus was battling with the T-Rex, who apparently thought that he would a nice hunk of juicy meat.

And speaking of meat, Aries was currently fighting against the piggy bank. It was farm animal against farm animal, by the looks of it.

Sagittarius was currently in a shootout with the two Potato Heads. The question was who would get hit first.

The Gemini Twins were currently fighting against the aliens, who apparently wanted to take them to their spaceship so that they could experiment on them. Aliens and their crazy experiments.

Capricorn was facing off against the slinky dog, who was currently trying to strangle him. Already, his face was turning blue.

Aquarius was facing off against the space ranger. Unfortunately, it appeared that the spaceman had practiced diving underwater for space training.

Cancer was up against the cowgirl, and was trying to shave her bald so that she would die of a heart attack. Unfortunately, she was proving to be rather fast.

Virgo was up against the horse…but unfortunately, she did not appear to be a jockey.

And last but not least, Scorpius was up against the sheriff himself, who was shocked to discover that there was a scorpion in his boot.

On the other hand, he tended to have snakes in his boots all the time…and most of them weren't even venomous.

"To infinity and beyond!" yelled the space ranger.

"I'm going to send you into infinity and beyond." remarked Aquarius.

At that very moment, Sagittarius successfully hit the two Potato Heads and cooked them into French Fries. Bon appetite.

"Noooo!" screamed the male Potato Head as he was broiled by the flaming arrow.

"Well, at least we taste delicious." noted the female Potato Head as she passed away. Where was the ketchup when they needed it?

"That's two down…" noted Naruto. Now he wouldn't have to worry about them shooting him in the face.

Maybe he would get a reward considering that they robbed a bank last week and they worked for an evil scientist…who for some reason also happened to be a pig.

Suddenly, the green Martians began to attack Sagittarius. Apparently, they weren't happy that he had cooked their adoptive parents.

"You have ruined our lives! We are eternally vengeful!" screamed the aliens in unison.

And to make matters worse, the aliens had claws. A few seconds after they began to maul him, Sagittarius disappeared.

"You have ruined our lives! We are eternally vengeful!" bellowed the extraterrestrials. They were just like a broken record.

"Darn it! I was hoping that he could snipe some of the toys from a distance…but it looks like the Martians caught him…" thought Naruto.

Suddenly, the Gemini Twins picked up the aliens' guns and began to shoot at them, causing the aliens to be vaporized in a burst of red energy.

They then began to cheer…only for the evil space ranger to shoot the Gemini Twins and make them disappear in a burst of yellow light.

"Not them too!" exclaimed Naruto. It appeared that both sides were equally matched.

This was then followed by the piggy bank karate chopping Taurus.

"Hiya!" exclaimed the vicious pig. Unfortunately, he happened to have a black belt in karate.

He hit him directly on the head, and Taurus disappeared.

However, this had the side effect of making the normally calm Aries angry.

"I'll make you pay!" exclaimed the lamb lady.

Immediately, she headbutted the piggy bank, which killed him as it broke his skull. Apparently, nobody messed with Taurus in front of Aries and lived.

However, she was then attacked by the T-Rex, who screamed at the top of her lungs in the face.

She promptly disappeared. Apparently, she had been scared out of her wits and decided to leave. If only the T-Rex couldn't see her while she wasn't moving.

Fortunately, the T-Rex found his neck being snapped by Capricorn a few seconds later, who was fortunately no longer being choked by the slinky dog.

However, he found himself being attacked by the dog once more. Apparently, he should have paid more attention.

Like the other summons before him, Capricorn vanished in a burst of yellow energy.

Suddenly, the slinky dog found himself being crushed by Virgo. There weren't many of the demonic toys left now…and not many Celestial Spirits for that matter.

It looked like the fight was going to be over soon.

Immediately, Cancer cut the cowgirl's head off…which of course killed her. However, he found himself being shot to death by the sheriff shortly afterwards. Apparently, he wasn't too happy about that.

Curious, Naruto discovered that Virgo was serving the horse toy to him on a platter. It looked surprisingly delicious. Virgo offered him some silverware.

Unfortunately, before he could dig in, Virgo got shot in the face with a rocket by the space ranger, and she too disappeared.

Now it was down between the space ranger, the sheriff, Aquarius, and Scorpius.

Fortunately for Aquarius, she managed to drown the space ranger by filling his space helmet with water…and he didn't bother to take it off because he thought that Earth's atmosphere was toxic.

Unfortunately, she found herself being shot in the face shortly afterwards.

This of course made her boyfriend very angry…and he stung the sheriff in a heel…

…right when the sheriff shot him in the chest.

Unsurprisingly, this resulted in both of them being taken down for the count.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. It looked like had successfully defeated all the evil toys…at the cost of his Celestial Spirits.

"Now i just hope that Pixar doesn't sue us…" said the chunin.

Suddenly, he found himself being turned into an action figure. Unfortunately, he had looked Bickslow directly in the eyes.

"Hahahaha!" laughed Bickslow.

"Strange things are happening to me…" noted Naruto as he began to shrink.

_Elsewhere…_

Out of nowhere, Ino found herself being transported into a battle arena.

"Huh? Where am I going?" inquired Ino.

As it turns out, she was going to fight…Droy.

"This is kind of awkward." noted the blonde. Who would have thought that she was going to have to face Choji's interdimensional partner?

Well, hopefully she would be able to put up a good fight.

However, she was going to have to wait until the countdown reaches zero…otherwise she was going to receive a painful electric shock.

But when the countdown reached zero, Droy wasn't paying attention. He was currently eating some chicken wings.

"Om nom nom nom!" exclaimed Droy.

Ino began to wonder if she should use this opportunity to perform a sneak attack…but she wanted to be honorable…much like Kimimaro was even when he was working with Orochimaru.

Oddly enough, Droy seemed unhappy about something.

"What's the matter?" inquired Ino.

"My best pal Jet got knocked out fighting Shikamaru…" explained Droy.

"That's too bad." answered the blonde. It was too bad that Laxus was making everyone fight each other.

If only there wasn't a Thunder Palace spell threatening to spell certain doom if they didn't participate in the tournament.

They had to defeat him fast.

Suddenly, Ino took one of the chicken wings using her super speed.

"Hey!" bellowed the plant mage.

"Sorry! I was feeling hungry!" apologized Ino.

"Alright, it's on!" exclaimed Droy.

Immediately, he used his vines to tangle up Ino.

"I'm not into this type of thing, thank you." said Ino as she pulled out a kunai to free herself.

Droy sweatdropped.

In retaliation, Ino began to charge straight towards Droy. Unfortunately for Droy, Ino was proving to be too fast for her.

"I wish I didn't skip gym class in school…" said Droy.

"Really? That explains a lot…" noted Ino.

Droy sweatdropped.

"Then again it is possible that you happen to be a sumo wrestler…" questioned the blonde.

As soon as Ino mentioned "sumo wrestler", Droy body slammed Ino.

"Ugh…I'm a pancake…" murmured Ino.

Fortunately, Ino wasn't too terribly injured…however, Droy was having trouble getting back up, since the attack had sucked the wind out of him.

"This battle might take a while…" noted the blonde.

Droy nodded. At least he appeared to have outlasted his pal Jet…he was going to have to try to avenge him.

Maybe if he was lucky he would get a shot at Laxus himself. But that seemed a bit unlikely. Besides, he was really strong.

Could Fairy Tail hope to defeat him?

_Now let's see how Naruto's battle with Bickslow turns out…_

Unfortunately, it appeared that Naruto had been turned into an action figure by Bickslow's Figure Eye magic.

Bickslow laughed in triumph. It appeared that Naruto was down for the count and that he had finally won.

Immediately, he began to blow a raspberry, exposing his guild mark in the process.

Though he did have to admit, Naruto proved to be a challenge. He used up quite a bit of magic in that encounter.

However, as he turned to leave, he noticed someone running straight towards him.

As it turned out, it was Naruto, who was still able to fight despite being in this transformed state.

Bickslow gasped in shock. This had never happened before.

"Thank goodness you didn't turn me into a Barbie doll…" noted Naruto. He would have died of embarrassment if that happened…though admittedly he did look good in a dress.

Immediately, Naruto began to attack Bickslow with a kunai, inflicting several stab wounds.

"Aargh!" screamed the doll user.

He then followed by using his arms to give Bickslow a karate chop.

He then finished him off with a Mini Rasengan, causing him to revert back to normal in the process.

"Two members of the Thunder God Tribe down, just one more to go, I suppose." noted Naruto.

Who was the last member of the Thunder God Tribe, again? He couldn't quite remember.

For now, he was going to look for Laxus. He had a score to settle with him…and he had already settled his score with Bickslow for helping to beat up his sensei.

However, at that very moment, Laxus showed up.

Immediately, he exposed his pecs in front of Naruto.

"What the-" exclaimed Naruto.

Unfortunately, the awesomeness of Laxus's pectorals was extremely deadly, and they began to shine brilliantly with sheer power.

"Aargh!" screamed the chunin at the top of his lungs as he was almost vaporized. This nearly killed Naruto, but it just rendered him heavily unconscious…and burnt.

He was really going to need to go to the hospital…or at the very least get Sakura to give him a hand.

Shortly afterwards, Laxus went to look at the unconscious Bickslow. He wasn't happy that he had lost too.

"Not another member of my tribe! It's a good thing I took him out when I did…but all I have left now is Freed…and of course Naraku." acknowledged Laxus. Perhaps his Thunder God Tribe weren't as strong as he thought.

Fortunately, his strange new eye ability had allowed him to see around the guild hall and let him know when one of his Thunder God Tribe comrades was being attacked…though unfortunately he had arrived too late to save Bickslow.

Maybe it was time for him to change tactics.

"I know! Why don't I start making the mages face themselves two on two? That should take care of them much more quickly…" noted Laxus.

It seemed as good of a plan as any.

Immediately, he decided to send for Freed.

"Can I help you?" inquired Freed.

"I need you to take on Lucy Heartfilia and her sidekick…I believe that they're the biggest threat to me at the moment." explained Laxus.

"You can count on me!" exclaimed the green-haired mage. Personally he wished that Laxus could settle his disputes with the Fairy Tail guild peacefully…but he decided not to flatout tell that to his boss. He might get angry with him.

Hopefully he could take on Lucy and Shikamaru and succeed where Evergreen and Bickslow had both failed. Who would have thought that Naruto could keep fighting as an action figure?

At least he wasn't a match for Laxus's pecs…those were just plain overkill.

_Meanwhile…_

Neji stormed into the traitorous ninja household, ready to save the Fairy Tail guild as well as his own clan.

Immediately, two traitorous Hyuga ninja barred him out.

"We're under strict orders not to let anyone in here…fortunately, Tsunade doesn't know what we're up to…or she'll have our heads on a platter." noted one of the Hyuga ninja.

"Yeah…why exactly are we betraying the Hyuga clan again?" inquired another Hyuga ninja.

"Let me through!" demanded Neji.

"Sorry, but we can't do that…even for a branch household member like you, Neji. Don't you want to quite being a servant and be more like your cousin?" asked the first Hyuga ninja traitor.

"I do know how that feels…but that doesn't mean you have to betray my uncle…" noted the teenage ninja.

"If you're not going to leave, then we're going to make you." said the second Hyuga ninja traitor.

Immediately, the two of them pulled out kunai and began to walk towards Neji.

Suddenly, he found his hands were sparkling.

"Huh?" inquired Neji. Was this static electricity?

Out of the blue, he began to shoot lightning out of his finger tips.

"Why do I feel like Emperor Palpatine all of a sudden?" inquired the ninja.

This proved to be surprisingly effective. Both of the ninja were knocked out.

"I wonder how I got those abilities…" noted Neji.

Well, he might as well test these new powers on the ninja that ever got into his path.

This proved to be rather effective, as not only were the lightning bolts dangerous to the attacking ninja, they couldn't punch him without getting shocked.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed an unfortunate traitorous ninja as his hand got zapped.

At this rate, he would be practically untouchable.

However, he realized that he had a problem. The more he used his powers, the more exhausted he became.

He needed to find a way to refuel himself, but how?

Suddenly, he remembered something…didn't Hinata replenish her strength by eating fire?

If so, he might be able to replenish his strength by looking for an electrical appliance.

Sure enough, there was a toaster nearby.

Immediately, he began to eat electricity from the toaster, a small smile appearing on his face as he replenished his energy.

Now ready to fight once again, he set out to save Fairy Tail.

"I bet they're probably counting on me…" thought Neji as he raced towards the interdimensional portal.

_Bickslow has been defeated and Neji's on his way to help Fairy Tail. Of course, Freed's going to battle Lucy and Shikamaru as well, just I said…though maybe it's going to happen a bit later than I expected._

_Oh well._

_In the next chapter, Neji's going to face off against Naraku and Lucy's going to face Freed. Isn't that nice?_

_Word of advice: don't look at Laxus's pecs! They're incredibly deadly! Naruto almost died! Thank you and have an nice day._


	54. Chapter 54: Glorious Freedom

Ninja Tail

_Time to continue my little rendition of the Fighting Festival Arc…as you can probably guess by the chapter title, our protagonists are up against Freed this time. And yes, I like to make puns. Granted, you probably won't consider them all to be good…but I like making puns nonetheless._

_Let's see how Lucy and Shikamaru are going to do against Freed…_

**Chapter 54: Glorious Freedom**

Realizing that she no longer had an opponent, Juvia decided to help her teammates defeat Laxus.

Suddenly, a gas began to seep into the room that she was in.

"It smells funny in here…" said Juvia.

As it turned out, it was a knockout gas.

Quickly, Juvia fell asleep.

"Heh heh heh…" said Naraku (who was wearing a gas mask, of course), satisfied at his victory. At this rate there would be nobody left to stop Laxus from taking over Fairy Tail.

Personally he wondered if he should try setting up a crazy tournament himself. It didn't seem like a bad idea to be honest.

Then again, where was he going to get a ninja that could turn people to stone?

_Meanwhile…_

Lucy and Shikamaru searched for Laxus, hoping that they would finally find him.

"Laxus, where are you?" asked Lucy, putting her open hands between her lips.

"Come on out wherever you are so that you can face vigilante justice!" bellowed Shikamaru, doing the exact same thing that Lucy was doing.

However, at that very moment, they heard a door being locked behind them.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

As it turned out, it was none other than Freed.

Immediately, he cast a rune spell on the door to ensure that Lucy and Shikamaru could not escape.

"Looks like he's got us right where he wants us…" acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Right you are. It's nothing personal…Laxus just wants you out of the way so that you won't interfere with his scheme…" answered Freed.

"That makes us feel better…I guess." stated Lucy.

"Let's get this over with, shall we? I want this battle to end as quickly as possible…" said the rune mage.

"I think we're on the same wavelength." agreed Shikamaru. They had to find Laxus before he did anything that was crazier than what he had already done…which admittedly would be tough to do.

Immediately, Freed started off with a rather painful rune spell on Shikamaru.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" screamed Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy.

"Make it stop already! It hurts!" screeched the teenage ninja.

"Well, I think I might have gotten one of the-"

Freed's train of thought was cut off when suddenly he found himself being whipped by Lucy.

"Let's see how you like being tortured!" bellowed Lucy.

"Ow! Quit it!" demanded Freed.

This freed (again with the puns) Shikamaru of his pain and suffering…well, that and he decided to take an Advil.

"Thank goodness that's over with…" answered the teenage boy.

However, Freed had more than one rune to fight the duo with.

"Oh my god! I broke a nail!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, she began to run around the room screaming.

This time, Freed had used a fear rune.

"Way to make a girl stereotypical…" thought Shikamaru. Personally he thought that Lucy was braver than that.

But maybe he had thought wrong.

"Why are women afraid of everything?" pondered the shadow ninja.

Suddenly, he noticed a spider.

"Aah! Spider!" screamed Shikamaru, leaping into Lucy's arms.

"Wait, what?" asked Lucy, suddenly snapping out of her induced fear.

Freed shrugged. Personally he wondered how that spider had gotten in the room with them considering that he had sealed the door with his rune magic.

But he could solve that mystery later. For now, he had a job to do. Granted, it was a rather dirty job…but he didn't want to let Laxus down.

He was counting on him…especially since Evergreen and Bickslow had already been defeated. If he went down, there would nobody left to defend Laxus…except for maybe Naraku.

Now that he thought of it…why did he get a ninja to help him when Laxus openly displayed his contempt for allowing ninja into Fairy Tail?

It was rather…ironic.

Now that he thought of it, Laxus himself was reminding him of a ninja for some strange reason. He wasn't quite sure why.

Perhaps he should talk to Laxus about that later.

For now, he needed to finish the fight…even if it ended with blood on his hands. Granted, he was likely going to save that for a last resort, but still!

"What runes should I use next?" asked Freed.

Perhaps he should try doing something that will help him get out of Lucy's range…specifically her whip.

Fortunately, he had an idea.

Activating his runes, he began to fly into the air.

Of course, now he had to worry about them throwing things at him…but it would at least make the fight a bit easier.

Sure enough, Lucy was now having a hard time hitting him with her whip. Perhaps she should leaping? That was what ninjas were good at.

On the other hand, she hadn't been a ninja for nearly as long as Shikamaru was…so she probably couldn't jump as high as he could.

Still, it was worth a shot.

Immediately, Lucy leaped into the air…

…but tripped and fell on her face.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Whoops!" bellowed Shikamaru.

Shrugging, he decided to try tossing paper bombs at Freed. He had no idea what they were, but he got the feeling that they were dangerous.

So, he decided to avoid them as best as he could…though one of them grazed his shoulder.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Freed.

Fortunately for him, it was only a first-degree burn. However, he got the feeling that he might not be so lucky next time.

Suddenly, he found his shadow being grabbed.

"Let go of me!" demanded Freed.

"I assume you want to live up to your name right about now?" asked Lucy.

"Very funny." answered the rune mage.

Just how was he going to get out of this? He couldn't simply separate himself from his shadow so that he could break free from the technique…

…and speaking of the technique, it looked like that there were hands heading straight towards him.

He got the feeling that if they reached his neck, he was going to be throttled…and he did not want that.

He needed to break free…and fast.

_Meanwhile…_

"Who are we up against now?" asked Droy.

"I'm not sure…" answered Cana.

Curious, she looked around, and noticed it was Sakura and Gajeel.

"Oh…I guess we're up against these two…" said the alcoholic.

She found this to be rather surprising. Up until now, it had been one on one…but now it was two on two.

Apparently, Laxus thought that he wanted to try something different. Speaking of which, she hoped that they could find him soon. Granted, she didn't think that it would be long before the Fairy Tail guild was able to confront them…but she wanted their guild back already. This was Fairy Tail, not Laxus Tail.

First Phantom Lord, and now this.

Well, she might as well start fighting, since Gajeel and Sakura did not appear to be attacking yet.

Immediately, she began to toss cards at them, which the duo of them dodged.

"This reminds me of our battle with Sho…." said Sakura.

"I know…" answered Gajeel. Was Sho secretly Cana's long-lost half-brother or something? That would make, he supposed.

Unfortunately for the duo, this was then followed by Droy inflating himself like a wrecking ball and coming straight towards Sakura and Gajeel.

"Oh boy…" murmured Sakura.

Immediately, they scrambled out of the way so that they didn't end up being flattened. It was rather unfortunate that Droy was Cana's interdimensional partner…to say the very least.

Once again, Gajeel and Sakura were forced to play defensive. Personally Gajeel was already starting to get sick of it.

Surely there had to be a way to fight back against the duo, but how?

Fortunately, Sakura had an idea.

Immediately, she began to set sharp icicles across the arena.

Droy ran into them…and he ended up being deflated.

"Uh-oh…" said Droy.

This gave the opportunity for Sakura to punch Droy in the face and send him flying.

"Uh-oh…" thought Cana. It looked like Sakura and Gajeel might be thwarting the tables.

Fortunately, she had a technique to counter that

Suddenly, she pulled out a bottle of beer and shoved it in Gajeel's mouth. Magical beer.

Shortly afterward, Gajeel began to act strangely.

"Are you feeling OK, Gajeel?" inquired Sakura.

Out of the blue, Gajeel jumped on top of Sakura.

"Be my boyfriend, you shiny monkey!" screamed Gajeel.

"Wha-what?" asked Sakura.

Curious, she wondered what was going on.

Suddenly, she remembered the bottle that Cana had given him.

"Oh great…Cana made Gajeel drunk…" said Sakura.

This was not going to do her any favors. Gajeel probably didn't even realize that he was fighting anymore…though he was probably going to get into a barfight later. Was he even the legal drinking age? She heard that Cana had started drinking long before the legal age limit.

Maybe she should be arrested.

Unfortunately, while Gajeel was pinning Sakura to the ground, Cana was getting ready to attack once again.

"What should I choose?" inquired Cana.

Immediately, she began to examine her deck to see what she could find.

She found a joker card.

"Let's see what this does…" stated the teenage girl.

Immediately, Cana played the joker card, and a clown appeared.

"A clown? Alright! I love the circus!" exclaimed Cana.

Immediately, the clown gave them some cotton candy.

"Delicious!" bellowed Droy. It was nice to get a snack while they were in the middle of a fight.

However, Cana was wondering if the clown was able to put up a fight.

"You wouldn't have to have fighting prowess, do you? We're in the middle of a battle…granted, so far we seem to be winning…but we would appreciate the help." stated Cana

The clown nodded, and he pulled out a rather large clown ball.

"Look at the size of that thing!" exclaimed Droy.

Immediately, the clown began to bounce around towards Sakura and Gajeel, hoping to flatten them much like Droy had done earlier.

Sakura noticed what was happening, and immediately pushed Gajeel out of the way.

"Look out!" bellowed Sakura.

"Huh?" asked Gajeel.

Fortunately, Sakura managed to avoid being crushed. However, the clown was still bouncing.

"How am I going to stop him?" asked Sakura.

Immediately, she came up with a plan.

Suddenly, she remembered how she managed to stop Droy from charging at her.

"Oh yeah, that's right." answered Sakura.

Tossing a few icicles, Sakura managed to deflate the clown's ball. Now he was fighting them on foot.

"Darn it! You ruined my ball!" exclaimed the clown.

"Enough clowning around." said Sakura.

"Fine!" bellowed the joker.

Immediately, he pulled out an acid squirting flower and squirted Sakura in the face.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Sakura.

He then followed by tossing a cream pie in Gajeel's face…which was fresh from the oven.

"Ow!" screeched Gajeel.

Fortunately, this snapped him out of his drunken stupor.

"What's going on? Why is there a clown attacking us?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Cana summoned him so that she didn't have to do the job herself…" answered Sakura.

"Alright then…" stated Gajeel.

With one punch, Gajeel punched the clown away…right out of an open window.

"It looks like his circus act was over!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Curious, Cana began to examine her deck to see if there was anything else she had.

"Hmm…" thought the card mage. There had to be something else that she could try.

Fortunately, she managed to find another card.

"Here we are!" exclaimed Cana.

As it turned out, she had a credit card.

"Now I can go shopping!" bellowed the card mage.

"Aren't we in the middle of a fight?" asked Droy.

"Oh, that's right…now I remember." stated Cana.

Immediately, she used the magical credit card to buy weapons online.

Sure enough, several grenades appeared in her hand.

"Let's get dangerous!" bellowed the alcohol lover.

Quickly, she began to toss grenades at Sakura and Gajeel, whose eyes began to widen.

"Look out!" exclaimed Sakura.

Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel leapt out of the way to avoid being hit by the grenades.

"This is too easy…" said Cana.

Once again, she tossed a grenade…

…or rather, she tossed the pin.

"D'oh." spoke the card mage.

Immediately, the grenade exploded in her face, making it black.

"Darn it! Now I need a first aid kit!" exclaimed Cana.

Using her credit card, she managed to heal herself.

_Back where Lucy and Shikamaru are…_

Freed was still thinking of a way out of his nasty situation…at this rate he was going to end up like Bart Simpson whenever his father got angry with him.

Suddenly, he remembered rather important.

"Oh, that's right…I can teleport…" remembered Freed.

Immediately, he used his magic to transform himself into runes.

"What the-" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Naturally, this allowed him to break free of the spell. He had successfully lived up to its name.

Somehow, Shikamaru got the feeling that the battle wasn't going to end this quickly.

In retaliation, Freed pulled out his sword.

"You have a sword?" asked Lucy.

"As a matter of fact, I do." answered Freed.

Quickly, Freed began to charge towards the duo.

Shikamaru and Lucy both did their best to stay out of range. Shikamaru tried grabbing his shadow again, but since Freed knew how to free himself, this did not hold him for long.

"If only if he couldn't teleport…" thought Shikamaru. At this rate they were going to end up being sliced to ribbons.

Personally he wondered if he should get a sword himself. On the other hand, he wasn't sure how he was going to wield it. He hadn't any swordplay lessons.

Fortunately, Lucy managed to knock the sword out of his hand using her Rasengan.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

Suddenly, Freed teleported next to her.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

He then inscribed yet another rune on her head.

All of a sudden, she began to dance uncontrollably.

"Is this a danceoff?" asked Shikamaru.

"I can't stop dancing!" bellowed Lucy.

Fortunately, Lucy managed to summon some clones to help her avoid being caught by Freed and his blade.

However, they were all dancing as well. Specifically, they were doing the conga line.

"I would want to join in if I weren't in the middle of a fight…" acknowledged Shikamaru.

Lucy wondered how she was going to get out of this mess this time.

Shrugging, she decided to try doing the tango with Shikamaru since she was her boyfriend.

Immediately, the two of them began to tango.

"What are you doing?" asked Freed.

This gave Shikamaru an idea.

Immediately, he spun Lucy around like a top, and then tossed her at Freed.

She crashed into him, causing him to lose his concentration and for the rune forcing Lucy to dance to disappear.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

"Not bad. I can see why Laxus was worried about you…but don't assume that this is over yet." warned Freed.

"Of course not." nodded the female member of Fairy Tail.

Once again, Freed attempted to swing his sword at them.

However, Shikamaru and Lucy were proving to be too quick for them.

Immediately, Lucy summoned a hippopotamus, which proceeded to attack him.

He tried to run away…but he discovered that hippos were faster than humans.

"Who would have thought it?" asked Freed.

Fortunately for him, he was able to stab the hippo with his sword, causing it to explode into smoke.

However, he found himself being whipped again once more.

"Would you cut that out already?" asked Freed.

"It's what I do best. You don't tell Cana not to drink booze or Levy not to read books…" stated Lucy.

"True…" acknowledged Freed. Still, he was getting really sick of that

Suddenly, Shikamaru tossed some kunai at his head, causing him to gasp.

He then followed by writing the word "Fire", which ruined his beautiful hairstyle.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Freed. Well, he needed to visit the barber anyway.

"Are we winning?" asked Lucy.

"It looks that way." answered Shikamaru. Still, nothing was for certain…Freed just might a few more tricks up his sleeve.

"Perhaps it's time for me to put on some armor…" said Freed.

Suddenly, Freed was covered in darkness.

"Now then…" said the rune user.

Immediately, Freed summoned an electric orb and launched it at Lucy and Shikamaru.

This ended up frying Lucy and Shikamaru's hair.

"Now it's personal!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Really? I do not have anything personal against you…I just don't want to defy Laxus's wishes…" stated Freed.

"Maybe you should listen to someone else…" suggested Shikamaru.

Once again, Freed tossed an electric orb.

However, this time, Lucy tossed a Rasengan to counteract it.

Immediately, the two of them began to cancel each other out.

"Maybe I need to make a bigger Rasengan…" thought Lucy.

Curious, she summoned more clones to see what they could do.

As it turned out, they were able to make quite a big Rasengan indeed.

"Look at the thing! It's huge!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Are you talking about me and my-"

"No, I am not talking about that." answered the embarrassed teenage girl.

This time, the electric orb was no match for the Big Ball Rasengan, and it hit Freed dead-on.

"Aah!" screamed Freed as he collapsed on his feet. In the process, his shadow armor wore off. Personally Shikamaru wondered if he should try getting armor like that.

However, he was able to get back up, though he was clearly injured.

"He's a real fighter, isn't he?" asked Lucy.

"I would imagine so since he's part of Laxus's Thunder God Tribe…" acknowledged Shikamaru.

"I didn't want to use this...but I have no choice." said Freed.

"What are you talking about?" inquired the shadow ninja.

As it turned out, Freed was starting to transform.

"What the-" said the kunoichi.

Much to their shock, Freed had transformed into a demon, much like Mirajane could.

From the looks of it, Freed was much stronger than before.

Lucy tried tossing a Rasengan at him, but Freed quickly deflected it.

"**I've only used this once before, and that was during a fight with Laxus…I suppose I should applaud you for pushing me this far…** " admitted Freed.

"Maybe we should applaud you for putting on such a show…" stated Shikamaru.

"**Let's finish this, shall we? Laxus is counting on me…" **stated the demonized member of the Thunder God Tribe.

"I suppose all good things have to come to an end…" admitted Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the transformation had made him much more powerful. Freed could break free from Shikamaru's shadow techniques (surprisingly enough), and he could deflect Lucy's Rasengan with a flick of his hand.

"We are up a creek without a paddle…" acknowledged the shadow ninja.

"Maybe I could try using the nine-tailed fox's power?" suggested Lucy.

"**Do it! I don't want to lose against another demon! It's poetic justice! And I hate that!" **bellowed Kurama.

"I suppose that would be an embarrassment." acknowledged Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy began to draw power from the nine-tailed fox, causing an orange shroud to appear. You knew chakra was powerful when it was visible.

"**So, you have the power to transform as well, don't you? I have to say this is rather interesting…" **acknowledged the demon.

Personally, Lucy wondered if it would be enough to take Freed on. Granted, she felt a lot stronger in this state…but she wasn't quite sure if it could the job.

Perhaps she would need to unlock yet another tail…

…but how would she do that?

_Meanwhile…_

"Here we are! Let's try my Thunderbolt card!" exclaimed Cana.

"Aargh!" bellowed Gajeel. Unfortunately, since he was covered in metal, he attracted electricity pretty well.

Perhaps he should have tried becoming a different kind of dragonslayer. Then again, considering his upbringing, maybe it wasn't his fault.

Fortunately, Sakura was able to heal Gajeel.

However, Cana had a card that she could use against Sakura too.

"A Fireball card? That ought to be useful…" said Cana.

Unfortunately, the fireballs were able to melt Sakura's ice sculptures, much to her chagrin.

In retaliation, she began to summon slugs to attack Cana.

"Gross!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

One of the slugs swallowed Cana whole. Hopefully for Sakura, this would make her fall unconscious so that she could spit her out shortly afterwards, thus leaving them alone with Droy.

However, Droy was not happy that Sakura was trying to have her slugs eat Cana.

"Hey! I'm the one who does the eating!" exclaimed Droy.

Immediately, he began to try to pull Cana out of the slug's stomach…

…and he succeeded.

"Darn it…" murmured Sakura.

Though Cana was covered in slug spit, she was otherwise unharmed.

"Ugh…" murmured Cana.

However, they still had a bunch of hungry slugs to deal with.

But Droy had just the thing to deal with that.

Suddenly, he pulled out a salt shaker, causing the slugs to scream in horror.

The slugs then disappeared, leaving Sakura and Gajeel alone.

"Why did you have a salt shaker again?" asked Sakura.

"I find it to be a good idea to salt my food before I eat it…I in particular like salty potato chips…" explained Droy.

Sakura shrugged.

Once again, Droy used his abilities to his advantage, stretching out his arms and grabbing onto Sakura and Gajeel.

"Hey!" bellowed Sakura.

"Let us go!" exclaimed Gajeel.

It looked like he had them right where he wanted them.

However, Sakura and Gajeel realized that there was one thing left they could try…the Unison Raid that they had used back at the Tower Of Heaven.

"You want to try using our unison raid again?" asked Sakura.

"I suppose we could do that…I'd hate to say it, but we're running out of options…" acknowledged Gajeel.

Who would have thought that Cana and Droy were so strong? On the plus side, they did not seem to have a unison raid of their own…though admittedly the two of them seemed to be rather strong.

At this rate they were going to try to do a unison raid together and use it to attack their enemies. Undoubtedly, it would be a rather effective technique…though Sakura and Gajeel wondered what it would be like. Most likely, it would involve cards and plants somehow judging from Cana and Droy's field of magic.

Or maybe it would involve them becoming sumo wrestlers…since, you know, Droy was Choji's interdimensional portal. Personally they got the feeling that Cana wasn't interested in being morbidly obese however, so she probably wouldn't enjoy using that technique.

Well, here went nothing.

Sakura and Gajeel pressed their hands together, and once again they were inside a suit of armor with an icy sword.

"Have you used this technique before?" asked Cana.

"As a matter of fact we have." nodded Sakura.

Sakura and Gajeel slashed them with the icy sword, and Cana and Droy were frozen solid.

"Have we won?" asked Sakura.

Curious, they began to hear Laxus's voice counting down. Apparently, if Cana and Droy did not thaw themselves…then they've managed to win.

Sure enough, Cana and Droy couldn't free themselves from the ice. Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel were released from the thunder barrier.

However, they couldn't think of a way to free Cana and Droy from their icy prison. The ice looked rather…thick. Something told her that not even sticking them in an oven would thaw them out. Just how strong had they become, anyway?

"What should we do?" asked Sakura.

"Well, I don't think they're going to get hypothermia…maybe we can send them to archaeologists?" inquired Gajeel.

"Very funny, Gajeel." answered the teenage girl.

Suddenly, Sakura began to strip down, causing Gajeel to drool.

Immediately, Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you droolin-wait a minute…" said Sakura.

Sakura slapped Gajeel in the face as she put her clothes back on.

In retaliation, Gajeel slapped her back…starting a slapfight between them.

Unfortunately, since they were distracted, they did not notice Naraku sneaking behind them. Apparently, he was looking for the interdimensional portal so that he could head back to Konoha and take over the Hyuga clan from there.

However, since they were distracted, why not try a sneak attack?

Sure enough, he managed to hit down them both with the Gentle Fist technique.

"Not again!" screamed Gajeel. This was just like when he had faced Hinata for the custody of Naruto.

"How I wish that I could train my soul to resist that technique…" stated Sakura. Unfortunately, she could not.

They were both knocked out cold, and their role in the conflict had ended. It was sad but true.

Smirking with satisfaction, Naraku used his Byakugan to search for an interdimensional portal.

As it turned out, it was in Laxus's secret lair…the Kardia Cathedral. Why he would hide out in such a place when he was not a particular religious person he had no idea.

"So that's where it is…" stated Naraku. Personally he wondered why Laxus had not told him about his evil lair before.

Perhaps he could talk about that with him before he left to go see Hanabi Hyuga. Maybe he could bribe him to hand over ownership of the clan with a lollipop? Something told him that she had a sweet tooth.

On the other hand, from what he knew about her, she wasn't like most preteen girls. It was kind of crazy.

Off to the Kardia Cathedral he went. He couldn't wait to finally wait to overthrow Hiashi Hyuga once and for all.

On the way there, he encountered the unconscious Naruto…and decided to kick him a few times.

"Heh heh heh…" said Naraku.

Well, it was time for him to stop playing around He needed to meet with Laxus pronto. Personally, he wanted to know how his Thunder God Tribe was doing. Something told him that they weren't doing so hot at the moment…

_Elsewhere…_

For a moment, it seemed Lucy in her initial jinchuriki form could hold her own against the demon.

But unfortunately, the demon had a rather nasty trick up his sleeve.

Immediately, he breathed darkness on Lucy.

"Ugh…" murmured Lucy.

This made Lucy feel rather weak.

Apparently, it was time to sprout a tail once again.

Personally, Lucy wondered if she could try sprouting another tail. The more power she could harness from the nine-tailed fox, the better.

Still, she wondered if she would end up losing control of herself if she used too much of the nine-tailed fox's chakra.

Maybe she needed to be careful. Wouldn't want to end up wrecking Fairy Tail…the Sound Four had already done that.

As before, she sprouted a tail and whiskers appeared on her face.

However, Freed countered by making a bomb out of darkness…and detonating it in Lucy's face.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Lucy.

"It'd be awfully convenient if you could sprout another tail…" answered Shikamaru.

"Yeah…" nodded the teenage girl.

"How does Naruto typically draw power from the nine-tailed fox, anyway?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, it usually happens when something makes him mad…like the time someone insulted his dead parents…" explained Shikamaru.

"Oh dear…" remarked Lucy.

"But how will we do that?" asked the teenage boy.

"**You smell like manure!" **bellowed Kurama.

"But I just took a shower…" pointed out Lucy.

"I spied on you while you were in the shower?" asked Shikamaru.

Lucy began to blush…though oddly enough she didn't seem particularly angry about it.

Oh that was right…he was her boyfriend.

"I cheated when I played shogi with you?" inquired the teenage boy.

"Why would you need to do that?" asked Lucy.

"I played with your underwear?" asked Shikamaru.

"That's more embarrassing to you than it is for me…" stated the teenage girl.

Shikamaru sighed. He just wasn't good at making Lucy mad.

Fortunately, Kurama knew what to do.

"**Your mother is ugly and fat!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"My mother is deceased!" screamed Lucy.

Sure enough, this did the trick, and another tail sprouted from Lucy. In addition, she began to sprout fangs.

"Did I just turn into a vampire?" asked Lucy.

"Do you want to suck my blood?" inquired Shikamaru.

"No, I don't." answered Kurama's latest jinchuriki.

"I guess not then…" acknowledged Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Freed picked up Shikamaru, lifting him above his head.

"you had better hurry and use your new found power, Lucy!" warned Shikamaru.

"On it!" exclaimed Lucy. Wouldn't want to have to change her social status to single.

Immediately, she launched a Rasengan at Freed's arm, forcing him to drop Shikamaru

"**Urgh!" **exclaimed Freed

She then followed by preparing a Big Ball Rasengan.

"**This is going to suck…**" stated Freed.

This seemed to do the job, as Freed screamed very loudly once he was hit by it.

Shortly afterward, he turned back to normal.

"You beat me…" murmured the rune mage.

"I guess that's the last of the Thunder God Tribe…" stated Shikamaru. Now all that were left were Laxus and Naraku.

"Thank goodness…I need to take a nap…" said Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy fell asleep.

"Good night, Lucy." said Shikamaru. Personally, he thought that he deserved it after his long battle with Freed.

He was starting to feel worried, to be honest with himself. He didn't think that there were many mages left to confront Laxus now.

Would they be able to stop him? Since he was Makarov's grandson, he was probably really powerful. Not to mention all his powerful lightning techniques…

Personally he wondered if he should have brought a lightning rod.

All that he could say is, whoever decided to confront him…they had better watch out.

Now that he thought of it…maybe he should take a nap too.

Immediately, Shikamaru fell asleep next to Lucy.

_Let's check on someone else aside from Lucy, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Gajeel now…_

"I have to admit, you've proven to be a rather tenacious adversary…" acknowledged Erza, who was now in her hakama outfit, causing her fanboys to squeal.

"I'd have to say the same for yourself." acknowledged Mirajane, who was now in her demon form.

"Unfortunately, I happen to know your weaknesses…" stated Erza.

"What the-" said Mirajane.

Suddenly, Erza splashed holy water on Mirajane.

"Gah!" screamed the demon.

"What can I say? It's called logic…" stated Erza.

All of a sudden, Mirajane wondered if being a demon mage was such a good idea.

Erza then pulled out a crucifix, causing Mirajane to turn back to normal.

Finally, she tossed a bible at her head to knock her out cold.

"Maybe I should try slaying demons…" acknowledged Erza.

Now freed from her containment, Erza decided to see what the other girls were doing.

As it turned out, they were trying to find a way past the Thunder Palace barrier.

Ino accidentally bumped into the barrier, only to get zapped and knocked unconscious for her trouble.

Bisca tried shooting it…only to get shocked and knocked unconscious too.

"I guess the only way to destroy the barrier is to defeat Laxus…" stated Levy.

Off to his evil lair she went.

Fortunately, it was in plain sight.

As it turned out, Naraku was getting ready to head to Konoha along with several members of his group.

"Time for me to make my leave." stated Naraku.

Laxus bid farewell.

Suddenly, Levy showed up.

"What the-" exclaimed Naraku.

She then used her shadow to trap the traitorous Hyuga ninja so that they could not move.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Levy.

However, she missed Naraku.

"Oh." said the letter mage.

Naraku attempted to hit Levy with his Gentle Fist technique…

…but Levy put him at a distance, attacking him with several man-eating books.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Naraku.

She then followed by writing the word "Fire" so that she could barbecue Naraku, which he narrowly avoided.

Levy then followed by writing the word "Lightning"…but Laxus ended up eating it.

"Not bad…" said Laxus.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Levy.

This time, she wrote the word "Ice", which almost hit Naraku.

"How am I supposed to take her down?" asked Naraku.

"Well, she does happen to be a bookworm…" noted Laxus.

Curious, Naraku remembered the cursed book he had picked up in the Fairy Tail library. Makarov had put it in the dangerous book section so that no unlucky soul would be cursed…but he had decided to check it out for himself to see if he could find weapons.

As it turned out, he had just found one.

"This book is made to order!" exclaimed Naraku.

Immediately, he tossed the book at Levy.

"Huh?" asked Levy.

Curious, she decided to take a look.

As it turned out, the book was called The Best Book in the World by Brooke Worm.

"I must be in heaven…" thought Levy as she began to read the book.

But as it turned out, she was actually in Hell.

Immediately, Levy began to scream as the cursed book began to suck her inside. What was going on?

"But it isn't to be read! When they open up this book, they're sucked inside to the most unpleasant place they've ever seen!" bellowed Naraku.

"An ogre's butt?" inquired Laxus.

"Yes, Laxus. An ogre's butt." stated Naraku sarcastically.

Curious, Levy investigated her surroundings. She appeared to be in some sort of labyrinth.

Suddenly, she noticed a sign.

"What's this?" asked Levy.

As it turned out, the sign read "LITERATURE STRICTLY PROHIBITED".

"Nooooo!" screamed the teenage girl. How was she going to get out of there?

"Now then, where were we? It's time for me to head back to Konoha and get Hanabi Hyuga's signature! I've been waiting for it all day!" exclaimed Naraku.

However, as soon as he walked towards the portal along with his freed ninja henchmen, Neji stepped out of the portal.

"I appear to be in some sort of cathedral…" stated Neji. Oddly enough, he did not recall the Fairy Tail guild having one before. On the other hand, he had only visited the guild once.

"What's this? It appears that we have another branch member! Perhaps he would be interested in joining our cause…" said Naraku.

"You do that…I'll be heading deeper into the cathedral in case any more Fairy Tail mages arrive…then again, there's only a few of them left at this point…" stated Laxus.

Who were left again? Apparently, they were Erza, Hinata and Natsu.

It looked like he was going to have to deal with them himself. Fortunately, he got the feeling that he could take them all at once, though admittedly two of them were both dragonslayers like himself.

Then again, he got the feeling that he was going to have to dirty his hands. His Thunder God Tribe had all lost to their enemies. It was a pity really, he was expecting more from them…except for maybe Evergreen.

At that very moment, Erza arrived on the scene.

"What do we have here?" asked Laxus.

"It's time for you to pay for your crimes, Laxus!" exclaimed Erza. She was very unhappy that he had knocked Naruto out cold by exposing him to his deadly pecs…though admittedly Laxus did appear to be rather hunky.

Shrugging, Laxus decided to accept Erza's challenge. Part of him was looking forward to it, to be honest. Erza was one of the best mages of Fairy Tail, even at an early mage.

It looked like this was going to be quite a climactic battle.

_Elsewhere…_

"Where is Laxus?" asked Natsu.

Fortunately for Natsu and Hinata, they had successfully defeated their attackers.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for him. He had to be around somewhere.

"He appears to be at some sort of cathedral…maybe he wants his foes to say their prayers?" asked Hinata.

"Possibly…" answered Natsu. Curious, he seemed to recall Makarov mentioning it before. Was Laxus using the Kardia Cathedral as his hideout?

Immediately, the duo of them began to head towards the cathedral so that they could stop Laxus. They were not looking forward to Magnolia being fried by his Thunder Palace spell. They had to stop him before it was too late. Time was ticking.

Unfortunately, they appeared to be the only ones left, so they couldn't count on receiving any reinforcements. It felt rather lonely.

"Look at all the knocked out mages…" stated Hinata. It looked like the Fairy Tail nurses were going to have a field day.

"I guess it's up to us to stop Laxus now…" said Natsu.

"Apparently." nodded the female dragonslayer. How had they dwindled so fast?

She even saw that Naruto and Kakashi were both down for the count…she was rather surprised that had happened.

Both Lucy and Shikamaru seemed to be exhausted from their battle as well, though they didn't seem too injured.

Who knew what they were going to find in the cathedral?

On the other hand, they had managed to defeat his Thunder God Tribe, so all that was left was to take Laxus himself. If they defeated him, Fairy Tail was saved…though that of course was easier said than done.

It was time for Laxus to make his last stand, and for them to make theirs.

_I hope you liked this chapter! I know I did…heh heh heh. Then again, maybe that's just me._

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going to take on the big man himself…you should know who that is._

_Oh, and Neji's going to fight Naraku...and try to convince his followers to change their ways. You were looking forward to that, right?_

I know i was!


	55. Chapter 55: Neji The Hero

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, we're going to see the end of the Fighting Festival arc…or rather my rendition of it. Heh heh_

_And yes, both Naraku and Laxus will be defeated…and Fairy Tail will be saved._

_It's going to be rather exciting..._

**Chapter 55: Neji The Hero**

Immediately, Neji found himself being surrounded by several traitorous Hyuga ninja.

"Aren't you a branch member, Neji? Now that I think of it…I do believe that you are the son of my predecessor, are you not?" asked Naraku.

Neji nodded.

"Well then, maybe you would be interested in joining us. Don't you think that you should have been part of the main house rather than the branch house? I do seem to recall you being a Hyuga prodigy…unlike your cousin Hinata, who is part of the main house instead of you. Personally I don't think it's appropriate…" said the Hyuga ninja.

"If you join us, we can make sure that you receive the recognition that you deserve! No longer will you have to live a life of servitude! We'll even find a way to remove the seal on your forehead so that you don't have to wear your headband just to hide it!" exclaimed Naraku.

"You make a good argument…" said Neji. That seal on his forehead was bothering him.

Naraku grinned with satisfaction. It looked like he had convinced Neji.

"However, if you're going to argue about this, maybe I should provide my own argument on things…" stated Neji.

Naraku raised an eyebrow.

"Believe it or not, the main house needs the branch house more than you might think…who would protect them from assassination and the like otherwise?" asked Neji.

Curious, the traitorous Hyuga members raised an eyebrow. They actually hadn't thought of it that way…

"I have the bullet wounds to show for it!" exclaimed Naraku.

"If it weren't for you, we likely would have the lost the secret of our Byakugan by now…I in particular don't think my uncle would be happy if he lost his beloved daughter Hinata…even if he is hard on her sometimes…" stated Neji.

The Hyuga ninja nodded in agreement.

"Who needs Hinata? She couldn't even keep her title of the Hyuga heiress!" exclaimed Naraku.

This made the Hyuga bodyguards rather annoyed with Naraku. They had actually grown rather fond of Hinata while they were serving as her protectors…even if they had fought her on Naraku's request.

"If you decide to quit this mutiny now, Hiashi Hyuga might be willing to pardon you…" suggested Neji.

"Don't be ridiculous! We will not stop until we've gotten what we deserve! Isn't that right?" asked Naraku.

Suddenly, he noticed that his formerly loyal ninja were heading into the interdimensional portal.

"Where are you going?" asked Naraku.

"Neji is right…Hiashi Hyuga does need us." stated the Hyuga ninja.

Immediately, they went into the interdimensional portal, no longer wanting to be part of Naraku's scheme.

"Fine! If you don't want to participate, I'll just conquer the Hyuga clan by myself!" bellowed Naraku.

"Not on my watch." stated Neji.

Suddenly, Naraku pulled out some kunai.

"I didn't want to face another branch member…but since you insist on trying to stop me..then so be it!" exclaimed the evil Hyuga clan member

Immediately, Naraku tossed several kunai at Neji.

However, he proved to be too quick for him.

In retaliation, he attempted to hit him with his Gentle Fist technique…or as he called it, the Ferocious Fist technique.

"I'm going right for your soul!" exclaimed Naraku.

"I'm not sure you have a soul…" acknowledged Neji. He did seem to be rather soulless…though maybe that was an exaggeration.

Naraku then lunged towards Neji with his Gentle Fist…but he blocked it using his heavenly spin.

Neji then tossed kunai of his own at Naraku…but he blocked it with his hellish spin.

At the moment, they appeared to be equally matched. Perhaps it was time to up the stakes.

Immediately, Naraku started tossing paper bombs at Neji, hoping that explosives would do the trick.

However, once again, he proved to be too quick.

"Not bad! I can see why the rest of the branch house referred to you as a prodigy…it's a shame that you didn't want to join our cause…" stated Naraku.

"As I said, I'm not interested…and quite frankly, neither are your former comrades." retorted Neji.

"No thanks to you." said Naraku.

This time, Naraku attempted to close off Neji's chakra points so that he couldn't use chakra…which of course would make him as helpless as a kitten in a sack…or maybe an Exceed in a sack.

Speaking of which, Happy was currently stuck in a sack.

"Let me go out of here!" exclaimed Happy.

"Can you get him out?" asked Natsu.

"I'm afraid not…somebody tied it pretty well, and I think the rope is fireproof…" said Hinata.

It looked like they were going to have to face Laxus without him.

However, Neji was used to that sort of technique and countered by trying to seal off Naraku's own.

Due to this, they were only able to seal off a few of each other's chakra points.

"It appears that we seem to be pretty equally matched…" acknowledged Neji.

"You're right…it's time for me to use something that isn't typically taught to Hyuga clan members…but admittedly is pretty commonplace in the Land Of Fire nonetheless…" said Naraku.

"And what is that?" inquired the Hyuga prodigy.

Suddenly, Naraku tossed a fireball at Neji, who leapt out of the way.

Curious, Neji noticed that the fireball was purple in color. Apparently, Naraku was experienced in not only fire techniques, but dark ones at that. Personally, Neji wondered if they were some sort of kinjutsu. That wouldn't be too surprising.

Neji wondered how he was going to counter that sort of thing…when suddenly he found himself sparking with electricity.

Now that he thought of it…didn't he survive getting electrocuted without a burn mark?

Perhaps this had something to do it.

Shrugging, he decided to strike Naraku with lightning…which worked surprisingly well. Naraku just barely dodged it.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Naraku.

Apparently, Neji could now use lightning attacks. Maybe he should head to the Cloud Village in the Land of Lightning so that he could learn more.

But for now, they will have to do. Personally, Neji found it ironic that he was using angelic techniques against a devilish ninja…but maybe that was just the way it was.

Maybe if he defeated Naraku he would try fighting Laxus next. He may be the weaker opponent…but at least he could try, right?

_Speaking of Laxus…_

Erza stormed into Laxus's personal chambers, eager to finally stop him once and for all.

"We've managed to defeat your tribe, Laxus! Now it's time for you to pay for your crimes! I in particular wasn't happy when you ruined the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant…" said Erza.

Who was going to win now?

"If you want to stop me…go ahead…go ahead and try!" exclaimed Laxus.

Immediately, Laxus attempted to punch Erza in the face. The taboo of hitting girls did not apply to him…much like Gajeel. Then again, the latter did get hit by Sakura a lot.

However, Erza responded with a punch of her own. The same happened when Laxus tried kicking her.

"I can see why you were chosen to be a S-Class Mage…" said Laxus.

"This is for Naruto!" exclaimed Erza.

Immediately, she pulled out a blade and attempted to slash Laxus with it.

However, he countered by trying to zap Erza with electricity.

Fortunately, with her Lightning Empress armor she was able to resist it.

Now, if only she had an earth sword.

Laxus tried exposing Erza to his deadly pecs…but he then remembered that he had already used them on Naruto. He was out of juice for the time being.

He found himself being slashed in the chest for the trouble.

"Sorry, but it appears that's not going to work." stated Erza.

Shrugging, he decided to try flexing his muscles in front of Erza instead. They weren't as deadly as his pectorals, but at least they were good for something.

However, Erza stood her ground.

This time, Laxus attempted to rain lightning on Erza from above. However, she was able to determine where the lightning was going to strike and dodged accordingly.

Once again, she began to attack him with her sword, giving him a small cut on the cheek.

"Ugh…" murmured Laxus. Erza was proving to be really stubborn.

On the other hand, he did like a challenge…hence the reason why he started the Fighting Festival in the first place.

Perhaps it was time to enter dragonslayer mode.

"Well, Erza, you've proven yourself to be a good fighter so far…but are you ready to handle this?" asked Laxus.

"Huh?" inquired Erza.

As it turned out, Laxus was activating his dragonslayer powers.

In the process, he was left shirtless due to the increase in muscle mass.

"I have a boyfriend, I have a boyfriend, I have a boyfriend!" Erza reminded herself. Why did Laxus have to take his shirt off in front of her?

On the other hand, Gray did that to her all the time.

"You may be good, but I'm better!" exclaimed Laxus.

This time, he hit Erza with his fist, which was now covered with lightning, sending her flying.

"Aah!" screamed Erza. Laxus had gotten much more powerful, no doubt about that.

"Personally I'm impressed that you could hold your own with me in my base form…your boyfriend couldn't do that…" said Laxus.

"Well, you did get the jump on him." pointed out Erza.

Realizing that her Lightning Empress Armor didn't seem to be protecting her from Laxus's lightning attacks anymore, Erza decided that maybe she should try something different.

This time, she requiped her Heaven Wheel Armor.

She then began to surround Laxus with swords.

"There's so many of them…" thought Laxus. Granted, Erza hadn't been such a problem when she was attacking Laxus with one sword (though admittedly he did have to activate his dragonslayer form so that they weren't equally matched anymore), but now she was attacking Laxus with about a dozen.

How was he going to dodge them all?

Suddenly, his eyes began to feel rather strange.

Curious, he closed his eyes and then reopened them…

…and suddenly he noticed that he could now see everything around him.

It was a rather peculiar advantage.

Deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth, he used this to dodge every one of Erza's blades. She was rather surprised at the occurrence, to say the very least.

Laxus then followed by hitting Erza with a rather devastating blast of lightning, bringing her to her knees.

He then finished the job with a lightning dragon roar, making Erza down for the count.

"Just two more to go and Fairy Tail will be mine!" exclaimed Laxus.

At that very moment, Hinata and Natsu came in.

"Erza!" screamed Natsu.

Fortunately, it appeared that Erza would be alright…though shock therapy was clearly out of the question.

"I guess this is it, Natsu…it's up to us to try to stop Laxus once and for all…" stated Hinata.

Natsu nodded. Though personally they wondered how they were going to do that…Laxus had even managed to best Erza and Naruto…

Granted, the rest of his guildmates had managed to defeat his Thunder God Tribe…but the question still remained.

Shrugging, Natsu decided to try to hit him with his Gentle Fist technique…but Hinata stopped him.

"Natsu, if you try that, you're going to get zapped!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Huh?" asked Natsu.

Curious, he noticed that Laxus was sparkling with electricity.

"Oh, that's right…thanks for warning me." said the male dragonslayer.

"No problem." stated Hinata.

Apparently, they were going to have to try something else. If Laxus was still in his base form, using the Gentle Fist technique might have worked well…but what else could they try?

Suddenly, Hinata remembered something.

"Maybe we could try our Dragon Merge technique? That seemed to work well when we were up against the owlman…" suggested Hinata.

Natsu nodded. That seemed to be the best course of action considering that Laxus had transformed. Maybe they could try beating him at his own game.

Once again, Natsu and Hinata touched each other's hands and began to merge together.

"What's this?" asked Laxus.

As before, they transformed into a dragon with two heads.

"That seems rather appropriate…" stated the lightning dragonslayer. Personally he wondered if he should try using that technique with another dragonslayer himself.

But for now, he had two Fairy Tail members to defeat. They were all that was standing in his path at this point…he was so close to victory that he could almost taste it.

"Bring it!" bellowed Laxus.

_Before we proceed with that particular battle…let's see how Neji and Naraku's battle turns out…_

Naraku and Neji attacked each other with fireballs and lightning bolts respectively, hoping to gain an advantage over the other.

However, neither of them was able to do so.

"This is taking forever…" stated Naraku.

"My new lightning abilities are coming in handy…" acknowledged Neji.

Perhaps it was time for Naraku to try using his ultimate technique.

Suddenly, the cathedral was surrounded with darkness.

"Did someone turn off the lights?" asked Neji.

Shortly afterwards, he found himself being blindsided with Naraku, who appeared to have blended with the shadows themselves.

Where had he gone? He was having a hard time defending himself like this.

Suddenly, he remembered his lightning techniques…and used them to help shed some light on things.

However, Naraku was still attacking him surprisingly quickly.

Immediately, Naraku grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

"Ugh…" murmured Neji.

He then followed by hitting Neji with a devastating punch, leaving flaming shockwaves in the process.

"Aargh!" exclaimed the teenage ninja.

"Did you really think that you could defeat the head of the Hyuga clan?" asked Naraku.

"Personally I wonder what my uncle was thinking when he made you in charge…" stated Neji.

Oddly enough, Naraku could not remember why Hiashi had let him in charge following his brother's tragic death, which incidentally occurred because of a heroic sacrifice.

Immediately, Naraku pulled out a kunai.

"i'm ashamed to call you a member of the branch house after you took my precious followers away from me…" stated Naraku.

"They all seemed rather happy to leave you after I pointed out that my uncle needed their help…" said Neji.

"Shut up!" exclaimed the traitorous leader of the branch house.

Suddenly, Neji noticed that he was now sparkling with electricity.

Curious, he tried grabbing Naraku's arm…

…and he was met with a nasty shock.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Naraku.

This allowed Neji to push Naraku off him. He tried to get up, but Neji hit him with a Lightning Dragon's Roar, sending him flying.

"Gah!" screamed Naraku. He was in a lot of pain all of a sudden.

"How can I be losing to this sucker?" asked Naraku. Personally he thought that since Neji didn't want to participate in his plan he was a weakling…but it looked like his arrogance had led to his downfall. Not a big surprise, really…except for Naraku, of course.

Now that Naraku appeared to be wounded, Neji decided that maybe it was time to try sealing his chakra points again. That ought to stop him from causing him any more harm…though admittedly he felt great all of a sudden. He felt a lot stronger than before.

This time, he succeeded, and Naraku had been incapacitated.

"Curse you…" said Naraku as Neji tied him up and left him next to the interdimensional portal so that his uncle could deal with him.

"You know, if you had decided to listen to me and apologize to Hiashi Hyuga for your crazy actions…maybe you wouldn't be going to Tsunade's slave camp…" stated Neji.

"I will have my revenge! Wait, Tsunade's slave camp? Nooooo!" screamed the traitorous Hyuga ninja.

"Yeah…they've been getting a lot of psychopaths lately…Takeshi, Captain Bloodbeard, Setsuna, Ebemener Scourge, Dracferatu…the list goes on." stated Neji.

Personally, he wondered how many psychopaths would be in the camp by the time the story had ended. Takeshi did seem to escape fairly often now that he thought of it.

"I guess you're stuck living the life of a servant once again…" pointed out the teenage ninja.

Naraku began to cry.

Suddenly, he remembered that Laxus was still in charge. He was probably fighting Natsu and Hinata as they spoke. He could have sworn that he had seen them enter the cathedral.

He had to help them anyway he could.

Leaving Naraku behind so that Tsunade could catch him, Neji went to help Hinata and Natsu.

Hopefully he wouldn't be too late and that Hinata and Natsu would be in one piece by the time he got there. He hated it whenever he was late, especially when Might Guy wanted to teach him some taijutsu lessons.

Quickly, he began to make his way to where Laxus was fighting with his cousin and her interdimensional partner.

Speaking of which, he got the funny feeling that Laxus was his interdimensional partner. That would explain the lightning techniques he had obtained. How else would he have obtained them…and why else would he be immune to electricity?

It was rather ironic, really. But maybe that was just the way it is. Besides, his new abilities had allowed him to get the upper hand over Naraku in the end, so maybe he shouldn't be questioning it.

Off to be a hero.

_In Laxus's personal chambers…_

Unsurprisingly, the merged Hinata and Natsu started off by trying to breathe fire on Laxus, which slightly scorched him as he moved out of the way to avoid it.

In retaliation, he used his Lightning Dragon Roar to spew out lightning, knocking the dragon backwards.

"He really is a dragonslayer…" acknowledged Natsu. They really had their work cut out for them, even in their combined state.

"Yeah…" agreed Hinata. Things were a bit different than when they were fighting Fukuro, to say the very least.

This time, Natsu and Hinata spewed out fireballs to rain on top of Laxus. Hopefully he wouldn't be able to dodge that many.

However, thanks to his newfound Byakugan, he was able to avoid every one of them.

"Where did he get that?" asked Natsu.

"Apparently he's someone's interdimensional partner now…" acknowledged Hinata.

Curious, Hinata wondered who it was since she was already Natsu's interdimensional partner.

Suddenly, she noticed the mark on Laxus's forehead. Apparently, he was the interdimensional partner of a member of the branch house.

But who could it possibly be?

Curious, they noticed that Laxus was attempting to punch them out like he was some sort of boxer or something.

However, he was using the Gentle Fist technique against them.

Quickly, Hinata and Natsu began to fly away so that they wouldn't end up being punched in the soul. Even in their transformed state they were still vulnerable to that sort of attack. It really ignored defense.

Laxus retaliated by transforming himself into a lightning bolt and flying right towards them, forcing Hinata and Natsu to fly around to avoid it.

Fortunately, the technique did not last long. But it appeared that Laxus was now storing electricity.

He quickly released the stored energy, zapping Hinata and Natsu.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Hinata.

"I wish that our scales were shockproof…" complained Natsu.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. They were fire dragonslayers, not lightning dragonslayers. Maybe if they were lucky one of Laxus's attacks would start a fire?

Curious, they noticed that Laxus was now using the electricity to form a spear.

"This isn't good, he's arming himself now…" stated Hinata.

"Maybe he decided that if Erza was openly arming herself, he would arm himself too?" asked Natsu.

"Apparently." nodded Hinata.

Laxus began to swing his spear at Hinata and Natsu, forcing them to stand back.

Fortunately, they were able to make the spear disappear by breathing fire on it, much to Laxus's frustration.

"They really are proving themselves to be tenacious…" acknowledged Laxus.

Curious, he wondered if his Fairy Law technique would work on them…but then he remembered that he did not actually consider Fairy Tail to be his enemies…so the spell likely would not work on them.

It was a shame really…it had worked so well when he had used it previously. So it looked like he was just going to have to flip another page in his spellbook.

This time, he was going to use his Breakdown Fist technique.

Immediately, he materialized a fist made out of lightning and punched Natsu in the face.

"Ow! You punched my nose!" exclaimed Natsu.

However, this made Natsu sneeze…sneeze fire.

"Ergh!" bellowed Laxus, who now had a few first-degree burns.

Natsu and Hinata then followed by breathing on Laxus as hard as they could, injuring him even more. It looked like they were doing well.

At this point, Laxus began to examine his options. Should he surrender and face punishment from Makarov? Or should he continue fighting and risk being eaten by the two-headed dragon?

It was a tough choice.

Curious, he noticed that his Thunder Palace spell was weakening as well. It appeared that using up so much lightning magic meant that the spell wasn't going to last that long.

At this rate, he was going to lose.

Suddenly, he found himself sent flying by a swish of the dragon's tail, sending him crashing into the wall even though it did not make contact with him.

"Yes!" cheered Natsu.

"I think we almost have him!" bellowed Hinata. A few more hits like that and Laxus would be defeated.

He had to admit, they had really found a way around his lightning aura. Not only that, but he was starting to feel rather tired. Was he going to lose?

"Wait, the tail…" thought Laxus.

Getting an idea, Laxus suddenly grabbed onto Hinata and Natsu's tail.

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Hinata.

Suddenly, he began to swing them around as hard as they could, triggering their motion sickness in the process.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" asked Laxus.

"My stomach!" bellowed Hinata.

"Aah!" screamed Natsu.

He then tossed them as hard as he could, sending them crashing into one of the Thunder Palace's orbs and giving them a nasty shock.

"Oww!" bellowed Natsu.

"Eeek!" screeched Hinata.

Smirking with satisfaction, Laxus then approached them, sending electricity into his fists and putting them together.

He then sent his fists right down on the transformed Natsu and Hinata, leaving a crater in the process.

This was enough to make their Dragon Merge technique wear off and separate them once more.

"Ugh…" murmured Hinata, rubbing the back of her head.

Natsu was panting with exhaustion.

Suddenly, Hinata realized what had happened.

"Oh no! Our Dragon Merge technique!" exclaimed Hinata.

"Not so tough without it, are you?" asked Laxus.

Natsu gulped.

"Let's see now…since you're the only ones left…I might as well hit you with everything I've got!" bellowed Laxus.

Realizing that this was going to…suck, Hinata and Natsu hugged each other tightly.

As soon as he had stored up all of his electricity, Laxus unleashed it all at once.

However, at the last second, something unexpected happened.

"Noooo!" bellowed Neji.

As it turned out, Neji had leapt into the path of the deadly electricity to shield Natsu and Hinata.

In the process, a big thundercloud enveloped the area.

Laxus smirked. It looked like he had finally won. It was just as well, considering that using up all of his electricity had sent him back into his regular form.

However, when the thundercloud appeared, he gasped in surprise.

As it turned out, the lightning had not scratched Neji at all.

"Neji!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Thank goodness you're alive! Wait, what are you doing here?" asked Hinata.

"Well, Hanabi told me that you were in trouble…" explained Neji.

"Oh yeah…" stated the teenage girl.

Realizing that Neji had survived his last attack, Laxus realized all of a sudden what a bad situation he was in. He had used up all his magic!

And to make matters worse, Natsu and Hinata realized this as well.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Natsu.

"I think so." nodded Hinata.

Immediately, Natsu and Hinata both punched Laxus with their Gentle Fist technique, finishing him off once and for all.

Laxus collapsed on the floor, shocked that he and his Thunder God Tribe had lost along with Naraku.

Natsu and Hinata then gave each other a high five, with Neji eventually deciding to join in as well.

_A few minutes later…_

"I'm glad that we managed to win…" stated Naruto, who was recovering from his battle with Bickslow.

"Yeah, it feels awfully good…" nodded Lucy.

"I'm glad that I could help you…though admittedly I wasn't expecting the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant to be interrupted like this…" acknowledged Kakashi.

"We were all surprised." nodded Shikamaru.

"I wonder who the winner was?" asked Erza.

Suddenly, one of the nurses handed them the votes.

As it turned out, Erza had won.

"Yes!" cheered Erza. She supposed that made sense considering that she was the one that had done the best in the tournament…aside from Hinata, who was not competing.

"Congratulations, Erza!" exclaimed Naruto.

Erza smiled.

"Do you want to go out on a date to celebrate?" asked the chunin.

Erza nodded.

"I guess we'll do that once we're feeling better…" said Naruto.

"That seems like a good idea." acknowledged Erza.

As it turned out, Sakura and Gajeel were planning to go on a date as well.

"Gajeel, you may be a bully and a thug…and yet, I happen to enjoy working with you. Do you want to go out on a date sometime?" asked Sakura.

"Why not? It's not like I have anything better to do." agreed Gajeel. Perhaps going on a date with Sakura would be an enjoyable experience…even if they ended up fighting each other a lot.

It had been a rather long battle, but it looked like everything had worked out in the end.

_Meanwhile at the Hyuga estate…_

Happy that Hinata had helped to save the Hyuga clan from the evil Naraku, Hiashi Hyuga decided to give Hinata a present.

"Hmm?" asked Hinata.

Curious, she decided to open it and see what her father had sent to her.

Inside was a piece of paper.

"What's this?" inquired the kunoichi.

Taking a closer look, she gasped in surprise.

As it turned out, she had been reinstated as the heiress of the Hyuga clan.

"You're re-inheriting me?" asked Hinata.

"Yes, Hinata, I am." nodded Hiashi Hyuga.

"But I thought you said that I was too weak to be the heiress of the Hyuga clan…" stated the fire dragonslayer.

"Well, that was before you could breathe fire and transform into a dragon…" pointed out Hiashi Hyuga.

"Oh yeah…" recalled Hinata. Now that she thought of it that was rather impressive.

"Of course, that doesn't bode too well for you, Hanabi…does it?"asked Hiashi Hyuga, who was formerly planning to give the title to Hanabi.

"It's fine. To be honest, I've always been more of a free spirit." acknowledged Hanabi.

"Oh, you have?" asked Hiashi.

"Yeah. Since my family has a lot of ryo I figured that I could get away with virtually anything…that's why I TPed the Hokage Monument…" said the preteen girl.

"Naruto, do we have a girl for you…" thought Hinata.

"You what?!" exclaimed Hiashi Hyuga.

Hiashi went outside, and discovered that Hanabi had done just that. The entirety of the Hokage Monument had been wrapped up with toilet paper.

"You have to admit that it's rather impressive…even if the Fifth Hokage won't be too happy with me…" said Hanabi.

"You do realize that you're going to have to clean that up, right?" inquired Hanabi's father.

"Of course I know that…but I also know that I can get it done lickety-split since I'm a ninja…" pointed out Hanabi.

"And after that you're going to have to give an apology to everyone in Konoha, starting with the Fifth Hokage herself." continued Hiashi.

"I'll send them apology letters then. Thank goodness that e-mail's been invented…" said Hanabi.

"What has gotten into my daughter?" inquired the man.

Immediately, Hanabi went to undo her dirty work.

"So, who's leading the Hyuga branch house now that Naraku's off to Tsunade's camp?" asked Hinata.

"Your cousin Neji has taken the job…he's gotten much stronger as of late…" answered Hiashi.

"Yeah…" nodded the teenage girl. At this point, she had figured out who Laxus's interdimensional partner was.

Hopefully he would make a good leader…or at least a better leader than Naraku did. He was a nutcase.

_Meanwhile at Tsunade's slave camp…_

"You can't do this to me! I'm the leader of the Hyuga branch house!" bellowed Naraku.

"Correction: you were the leader of the Hyuga branch house." said Tsunade. It looked like he was out of a job.

As it turned out, Naraku was going to visit Tsunade's "voluntary" coal mine. Hopefully his Byakugan would come in handy. It could find anything.

"That'll teach him to declare mutiny against Hiashi…" remarked Tsunade.

"Yeah…" acknowledged Shizune. Personally she wondered what he was thinking when he did such a terrible thing.

Well, now he was in more servitude than ever, so it looked like he got his just desserts.

On the plus side, his traitorous group was pardoned for their actions, and Hiashi had agreed to allow them to make up for what they had done.

Now they understood that being part of the branch house wasn't so bad after all…even if they weren't allowed access to some of the clan's secret techniques.

Why exactly were they so secretive, anyway? They wanted to know already.

_Meanwhile…_

"Where are we going, Sensei Kenichi?" asked Akiko.

As it turned out, Kenichi had decided that maybe having one apprentice would be enough to deal with the pests that stood in his way…and had decided to recruit another to make sure that he would have what he needed to vanquish his enemies.

In this case, it was another ninja…one that was capable of transforming into animals…many different kinds of animals.

In the past, he had been locked away by his clan (the Okami Clan, to be specific) for being considered to be too dangerous. Of course, Kenichi and Akiko had decided to wipe them out for their "foolish" decision of keeping a strong ninja chained.

Immediately, Kenichi released this ninja from his prison. He had shaggy brown hair, had orange eyes, and had what appeared to be fur on his wrists and his ankles. Speaking of which, he wasn't going to be wearing footwear anytime soon. His clothes (which were a brown shirt and black pants) were both tattered.

"What do you want?" asked the ninja.

As it turned out, his name was Gorou.

"How would you like the opportunity to show the world how strong you are?" asked Kenichi.

Gorou nodded…so long as he was released from his containment.

Kenichi then released him, glad to have another lieutenant to help him crush his enemies.

He had to admit, he had made a lot of them as of late. Perhaps he needed to start being more defensive.

With another ninja on his side, hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about them. Granted, he was pretty powerful to begin with…but after the problems he had with some Konoha ninja who simply wouldn't die, he figured he would start looking for others to join his cause.

Now that he thought of it…maybe he could make his resurrection technique to make ninja join his cause?

It seemed as good of an idea as any.

However, he wondered who he should start with. Perhaps he could try looking for records of missing-nin that had been slain.

He was looking forward to the possibilities.

Perhaps he would eventually gather an army of ninja to do his bidding.

Once again, he flew away on Kaishi, hoping to test out his new apprentice's abilities…and further test out Akiko's abilities while he was at it. He would love to see what they were capable of.

_Elsewhere…_

At a secret cavern, a group of ten evil ninja were plotting something that was terrible. Who were they, you ask? They were none other than the Akatsuki, the most infamous group of criminals in the world of ninja. Each of them were a S-Class missing-nin in their own respective villages. Perhaps they should have listened to their mothers when they were growing up.

In other words, they were much like the dark guilds that were plaguing Fiore, otherwise known as the world of magic.

They were the most wanted shinobi in the world…they had quite the bounties on their heads, to say the very least. Ironically, one of the members was a bounty hunter himself.

Right now, they were planning to obtain the nine-tailed fox…much like they had tried to do almost three years ago. It hadn't gone too well, thanks to Jiraiya the toad Sannin. Who would have thought that he would show up of all people?

Hopefully he wouldn't interfere in their mission this time.

Speaking of their mission, their goal was to obtain all of the tailed beasts and take control of them so that they could conquer the world. Naturally, this made them the enemies of Naruto, who of course is a jinchuriki.

Well, at least, he used to be.

Their roster consisted of Itachi Uchiha, who slaughtered all of his clan sans his brother Sasuke, Kisame Hoshigaki, a Kirigakure Ninja who makes Zabuza look like a kitten, Deidara, a clay sculptor who likes to blow things up, Sasori, a puppetmaster who makes puppets out of actual people, Hidan, a crazy Jashin priest who loves blood and gore and hates mercy, Kakuzu, a bounty hunter who loves money as much as Tsunade loves spending it on gambling, Zetsu, a plant man that finds human flesh to taste absolutely delightful and suffers from a personality disorder, Tobi, a ninja who is somewhat of a clown and never bothers to remove his mask, Konan, a kunoichi who for some strange reason was the only female in the organization and was more interested in origami than being evil, and last but not least their leader Pain, who despite his name was not obnoxious at all.

Oddly enough, Orochimaru used to be a member of the organization…but he was kicked out after he tried to steal Itachi's body. He had no concept of personal space.

Currently, they were plotting something evil…as one would expect from an evil organization. Were you expecting them to give out free hugs?

Immediately, all ten members appeared using Pain's lantern projection ability, which allowed them to all communicate with each other across vast distances.

"Greetings. Today we shall be focusing on capturing the nine-tailed jinchuriki…or as you may know him, Naruto Uzumaki." stated Pain.

"Didn't we already try to capture him?" inquired Kisame.

"Yes…but we decided to postpone it until three years later…" explained Pain.

"Why did you do it? I want him captured now!" complained Hidan.

"Be patient. We will capture him in due time." stated the leader of Akatsuki.

Of course, none of them were aware that Naruto had accidentally transferred his tailed fox to Lucy Heartfilia, which would naturally require a change of plans.

"Are you sending us after him again?" asked Itachi.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Hopefully Jiraiya should not interfere with him this time…" stated Pain.

Incidentally, Jiraiya had been his former teacher…but he had decided not to tell anyone except Konan that, who knew that already.

"Alright! I've been waiting a long time for a rematch!" bellowed Kisame.

"After we're done with him, can I eat his body?" asked Zetsu.

"Yes, you may." answered Pain. Personally, he was unsure why Zetsu was a cannibal. Then again, he supposed that if Zetsu was a vegetarian, he'd be a different kind of cannibal.

"Can I have my paycheck now?" asked Kakuzu.

"It should come in the mail." stated Akatsuki's ringleader.

"I can't wait to watch him die!" bellowed Hidan.

"Has anyone ever told you that violence doesn't solve anything?" asked Konan.

"Don't be ridiculous! Violence solves everything!" exclaimed the religious lunatic.

"Somehow, I don't think so. Now where were we? Itachi, Kisame, I need you to head to Konohagakure and hunt down Naruto. Just try not to attract too much attention or people will find out what you are up to." explained Pain.

Itachi and Kisame nodded. Their lantern projections immediately disappeared.

"As for the rest of you, you are on standby. I look forward to our next meeting." ordered Pain.

"Me too! Conspiring is so much fun!" bellowed Tobi, clapping his hands.

All the other members looked at Tobi.

"What? I like evil plots!" exclaimed the masked ninja.

Rolling their eyes, the lantern projections of the Akatsuki ninja all vanished.

_I hope you liked this chapter. And yes, I do believe that at least one reviewer requested that the Akatsuki would show up…just for the record, I always planned to include them in the story…I just needed to find a good time for it. Now seemed like the best time._

_Don't expect Naruto to fight Itachi and Kisame yet though…he's going to be fighting a different Uchiha first. You can probably guess who it is._

_Also, we're going to find out who Erza's interdimensional partner is going to be…mind you, it might be a bit shocking._

_Goodbye!_


	56. Chapter 56: Out On A Date

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto's going to go on a date with Erza…though it's going to go well, something unexpected is going to happen._

_Oh, and Naruto's going to be thrust in a battle with Sasuke, who is unaware that Naruto is longer a jinchuriki. And yes, his luck will spin around like that._

_And of course he'll have to deal with Sasuke's newfound abilities…he's going to be a lot stronger now, to say the very least?_

_But since Naruto's gotten new techniques of his own, maybe he can use them to his advantage._

_I hope you're looking forward to this chapter…and just for the record, this arc's going to be shorter than the previous. I was in fact originally going to end Part III this way…but now I realize that I could probably Part III longer since it's only ten chapters long at the moment…well, eleven now._

_I've thought of another way that I can end Part III, though perhaps it won't be climatic. Oh well. Hope you enjoy!_

**Chapter 56: Out On A Date**

"So, are we going out on a date in your world?" asked Erza.

"There's a new ramen restaurant that I would like to show you…" explained Naruto. Granted, ramen wasn't the only thing that they were selling…but it was their specialty.

Personally he was hoping that Erza would find something that she would enjoy…though the only food that he knew that she liked was cake.

Maybe he could get some cake as dessert so that they would both be happy. Granted, it wasn't Erza's birthday…but they might have cake nonetheless.

Immediately, Erza and Naruto stepped out of the interdimensional portal, ready to begin their date.

"I have to admit…I haven't been to your world before. What is it like?" asked Erza.

"It's a rather idealistic world…" acknowledged Naruto.

"Sounds perfect." said the knight.

"Of course, I could say the same to your world…" stated the chunin.

"Fair enough." nodded Erza.

Immediately, Erza and Naruto went to the restaurant to start their date.

Little did they know that they were being spied on by Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked with satisfaction. It looked like everything was going according to plan. As soon as Naruto's date was over, he would have the perfect opportunity to strike.

However, there was something that interested him. Did he and his girlfriend just leave through a portal?

Now that he thought of it…maybe Orochimaru would be interested in experimenting with said portal? Perhaps he should check it for himself.

As soon as he made sure that Naruto and Erza were gone, he decided to enter the interdimensional portal himself.

Much to his surprise, he found himself in another world entirely.

It was a very strange experience. In fact, he felt slightly odd himself once he entered this mysterious world.

Curious, he decided to investigate his surroundings.

"Where am I?" asked Sasuke.

Immediately, he was greeted by Happy.

"Hello!" exclaimed the Exceed.

"Hi?" inquired Orochimaru's apprentice. Since when did cats have wings and were capable of speech?

"Can I ask what you're doing here?" asked Happy.

"Oh, I'm looking for an old friend of mine…" stated Sasuke. A certain old friend of his that used to wear an orange jumpsuit like he was some sort of criminal.

However, he was rather curious to explore this new world. Perhaps Orochimaru could assemble an army here right underneath the Leaf Village's notice. He got the feeling that would appeal to him.

Alternatively, he could find a weapon that he could use against Naruto. It was a tempting prospect.

"Do you want me to take you to our leader?" inquired the Exceed.

"Not a bad idea…" answered Sasuke. Perhaps he could persuade him to give him some assistance.

However, as it turned out, he was currently in a conversation with his grandson Laxus.

"I'm sorry that I endangered Fairy Tail and Magnolia so that I could become guildmaster…" stated Laxus.

"I'm afraid that for your auctions I am going to have to banish you from the Fairy Tail guild. But your Thunder God Tribe is allowed to stay." answered Makarov.

"Thank you…" said the lightning dragonslayer.

"I will admit that I am more than a bit perplexed by your actions. You claim that you hated bringing ninja into our guild, but you decided to have ninja assist you in your scheme…" stated the guildmaster.

"Huh?" asked Laxus.

"Not only that, but you used the interdimensional portal which you despised…and you ended up becoming an interdimensional partner in the process, which you also despised…" said Makarov.

"You're right…I guess I never thought of it that way." answered the lightning dragonslayer.

"Please try to pay attention to yourself next time. I may decide to allow you back into our guild in the future, but for now you must leave." said the elderly mage.

Laxus nodded, a tear leaving his eye as he did so.

A tear left Makarov's eye as well. He wished that things didn't have to come down to this.

Laxus then left the building. Now that he thought of it, maybe having ninja in the Fairy Tail guild wasn't so bad.

He would have gotten a lot less done without them, to say the very least. He still remembered the army that he had assembled…even if they eventually decided that maybe being part of the branch house wasn't so bad after all.

After all, Hiashi Hyuga needed them as much as they needed him…though admittedly they probably would have preferred to be part of the main house rather than the branch house, just like Hinata Hyuga.

As he left, he got Sasuke's attention. From what he knew, he was a traitor like himself. It was rather ironic, really.

Judging from his expression, he was rather upset about his betrayal. Perhaps that wasn't such a surprise considering that Sasuke sometimes wondered if he had been made the right decision. A lot had changed in the last two and a half years.

But it was too late to go back to Konoha now. He was considered an outlaw. If he ever came back, he would probably end up being hanged in front of everyone in town…and he was not looking forward to that.

Besides, he was one of the few Uchiha left…so he would probably be considered a rather valuable ninja to other villages. He wondered what missions he could go on at this point.

Well, enough thinking to himself. It was time to talk to Makarov and see where he was. Was he on another planet entirely?

"What's this? It appears that we have another guest. Are you interested in joining Fairy Tail?" asked Makarov.

"Fairy Tail?" asked Sasuke.

"We're a guild in Fiore…otherwise known as the Land Of Magic…" explained the guildmaster.

"Land Of Magic?" thought the shinobi. Just where was he?

"Are you here to join us? We've been accepting several ninja as of late…though admittedly my grandson did not approve…" stated Makarov.

Sasuke decided to decline.

"I'm already working with someone else…" answered Sasuke.

"Alright then…is there anything you would like to tell me about yourself?" said the guildmaster.

"I happen to be an avenger…" stated the missing-nin.

"An avenger?" questioned Makarov. What exactly was he trying to avenge? His mother? His father?

"Yes…I'm trying to avenge my clan. They were wiped out by my brother years ago…" clarified Sasuke.

Personally, Makarov was surprised at this occurrence. He was under the impression that since they were brothers they would be rather…close.

But apparently that wasn't the case. It was kind of sad. On the other hand, his grandson had decided to betray Fairy Tail not too long ago…so maybe he shouldn't be too surprised…though he admit Laxus did regret what he had done.

Hopefully Fairy Tail would accept him back in their ranks one day. But for now he needed to atone for the things that he had done. Using violence to solve your problems was not an effective solution. Besides, he had ruined the Ms. Fairy Tail pageant…and he was looking forward to seeing some rather attractive females.

"Sorry to hear that…we are also seeking revenge against someone at the moment…" explained the guildmaster.

"Who is it?" asked the missing-nin. Was it some sort of dark mage?

"Her name is Chiyoye…she's murdered several members of my guild…and she has a lot to answer for…" explained Makarov.

"I see…" said Sasuke. Something told him that he wouldn't like to meet her.

Deciding that it was nice meeting Makarov, Sasuke decided that he needed to get going. Last time he checked, Orochimaru was counting on him to fetch Naruto and bring him to him.

It would be an easier said than done task, he knew. But he felt like he was the man for the job.

Leaving through the interdimensional portal, Sasuke failed to notice a guild mark appearing on his left arm.

_Meanwhile…_

"This is the restaurant!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Ramenville?" asked Erza, noticing the sign with ramen on it.

"Yeah! Ramenville!" bellowed the chunin.

Erza shrugged. That seemed to be a rather odd name for a restaurant.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened.

At that very moment, Erza's prosthetic eye popped out.

"Erza, your eye!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Erza. Strangely, though her eye had popped out, she did not suffer from a depth perception.

"Wait…I thought your slavedrivers cut your eye out…" said Naruto.

"Huh?" asked Erza.

Curious, she looked into one of the windows…and noticed that her eye had suddenly regenerated herself.

"This is rather…odd." said the knight. Since when could she regenerate her eyes? She didn't ever recall having a healing factor…though she did have to admit that she was rather resilient. Was she secretly raised by cockroaches?

But perhaps she would not need her prosthetic eye anymore. Maybe she should give it to someone else…someone needy.

Then again, there weren't many people she knew that were missing an eye.

Shrugging, she decided to leave it where it was as she accompanied Naruto into the restaurant.

Speaking of which, Naruto was dressed in an orange tuxedo and Erza was wearing a strapless red dress. They both thought that each other looked sexy…and so did their fanbase.

On the other hand, there wasn't a passing minute of every day that they didn't think each other were sexy. They were a couple after all.

Still, Naruto wondered why Erza's eye had mysteriously regenerated itself. It was rather odd.

But perhaps he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. If Erza was happy about it, then so was he.

Immediately, Naruto and Erza began to examine the menu to see what they would like to eat. Unsurprisingly, Naruto decided to order some ramen.

Curious, they noticed that there were several people already at the restaurant. Apparently, it had gotten rather popular as of late.

Sure enough, there were Choji and Ino, the former of which appeared to be eating everything in sight.

"Try not to choke, Choji!" warned Ino. Fortunately, she happened to know the Heimlich maneuver in case that happened.

"Sorry…I guess I had a long day…" acknowledged Choji.

"Well, we did just get back from a rather long mission…" noted the psychic kunoichi. At least their village would be proud of them for their efforts, especially Asuma Sarutobi, their sensei.

Oddly enough, Sakura and Gajeel appeared to be in the restaurant as well.

They were currently examining their bill, and they were not happy at how much they owed the restaurant.

Immediately, they went into the kitchen to have a "talk" with the waiters.

Erza decided to order some sushi. Who would have thought that octopus would taste so delicious?

But before they did that, they decided that they would get something to drink…in this case water.

"Glug glug glug…" murmured Naruto as he drank the contents of his glass. It was nice to have something to drink before they ordered.

Erza sipped her water…which tasted rather decent. She was starting to see why Naruto wanted to take her here. He had a good taste in restaurants…though admittedly she hadn't eaten at a Konoha restaurant before. She was a bit curious to see what else they had on the menu.

However, her eyes were starting to feel a bit…blurry. Was something making her dizzy?

"Ugh…" murmured Erza.

"Is something the matter, Erza?" asked Naruto.

"It's fine." answered the knight.

However, the same thing happened again a few minutes later.

"Are you feeling alright?" inquired the chunin. He was starting to feel rather worried about Erza. Hopefully she didn't have a fever.

On the other hand, if she had a fever, why exactly would she go on a date with him?

"Yeah, I feel fine. I'm just having blurry vision, that's all." stated Erza.

"Are you feeling lightheaded?" asked Naruto. Maybe Erza needed some glasses.

"No, I am not. It's rather strange…" acknowledged the knight. Did she get enough sleep last night? She did admit that sometimes her job as an S-Class Mage got rather tiring. People expected a lot from her.

"Maybe you should look at yourself in the mirror like you did before…" suggested the chunin.

"Maybe I should…" agreed the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, she went to use the ladies' room.

As she did so, she felt the sudden urge to close her eyes.

"Am I going blind?" asked Erza. She hoped not. That might prevent her from continuing her career as a Fairy Tail mage…though she could probably rely on her other senses.

As soon as she reopened them, she gasped in shock.

As it turned out, her eyes were now red. Completely red.

"What's happening to me?" inquired the knight.

At this point, she was worried that this was going to spoil her date with Naruto. She had dated a few men in the past…and sometimes they had messed up the date. It hadn't been fun.

She needed to find a way to hide the eyes from Naruto so that he didn't flip out of his seat.

Immediately, she took out a blindfold and put it on her eyes so that Naruto wouldn't notice.

She then left the restroom shortly afterwards, feeling her way back to where her boyfriend was…

…in the process, she almost bumped into him.

"Erza, why are you wearing a blindfold?" asked Naruto.

"I'm out on a blind date?" answered Erza sheepishly.

"A blind date?" questioned the chunin.

"Well, yeah…" stated the knight.

Personally Naruto questioned why Erza would want to go out on a blind date when she already had a boyfriend…why exactly was she wearing that blindfold, anyway?

Was she hiding something from him? He was feeling a bit worried.

"Is our food here yet?" asked Erza. She was starting to feel rather hungry.

"I think it'll be ready soon…" stated Naruto. They just gave him some delicious orange soda, just like he wanted.

After sipping some cherry soda (which she of course had ordered), Erza once again decided to use the restroom.

As before, she went to examine her new eyes. Something was rather strange.

Curious, she noticed that her perception had suddenly increased.

"What are these eyes?" asked Erza.

"Can I help you with something?" questioned Kakashi.

Erza turned around, and noticed who was speaking.

"What are you doing in the girls' bathroom?" asked Erza.

"The girls' bathroom? This is the men's bathroom…" answered Kakashi.

Erza sweatdropped. Perhaps she should have taken off her blindfold before going to the bathroom.

"Sorry about that…" apologized Erza.

"I won't mention it…though you might want to get out of here before another man enters the restroom…though admittedly people do seem to admire your physique…" acknowledged Kakashi.

"I just didn't want to show Naruto my new eyes…they're kind of creeping me out…" stated the S-Class mage.

"What new eyes?" asked the jonin.

Immediately, Erza showed her new eyes to Kakashi, causing him to gasp in astonishment.

"I don't understand it…I thought the Uchiha clan was wiped out long ago…" questioned Kakashi. At this very moment, he was one of the few people who possessed a Sharingan eye…and possibly the only person that had one that was not part of the Uchiha clan.

"Huh?" inquired the knight.

"I am not quite sure how, but you seem to possess the Sharingan now…did you have another transplant Sharingan eyes to you?" asked Kakashi.

"No, I did not." answered Erza.

"Do you feel drained whenever you deactivate it?" inquired the jonin.

Curious, Erza decided to blink to see if this would deactivate the Sharingan. This did the trick.

However, contrary to what Kakashi had asked, she hardly felt drained at all.

"I feel as good as ever." stated the knight.

"Interesting…" said Kakashi. Perhaps Erza was some sort of long-lost descendant of the Uchiha Clan? Or maybe she was secretly one of the few survivors?

Suddenly, Erza thought of something.

"Maybe I became the interdimensional partner of an Uchiha clan member?" asked Erza. That would make sense.

"That could be an explanation…but I do not understand how that would occur. We haven't had an Uchiha clan member since…Sasuke Uchiha." stated Kakashi.

Personally, he wondered if Sasuke Uchiha had somehow returned to the Konoha village. He thought that this was strange, since the last time he had checked he was currently training with Orochimaru.

"He's a Konoha ninja…or rather he used to be. He defected from us so that he could go to Orochimaru and obtain greater power…" explained Kakashi. Somehow he couldn't help but feel partly responsible for all this. If only he was a stronger ninja. Maybe that way he could have prevented Sasuke from defecting.

But it was probably no use playing the blame game. Sasuke had made his choice and that was that…though he would like it if Sasuke saw the error of his ways.

Tsunade had decided not to hunt him down for the time being along with Jiraiya, since it took Orochimaru three years to successfully transfer himself to another body, as he had already decided to transfer his body to someone else while the Sound Four were delivering Sasuke to him.

Apparently, his arms had been in a heck of a lot of pain after his fateful encounter with the Third Hokage, also known as Hiruzen Sarutobi. It had ended with part of his soul being separated from him, which prevented him from using his arms to perform jutsu.

It was a shame that Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't strong enough to remove his soul completely…but at least he managed to cripple him.

However, Kakashi noticed that time was starting to run out. Perhaps they should try checking Otogakure…if they could avoid being killed by the ninja guarding it first. If Orochimaru managed to possess Sasuke's body, he would gain the Sharingan…and then he would become more dangerous than ever.

On the plus side, Kakashi heard that Orochimaru had lost five of his strongest warriors lately…or was it six? He wasn't quite sure what had happened to him, but maybe he did not need to know.

Either way, it looked like Orochimaru had been weakened…or his army at least. Perhaps it would make things easier if they needed to defend Konoha from his wrath again.

It was rather fortunate, really. The last time they had fought Orochimaru they had lost so many of their ninja, the Third Hokage included. As such, they needed to find another ninja to replace them. Jiraiya had declined the offer of having Tsunade inherit the title. Apparently, he thought that she was the woman for the job…even though she happened to be quite lazy.

Ironically, Orochimaru happened to be looking for Tsunade himself. Fortunately, Naruto and Jiraiya had managed to defeat him…though unfortunately he lived to see another day.

Why exactly had Jiraiya declined the offer, anyway? Would he rather look at attractive females?

"Sasuke Uchiha?" questioned Erza.

Immediately, Kakashi handed Erza a picture of him, which she began to read over. Apparently, he was a brunette.

"That's too bad…" stated the knight. She remembered when Chiyoye had decided to defect from Ninja Tail. Shocking truths had been revealed…and Naruto had almost died.

"It hit Naruto the most…he had been Naruto's best friend up until that point. Nowadays they happen to be enemies…" said the jonin. It was rather tragic, really.

Curious, Erza wondered if she should keep an eye on out for him. He was apparently her interdimensional partner now…which would suggest that he was nearby.

And judging from what Kakashi had told her, he was quite a dangerous criminal. Personally Erza was starting to feel a bit worried.

And to make matters worse, he probably had access to her abilities now. Erza was starting to feel a bit guilty about aiding a criminal.

"I'm glad you told me that…" answered Erza. All of a sudden things were starting to make more sense.

"If you want I can teach you how to use the Sharingan…though admittedly you will remind me of my former pupil…" said Kakashi.

"Alright…now if you excuse me I need to get back on my date with Naruto…" nodded Erza.

Once again, she put on her blindfold so that Naruto wouldn't notice her new eyes.

As she left, she did not notice Hanabi switching the mens' room sign with the woman room sign. She had a rather mischievous grin on her face.

"Heh heh heh…" said Hanabi. Once again, she was being a rather naughty girl…contrary to her father's wishes.

Konohamaru went into the men's room a few minutes later…

…and was greeted with the sound of screaming.

"Aah!" screamed one of the ladies in the stall.

"Holy mother of the Fifth Hokage!" bellowed Konohamaru. What was going on here?

"That was too easy…" said Hanabi. Maybe she should try that sort of trick again.

_A few minutes later…_

"There you are! My food was getting cold!" complained Naruto.

"Sorry about that…" apologized Erza. She had just learned some rather interesting information. Personally she felt sorry for Naruto now that she learned that his best friend had betrayed him. At least Sakura was still his friend.

If only Sasuke had tried to find another way to get powerful enough to take on his brother. Maybe that way he wouldn't have become a traitor to his village.

On the other hand, she doubted that she would ever betray her comrades. Fairy Tail was her past, present, and future…and quite frankly, so was Naruto.

"It's alright. Just try not to take so long in the bathroom next time, OK? I'm not sure how long you were in there…" questioned Naruto.

"Yeah, me neither…" answered Erza.

Naruto and Erza both took their time eating, since they did not want to give themselves stomach aches.

Curious, Naruto noticed Erza seemed upset about something.

"Is something the matter?" asked the chunin.

"Let's just say that there's something a bit different about me today…" answered Erza.

"Did you get a new haircut?" inquired Naruto.

"Er, yeah…let's go with that." said the knight.

Somehow, Erza knew that she was going to have to tell the truth to Naruto sooner or later…but she wasn't ready for that yet.

Personally she was under the impression that having the Sharingan would be quite a shock to Naruto.

She would tell him whenever she felt that he was ready.

Then again, Naruto did happen to be an interdimensional partner himself.

Erza had to admit, Sasuke had really put the Sharing in Sharingan…

She just hoped that Naruto was safe.

_Meanwhile…_

Once again, Lucy went to check on Shikamaru. She couldn't help but see what her boyfriend was doing…even if it was getting rather late.

Sure enough, he was in the middle of the forest, and he appeared to be practicing something.

"What are you doing?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I'm practicing shadow puppets…" explained Shikamaru.

"Shadow puppets? I suppose that makes sense…" stated the kunoichi.

"Maybe if you're lucky you can develop a new jutsu…" said Lucy.

"Funny you should mention that…I've managed to develop one so far…" spoke Shikamaru.

"You did? I want to see it…" answered the jinchuriki.

Immediately, Shikamaru summoned several shadow tendrils.

"Interesting…" said Lucy.

"They happen to be quite versatile…" noted Shikamaru.

"I can see that…" comprehended Lucy. It seemed each tendril was performing a different task.

Perhaps it would come in handy the next time Shikamaru went out on a mission.

On the other hand, Shikamaru didn't seem to be too interested in going out on a mission right now. He simply seemed to be playing.

Maybe he should show off his shadow puppet skills to his fans? She knew that she was one of them. Shikamaru was her boyfriend after all. Personally she found it interesting to hang out with someone who was about as smart as she was…though admittedly he was a whole lot lazier.

Why was he such a slacker, anyway? Did his father work him hard every day? She knew that her father wasn't the best person in the world so maybe that made sense.

Or maybe he just thought that exercise wasn't really his thing. It didn't seem to be his best friend Choji's thing either considering that he was a big eater and was rather bulky. He sure loved those delicious potato chips, didn't he?

What mission were they going to go on out next? Now that she thought of it, she hadn't gone out on a mission for a while.

Perhaps she should check the mission board and see if anyone needed help. For some strange reason some poor chap always did. At least it kept Konoha busy.

Personally she wondered how her friends were doing back at the Fairy Tail guild. Were they doing something fun without her?

She hoped not. She wanted to be part of the party…though Natsu's idea of a party did involve breathing fire. It was a good thing that she had brought her hazmat suit today.

Shrugging, she decided to head back to the interdimensional portal and leave Shikamaru to his own devices.

As she did so, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was being watched. It was kind of creepy.

Hoping that it was just her imagination, Lucy went into the interdimensional portal.

As she did so, Sasuke wondered for a moment if Naruto was trying out a new sexy jutsu.

But he got the feeling that Naruto would be with his girlfriend when he came back, so maybe that wasn't the case.

For now, he needed to play the waiting game…just like he did with his brother. One day he would be strong enough to overpower him and then he would finally avenge his clan.

The thoughts of sweet revenge always made him smile…though admittedly it was taking forever to make them a reality. Would Orochimaru be able to make him strong enough to overcome Itachi? He was a lot stronger since the last time he and Itachi had met.

And for some strange reason, he felt stronger when he had used that interdimensional portal, though he wasn't quite sure why.

For some strange reason he felt rather…medieval. Did he somehow go back in time? He didn't recall ever inventing a time machine.

Shrugging, he decided to continue to wait for Naruto. Pretty soon he would be alone and then he would have the opportunity to strike.

Apparently, it was time to finish what he had started when he and Naruto had duked it out when he had defected from Konoha.

Who would be the winner this time? Hopefully it would be him. Orochimaru would probably be very proud of him…and would teach him some more jutsu.

However, at the same time, he was questioning his decision to defect from Konoha. At this rate they were never going to take him back.

Perhaps it would be best not for him to betray a village the way he did again. Though personally he wondered what other village would take him other than Otogakure now that they knew that he was a ninja.

It was a problem indeed.

At that very moment, Naruto and Erza arrived, and he finally had the opportunity that he waiting for.

"Perfect…" thought Sasuke. It looked like it had been worth the wait. It looked like he now had the opportunity that he had been waiting for.

"That was a good date. I look forward to going on another one." cheered Erza.

Immediately, she gave Naruto a peck on the check, causing him to blush.

"I look forward to it too!" exclaimed the chunin.

However, as soon as Erza entered the interdimensional portal, Naruto started to get the feeling that someone was hunting him down.

"Who-who's there?" asked Naruto.

"You should know." answered Sasuke.

Naruto gasped in shock. He recognized that voice!

At that very moment, Sasuke leapt towards him.

"Sasuke?!" bellowed the chunin.

"Yes, Naruto. Long time no see." nodded Sasuke.

"What do you want from me?" asked Naruto.

"It's rather simple. I need you to come along with me to Otogakure. Orochimaru's interested in your tailed beast…" explained the traitorous ninja.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Apparently, Sasuke was not aware that he no longer had the tailed beast living inside him.

For a moment he considered explaining that to him, but then he realized that Sasuke would probably assume that he was lying. After all, under normal circumstances one could not remove the tailed beasts from themselves without dying. It was just a fact of life. Personally he wondered how many ninja had died transferring a tailed beast to another.

Naruto shook his head. He was not planning to see Orochimaru again. That ninja gave him nightmares.

"We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Naruto. And in case it's not obvious, you're only conscious in one of them. Besides, Orochimaru might want me to unlock my Mangekyo Sharingan…and you're the best way for me to do that…" continued Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head once again. He was not coming with Sasuke, even if he was once his best friend in the world.

"Have you ever considered joining Orochimaru? He gave me a great amount of power…and he can do the same for you if you simply agree to be one of his test subjects. He can even give you your own cursed seal…though admittedly it will take some time to get to Level 2." acknowledged the Uchiha.

"I would never betray my village to Orochimaru! Do you know all the terrible things he did?" asked the chunin. Orochimaru was the craziest scientist in the history of ever.

"Yes, I am aware of that. The first three Hokages are all trapped in the Shinigami's stomach because of him…" admitted Sasuke reluctantly.

"Do you want that to happen to anyone else?" asked Naruto. He did not want to be trapped inside the Grim Reaper's stomach for all eternity. He would probably go insane. Did Konoha even have an insane asylum?

"Well, no…but I don't want my brother to kill anyone else either. Think of all the clans he could wipe out…" warned the ninja.

"There are madmen like that in the world…" acknowledged the chunin, remembering Kenichi and what he had done to the Land Of Waves.

"What do you say? You'll get to work for me…" said Sasuke.

Naruto still refused. He was not going to work for the man that had slain the Third Hokage among other terrible things. In fact, he was the one that had corrupted Sasuke in the first place. Where did he even get those curse marks?

"I suppose you're still as loyal to your village as ever…I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way then…" acknowledged Orochimaru's pupil. Why was Naruto so stubborn?

Immediately, Sasuke pulled out a sword and began attacking Naruto with it.

Frantically, Naruto began to avoid it. He did not want to end up being cut with it, even if Sasuke was under orders to bring him to Orochimaru alive so that the tailed beast would remain alive…which of course he no longer possessed.

It was rather ironic, really. Still, even if he didn't have the tailed beast, he still did not want to end up being caught by Orochimaru. He would probably have to endure all sorts of nasty experiments, and he was not interested in being a guinea pig.

Of course, Naruto was not willing to give up so easily. He quickly countered by creating shadow clones to attack Sasuke.

But Sasuke Uchiha of course cut through them like butter, causing them to disappear into smoke.

However, Naruto retaliated by tossing a Rasengan at Sasuke, hoping to hit his head and knock him unconscious. Sasuke did note that Naruto appeared to be holding back so that he didn't accidentally kill him.

Well, it looked like he was going to have to do the same. Both of them wanted each other alive after all.

Realizing that Naruto liked tossing balls of chakra, Sasuke decided that he should counter with his Chidori.

Narrowly, Naruto was able to avoid being zapped. Perhaps it was time to start summoning snakes.

Immediately, Sasuke pressed his hand against the ground to summon some snakes. Again, since Sasuke needed Naruto alive, these snakes were not venomous. Still, they could potentially constrict Naruto into unconsciousness since they were rather muscular.

Naruto responded by summoning some toads to deal with the snakes…but the snakes were eating them. It looked like they enjoyed a good meal.

Sighing, Naruto began to stomp on the snakes one by one, causing them to disappear into smoke. Once again, they were at a stalemate.

Deciding to fight fire with fire (literally), Sasuke began to use his clan's inherited fire abilities. It was time to make some barbecue.

However, Naruto proved to be too quick once again.

Sasuke then tossed some shuriken at Naruto, but he dodged them Matrix style. However, one of them turned into Sasuke himself, forcing him to act quickly.

This time, he used his Wind Rasengan…though Sasuke avoided it, it ripped off a portion of his left sleeve.

"Darn it, Naruto. Now I'm going to have to visit the tailor…" answered Sasuke.

Suddenly, Naruto gasped in shock.

There on Sasuke's left arm was the Fairy Tail guild mark. How had it gotten there?

Clearly he had become interdimensional partners with someone, but who?

Naruto began to think of who it was…when suddenly he remembered something. Erza had her guild mark in that exact same position.

"Oh god…it's Erza." realized Naruto.

All of a sudden, he knew why she was hiding her eyes away from him. Apparently, she had inherited the Sharingan and didn't want to make him frightened with her new eyes.

Quickly, Naruto surmised that he was in a very bad situation. If Sasuke was Erza's interdimensional partner, he was going to have access to each and every one of her armors. He was going to have to find a way to work around them.

Fortunately, thanks to Lucy's intellect, he was already thinking of a plan to deal with Sasuke.

Quickly, he began to leap away from the traitorous ninja. Hopefully this would work out.

"Trying to run away from me? Well, you can run…but don't assume that you can hide." answered Sasuke.

Immediately, he prepared to run after Naruto…

…but as he did so, he felt rather strange.

He noticed that he was glowing…and when he stopped, he was suddenly shirtless.

Also, he appeared to be wearing a hakama…and his shoes were gone.

"Well, my fangirls are going to start running wild…" thought Sasuke. Personally he was a bit surprised that he still had some even after he had defected from Konoha. It was rather strange.

On the other hand, Orochimaru still had fangirls even though he was a complete and utter nutcase. Maybe they had gone crazy.

Personally he wondered what was happening. Perhaps this had something to do with that portal he had used earlier.

Curious, he noticed that his speed appeared to have been increased.

Deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth, he decided to resume his pursuit of Naruto.

Still, he got the feeling that this was only the beginning.

"What exactly is happening to me?" questioned Sasuke.

_Meanwhile…_

As soon as Erza went back to Fairy Tail, she was greeted by Happy.

"Hi, Erza!" exclaimed Happy.

"Hello, Happy." greeted Erza.

"There was another person here just a few minutes ago…he claimed that he was looking for an old friend of his…he also had black hair…" answered the Exceed.

"What?!" bellowed the knight. She had a bad feeling who that person was.

"Not only that…but he claimed that he was trying to avenge someone…" stated the Exceed.

All of a sudden, Erza was feeling rather worried. Naruto could very well be in danger.

Immediately, she left the interdimensional portal and went to go tell Kakashi. She only hoped that she wasn't too late.

Fortunately, Kakashi was nearby, so she didn't have to search for him.

"Can I help you?" asked Kakashi.

"Sasuke Uchiha is here!" warned Erza.

"What?!" bellowed the jonin.

Immediately, Erza explained the rather drastic situation to Kakashi.

"This is bad…" acknowledged Kakashi. They had to save Naruto from Sasuke. What did he want with him?

Unfortunately, they had no idea where he was.

"You gather the ANBU…I'll go look for Naruto!" exclaimed Erza.

"Be careful, Erza." warned Kakashi. Sasuke Uchiha was a rather dangerous criminal…especially after he had trained under Orochimaru for about two and a half years.

Erza nodded. She did not want to have to suffer an untimely fate at the hands of Sasuke. Naruto would be heartbroken.

Immediately, Erza went to look for Sasuke, leaping like a ninja in the process.

"Huh. I didn't know that she could do that…" thought Kakashi to himself.

Kakashi decided to leap as well. They had to capture Sasuke while they still had the chance.

Kakashi's only worry was whether they would be able to catch him in time. Sasuke was a rather slippery fellow.

"Why did he have to betray us?" thought the jonin.

_Well, things are about to heat up rather quickly. What plan does Naruto have in mind to defeat Sasuke? And will Erza reach Naruto in time?_

_Well, I guess you're going to have to wait until the next chapter…so try to be patient, will you?_

_Goodbye!_


	57. Chapter 57: Naruto Retrieval Mission

Ninja Tail

_In this chapter, Naruto's going to fight Sasuke again. Suffice to say, it's going to be rather similar to before when Naruto epically failed to save Sasuke from Orochimaru. He just isn't having a good day. Unfortunately, Orochimaru doesn't want only Sasuke now. He also wants Naruto. He believes that he can use the nine-tailed fox as a weapon against Konoha. Judging from what happened the last time it got loose, he's probably right...assuming that he can control the thing. Something tells me that Kurama is not looking forward to working with another warlord again._

_If that doesn't work out, he could always try to get Naruto to be his apprentice. He is going to merge with Sasuke after all, so he could probably use another one. Or is he happy with Kabuto?_

_But will Naruto manage to defeat Sasuke this time? He's got a few more tricks up his sleeves...but of course, so does Sasuke._

_And this time, Naruto just might not be fighting alone...well, technically he almost never fights alone. He always is able to create an army of clones. But I think you got the idea by now._

**Chapter 57: Naruto Retrieval Mission**

Sasuke followed Naruto, wondering where exactly he had taken him. Personally it felt like a rather long trip, to say the very least. Of course, it may have been in part due to the fact that it took a long time to get to Konoha in the first place. The Sound Four must have had their hands full getting him to Orochimaru...literally considering that they were always carrying him around in a barrel until the second stage of his cursed seal was ready.

As it turned out, it was the area that had been ruined by the nine-tailed fox attack. There were many ruined buildings in the like. Oddly enough, there was an enormous tower that appeared to be intact.

Curious, Sasuke did not see Naruto up there at all. Perhaps he was not using that as a hiding spot.

"Hey there, Sasuke!" exclaimed the chunin, waving at his former friend.

"Hmm?" asked Sasuke. What was Naruto up to? He was starting to get a bit nervous, though he of course was not going to show it in front of Naruto. Wouldn't want to make him too confident.

As it turned out, Naruto was standing a few feet away from him. Apparently, he had leaped on top of one of the buildings.

"Well, you've managed to follow me. But first we're going to play a game of cat and mouse!" bellowed the chunin.

"A game of cat and mouse?" asked Sasuke. What was Naruto up to now? Apparently, he wanted to try a different combat strategy.

"I've scattered my clones all around the ruins...among other surprises. If you manage to find the real me, then the fighting will really begin! Intrigued?" inquired the chunin.

"Darn it! He's gotten things all planned out...since when was he this smart?" thought the Sharingan user. He was under the impression that he would charge at him recklessly or something...but apparently he had thought wrong.

"Let's get going!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto leapt down and attacked Sasuke with a kunai.

He slashed Naruto in retaliation...

...but it turned out it was merely a clone.

"Figures..." stated the teenage boy.

All of a sudden, Sasuke was starting to feel a bit worried. Naruto had taken great lengths to prepare for a second encounter with him, and wondered if he would be able to defeat him this time.

However, he remembered that he was now a lot stronger than before...and he had a few new tricks up his sleeve to boot.

Perhaps he would be able to find and defeat Naruto after all.

Still, he got the feeling that it was going to take him a long time to take down all the clones.

Well, he might as well get started.

Curious, he noticed that one of the buildings had been marked with the number one. Perhaps that was the first building he needed to go.

Shrugging, he decided to investigate it for himself.

As it turned out, there was a note inside.

"Let's see..." said the chunin.

"I really hate to gloat, but you're about to be attacked by a goat..." read Sasuke.

Suddenly, he found himself being attacked by Capricorn.

Surprised, Sasuke quickly began to defend himself. Since when could Naruto summon goats? Granted, he wouldn't mind having some delicious milk right about now, but still.

From his hiding spot, Naruto began to faintly smile. Virgo had provided him with a television set so that he could watch Sasuke's progress. It looked like Sasuke was going to have a much harder time defeating him than before. Who would have thought that he would be able to trap Sasuke like this?

Shrugging, he decided it would be best to pay close attention. Fortunately, he was able to hide himself using magic so that Sasuke would have difficulty finding him while his Celestial Spirits could unleash a world of hurt on the treasonous ninja.

But since he inevitably could not hide from Sasuke forever, he would take on Sasuke himself if he managed to defeat all his clones and his summons.

Of course, that would not be easy for Sasuke...he had gotten quite a few summons as of late. His training had really paid off. One summoner mage had even agreed to loan him her keys. Wasn't that nice of her.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying to defeat Capricorn. How was he going to go about this?

Incidentally, Capricorn happened to be a summoner himself. He summoned San Jao Shin to fight Sasuke, who wielded a spear.

Immediately, said summon lunged towards Sasuke. Apparently, he wanted to have shish kabobs tonight.

However, Sasuke was able to block the spear with his swords, and then stab the general to make him vanish into a burst of red light.

Capricorn was not done fighting however. He summoned five knights to attack Sasuke.

"Thou had best surrender, or thou shall flank you!" exclaimed the knights.

"Sorry, but Orochimaru would be mad at me if I ran away like a little baby..." noted Sasuke.

"Then thou shall be put to the sword!" bellowed the knights.

Immediately, the knights began to charge at him.

But as it turned out, there was one flaw with sending knights after Sasuke..this caused something to click within him.

Immediately, he summoned a pair of armor on himself to even the playing field. The Heart Kreuz Armor, specifically.

It proved to be rather durable.

"I have to admit, the ability to freely equip myself to armor is rather useful..." noted Sasuke.

However, he was still wondering where he had gotten such a power.

Curious, Naruto began to worry a bit. It appeared that Sasuke was naturally starting to learn about Erza's various armors in battle. He was going to be more versatile than he was the last time he had fought him, to say the very least.

Perhaps it would be best if he ended this battle quickly.

Successfully, Sasuke began to take down the five knights that had been sent after him. Promptly, Capricorn decided to send out Samagul, who had a bow and arrow.

Immediately, he aimed an arrow towards Sasuke's head...but he instead ended up hitting an apple.

"How did that get up there?" questioned the teenager.

Shrugging, he decided to eat it to replenish some of his chakra. Fortunately, there were not razor blades inside...though it reminded him a bit of a candy apple.

However, as it turned out, his armor protected him well against his arrows, and he couldn't do much. Sasuke took him down in one stroke. He then stabbed Capricorn and made him disappear into yellow smoke.

"You may have defeated me...but there are still 11 celestial spirits to go..." pointed out Capricorn.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What were celestial spirits? Perhaps they had something to do with what had attacked him.

Suddenly, he found himself being attacked by another clone, who had paper bombs.

"Bombs away!" exclaimed the Naruto clone.

Fortunately for him, he was able to take it down with one swipe of his sword before he ended up being blown to bits.

Curious, he noticed that a number 2 had appeared on another building, and went to investigate.

Once again, he decided to read what it had to say.

"I have to admit these are quite a tasty fish. You're about to be attacked by two fish." read Sasuke.

Curious, he noticed that the building appeared to be leaking water.

Shortly afterward, he found himself being attacked by two fish...two giant ones.

"First the goat, and now this?" questioned Sasuke.

"You're sleeping with the fishes!" exclaimed one of the fishes.

"Very funny." answered Orochimaru's apprentice.

Immediately, the fishes began to spew bubbles at Sasuke, but he burst every single one of them with little effort.

Still, he thought maybe he should try picking out an armor that would work well against the duo.

"I wonder if there's an armor I can use to take these fish on..." questioned the young man.

As it turned out, there was.

Quickly, Sasuke activated his Piercing Armor.

"Let's see what this lance can do..." thought Sasuke. Hopefully it would do the trick.

As it turned out, it was capable of doing so.

Immediately, Sasuke used it to pierce through the two fish, causing them to disappear into yellow light.

"Well, that's two down...wait, are there ten eft or nine? I'm confused..." said Sasuke.

He had to admit, this was starting to make his head hurt.

Of course, he could say the same thing for the clone that was trying to hit his head with a harpoon.

Once again, he was too quick, and the clone burst into smoke.

This time, he noticed a building with the number three on it.

Shrugging, he decided to investigate. Once again, it appeared that there was a note so that he would know what he was up against.

"Interesting..." thought the young man.

"I'm going to take you right into the sky. You had better get ready to fly..." read Sasuke.

Suddenly, he noticed that the gravity inside the building had mysteriously disappeared.

Immediately, he hit his head on the roof.

"Oof!" bellowed Sasuke, rubbing his head.

Curious, he noticed that the roof was beginning to crumble, and began to worry that he was going to start floating away into outer space. That was not something that he was looking forward to. He doubted that he could breathe if he ever made it that far, though sometimes he did dream about becoming an astronaut.

There had to be an armor that he could use to prevent this from happening, but what?

Shrugging, he decided to try activating another armor.

This time, he activated his Heaven Wheel Armor.

Smiling, he used it to make his way back down, where he discovered the culprit...a Celestial Spirit by the name of Libra.

He slashed it with his sword, and he no longer suffered from a lack of gravity.

Suddenly, he found himself being attacked by yet another clone...who for some strange reason had a jetpack.

"Yahoo!" exclaimed the clone.

"Are you from the future or something?" asked the defector from Konoha.

"Maybe..." answered the Naruto clone as he charged towards Sasuke.

Wasting no time, Sasuke slashed the clone into smoke once again.

Curious, he noticed that the number 4 had appeared on yet another building.

"Something tells me that this is going to take a while..." noted the ninja.

Shrugging, he decided to investigate.

Oddly enough, there did not appear to be a Celestial Spirit inside. Instead, there was a cake.

As soon as he saw the cake, he began to drool. He simply could not resist its delicious cake. Besides, it was his favorite flavor.

Curious, he did not recall being that fond of cake before. It was as if it was his birthday or something. It was rather strange, to say the very least.

Shrugging, he decided to help himself to the cake. Granted, there was the possibility that the cake was poisoned...but since Orochimaru had given him resistance to various poisons, perhaps he would be safe.

Fortunately, the cake did not appear to be poisoned at all. However, Sasuke still got the feeling that he was about to run into trouble soon.

As it turned out, there was another note next to the cake. What was Naruto up to this time?

Once again, Sasuke decided to read it.

"Sorry, Sasuke, but the cake was a lie. In fact, you're probably going to die." read Sasuke.

Looking around him, Sasuke gasped in shock.

Inside the building were several paper bombs...and they were all going to go off at once!

Narrowly, Sasuke was able to leap out of the building before it exploded, screaming as he did so.

"That was close..." remarked the young man. Still, he wondered how Naruto knew to use cake to lure him into a trap.

Shortly afterwards, he found himself being attacked by a Naruto clone wearing a chef's hat and apron. He was also wielding a cleaver.

"Heads up!" exclaimed the chef clone, tossing a cleaver at Sasuke's head.

Unfortunately for the clone, Sasuke proved to be too agile once again. He ducked underneath the cleaver and hit the clone with his sword, causing it to disappear.

Afterwards, the number 5 appeared on yet another building.

"This is going to take a while..." noted the young man.

Immediately, he went into the building to see what he was up against this time.

Curious, he decided to examine the note that was inside the building once again.

"I think your odds of surviving this are narrow. You're up against an archer with a bow and arrow." read Sasuke. All of a sudden, he was a bit worried about becoming a human pincushion.

Personally, he wondered why Naruto was rhyming so much all of a sudden. Was he trying to be a poet? Personally he was under the impression that wasn't his thing, and that he would probably be taking a class on how to pick up girls instead.

But considering that he had a girlfriend, perhaps he wouldn't be interested in that.

Suddenly, he remembered that he needed to find a way to defend himself.

Sure enough, there was Sagittarius...who was shooting arrows at him.

Quickly, Sasuke tried to avoid them...in slow-motion.

Fortunately, he was able to avoid being hit.

In retaliation, Sasuke slashed the Celestial Spirit and made him disperse into yellow magical energy.

However, he was now being shot by a clone with a crossbow.

"Really?" questioned the young man.

Shrugging, he decided to take down that clone too.

This time, the number 6 appeared, indicating where he needed to go next.

"He said he had a dozen Celestial Spirits, right?" asked Sasuke.

Immediately, he went inside to see what Celestial Spirit (and by extension clone) he was up against this time.

As usual, there was a note for him to read.

"Let's see now. You know how fast ninjas can leap...but have you ever tried counting sheep?" asked Sasuke.

"Why would I want to count sheep? That would make me feel tired...and I don't want to go to bed now. Not when I have a mission to complete..." stated the young man.

Suddenly, he found himself being attacked by Aries.

"A sheep lady? Really?" asked Sasuke. He had to admit, she looked rather attractive...but he had no time to look at pretty girls. Besides, he was feeling a bit hungry for lamb chops all of a sudden.

Curious, he noticed that she was trying to get him to relax and stop fighting...which was something that he did not want to do. He had a mission to complete, and Orochimaru would not approve of him sleeping on the job. He'd think that he was a slacker...much like Shikamaru.

Immediately, he slashed Aries and made her disappear into yellow energy.

Shortly afterwards, he was attacked by another Naruto clone...who was wearing a wool coat.

"Seriously?" questioned the young man. These summons were getting goofier and goofier.

Once again, he managed to defeat the clone in one shot.

This time, a number seven appeared on another building. It looked like he was about halfway done now.

"Unfortunately, things are probably going to get harder from here..." acknowledged Sasuke. It appeared that Naruto was saving his stronger spirits for later.

Still, he wondered how Naruto had gotten such an ability.

Once again, he entered the building. He was getting closer to fight the real Naruto...but at the same time things were getting more dangerous.

Immediately, he examined the note.

"You're up against a giant cow. Don't be coming back now!" exclaimed Sasuke.

"I'm a bull!" bellowed Taurus.

"A minotaur?" questioned the young man.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Taurus was angry that Sasuke had defeated Aries, and began to lunge at him like berserk. Someone was going to pay.

Frantically, he parried the strikes with his sword, hoping that he didn't end up losing his head...though Tsunade already thought that he had done so.

At the moment, the two of them appeared to be equally matched. Neither of them seemed to be gaining an advantage over the other. Personally, Sasuke found it to be rather surprising.

At this point, he decided that maybe it was time to activate the first stage of his cursed seal. Orochimaru had given him that for a reason after all. Well, other than corrupting his mind and making him turn evil, of course.

Quickly, he began to do so.

"Huh?" asked Taurus.

Shortly afterward, Taurus found himself being overpowered by Sasuke's newfound strength. Sasuke managed to strike him, and he burst into yellow energy.

"I wonder if I'm going to have to use the second stage of my cursed seal..." noted the young man. Just how well had Naruto planned this? He didn't recall him being this smart before.

Maybe he had decided to read a book on fighting or something?

Speaking of which, he was attacked by a clone wearing a butcher's outfit. And this time, he was firing Rasengans.

However, he countered with his Chidori, and then the clone went down.

This time, a number 8 appeared on one of the buildings.

"What it this time?" questioned Sasuke as he entered the building.

Examining the note, Sasuke decided to read it out loud once more.

"It is time for you to get a haircut. By the way, I'm going to kick your butt!" read Sasuke.

"Now Naruto's just being immature." thought the man. Of course, what else would he expect from the very same ninja that invented Sexy Jutsu? Personally he wished that the girl he always transformed into would put some clothes on already. It wasn't a good idea to be naked in public.

This time, he was attacked by a crab man, who snapped his pincers at him menacingly. Of course, he was up against Cancer.

"Are you going to give me cancer?" asked Sasuke. If only there was a cure.

"Very funny..." answered the crab man.

Once again, Sasuke proved to be too powerful (albeit with the first stage of his cursed seal), and Cancer lost horribly.

This time, he was attacked by a clone wearing a barber's outfit and scissors.

Sasuke knocked the scissors out of the clone's hand, then stabbed him to make him burst into smoke.

A number 9 appeared on yet another building.

"This goes on forever..." thought the young man.

As usual, he decided to read the note so that he would know what he was up against.

"Allow me to introduce you to my maid. Believe it or not, she's not getting paid!" read Sasuke.

"What a cheapskate." remarked the teenage boy.

This time, he was introduced to Virgo, who had transformed into her muscular state.

"Jesus christ." murmured Sasuke. On the plus side, she still didn't seem as scary as Orochimaru himself. Orochimaru had been giving Naruto fans nightmares for years.

Immediately, Virgo attempted to strike Sasuke with her fists, burrowing underground to try to get the jump on him.

"Aren't earth users vulnerable to lightning?" asked the man.

Shrugging, he decided to change his sword to the Lightning Emperor sword.

He stabbed Virgo with it, causing her to be zapped and burst into yellow light, reverting back to her regular form in the process.

"It's a shame I had to take her down...she was kind of cute." noted Sasuke.

A number 10 appeared on yet another building.

"Just three more to go after this..." murmured Orochimaru's apprentice. Hopefully this would finally end soon.

Curious, he noticed that the room contained a mirror. Of course, there was another note.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, you had better give it your all." said Sasuke.

Suddenly, he found himself being attacked by...himself.

"What the-" exclaimed Sasuke.

Fortunately, it appeared that this doppelganger of himself was weaker than he was, though he was still capable of using his Chidori and possessed his Sharingan.

"I understand that he can create copies of himself...but now he can create copies of others, too? This is really confusing..." noted Sasuke. Perhaps Naruto had decided not to limit himself that way?

What was the world of ninja coming to?

Eventually, Sasuke managed to knock the sword out of his doppelganger's hand.

"You lose." said the young man, impaling his doppelgänger through the chest.

As he did so, they reverted into two small blue beings by the name of Gemini, who were rather unhappy that they lost.

Shortly afterward, he found himself being attacked by a Naruto clone...who for some strange reason was dressed up in the outfit he wore back when he was still in Konoha.

"Where did you even get my old outfit?" questioned Sasuke. Perhaps he had been to his house as of late as it had reminded Naruto of him.

Shrugging, Sasuke slashed the Naruto clone in the chest, causing his old outfit to fall on the floor. Perhaps he would put it on later for the nostalgia.

A number 11 appeared on yet another building.

"I am so sick of this..." thought the young man. Why couldn't Naruto simply come out of hiding already? On the other hand, he had found a way to use his summons rather well.

This time, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was in some sort of lion's den, though he wasn't quite sure why.

Shrugging, he decided to read the note.

"I'm feeling quite divine. You're up against a feline. P.S.: I couldn't find a rhyme for lion..." read Sasuke.

"I guess he's having trouble coming up with rhymes now..." thought the young man.

Sure enough, he was now under attack by Leo.

"Strange, you don't really look like a lion..." questioned the young man.

Leo shrugged. Perhaps he was only a lion in a figurative sense.

Still, he didn't think that would stop him from preying upon Sasuke. Naruto had instructed him to do after all.

Quickly, Sasuke got ready to defend. This one wasn't going to be easy...but what was he expecting at this point?

Curious, he noticed that Loke appeared to be attacking him...with light.

"OK..." stated Sasuke.

Loke was proving to be a rather difficult opponent, to say the very least. He was glad that he had activated the first stage of his seal when he did, even if he had to use up some of his chakra in order to do so. You don't get to use the cursed seal for free. In fact, he heard that he could hurt himself if he ended up using it for too long.

But since he was rather resilient nowadays, he could probably activate the cursed seal for quite some time, even if he had to use the second stage of his cursed seal.

Curious, he wondered if he had some sort of darkness armor he could use. Since Loke used light magic...maybe he was vulnerable to darkness?

"Let's see now..." said Sasuke.

Immediately, he began to requip once again, hoping that this would give him an advantage over Loke.

"What is he up to now?" thought Loke. He sure seemed to have a lot of tricks up his sleeve, especially since Naruto had informed him that for some strange reason he now had access to Erza's armory. He wasn't quite sure how he ever got access, though. Did he swipe the key while Erza was in the shower or something?

Speaking of which, he got the feeling that Naruto liked the thought of joining Erza in the shower.

As it turned out, Sasuke was correct. He did have an armor that would be useful against Loke...and that was the Purgatory Armor of evil.

Well, maybe evil was a bit of a stretch, as it depended on what it was used for. It sure looked evil, though.

"Aargh!" screamed Loke as he was hit by a darkness-infused attack, knocking him off his feet. Why did his opponent have to be so strong? He was starting to see why Naruto had decided to summon all twelve of his spirits.

Personally, he was surprised that Naruto was capable of doing so without dying...but it appeared that he had gotten rather strong.

"This seems almost too easy now..." remarked Sasuke.

Sasuke hit Loke with a spiked mace, and then he was down.

"Right then...where is the clone?" asked the ninja turned knight. Surely there had to be one around the building somewhere.

"Over here! Rawr!" exclaimed a nearby Naruto clone.

"Oh." said Sasuke.

As it turned out, this particular clone was wearing a lion costume. Was he doing the Twelve Tasks of Hercules? He didn't recall Naruto working for a king that hated him...though he supposed that his master Jiraiya may have gotten Tsunade angry at him again.

"Really?" questioned the young man. Personally he wondered if this clone was some sort of poacher.

The clone attempted to bite him, but Sasuke was too quick. He slashed it and it burst into smoke.

A number 11 appeared shortly afterwards.

"Two more Celestial Spirits to go before I can get to Naruto..." noted Sasuke. He was starting to feel rather excited. This long mission was finally coming to an end. Orochimaru had better be proud of him.

Immediately, he went inside to see what he was up against.

Curious, he noticed that this building appeared to be full of sand.

"What's in here?" questioned the teenage boy.

Immediately, he decided to read the note to see what was in store this time.

"Get off my land, or you'll have to face a scorpion of the sand." read Sasuke.

"A scorpion...of the sand?" thought the teenage boy.

Personally, this was starting to remind him of the time he went up against Gaara, who happened to be the current Kazekage. Of course, it helped that he had a tailed beast living inside him.

Of course, he and Sakura had nearly died for their trouble, and he wondered if he would be able to defeat this mysterious individual.

However, he then remembered that he had gotten a lot stronger since then, and he figured maybe he would be fine. Still, it wouldn't hurt him to be cautious.

Sure enough, Scorpius was there, ready to fight him.

"Prepare to be buried alive!" taunted Scorpius.

"Actually, I think that's it's going to be your funeral...though I appreciate you giving me a proper burial. What are you going to carve into my headstone, though?" asked Sasuke.

"You got clobbered by Scorpius! Oh yeah!" exclaimed the scorpion.

"Figures." stated the young man.

Immediately, he charged his Chidori, since he figured that maybe he could use it effectively against Scorpius. Granted, it hadn't been so effective when he had tried battling Gaara (since he was only allowed to use two at the time), but maybe it would be more effective now that he could use more of them and that he was stronger.

However, Chidori worked surprisingly well, as he managed to take down Scorpius with one shot.

"I guess I really have gotten stronger..." noted Sasuke.

Shortly afterwards, he found himself being attacked by a Naruto clone who was dressed by a bandit and wielded a scimitar.

As before, he went down with one shot.

"Just one more celestial spirit to go...and then I can fight Naruto...personally I wish I could hurry up and fight him already..." noted Sasuke.

However, he wondered what Celestial Spirit he had saved for last. He got the feeling that it was going to be rather nasty.

Curious, he entered the last building, which was marked with a 12.

Interestingly, it appeared to be soaking wet.

"What Celestial Spirit did he save for last?" asked Sasuke. He got the feeling that Naruto would want things to end with a big bang.

Curious, he decided to read the note to get an idea what he was up against. It looked like this was going to be his strongest spirit.

"I'm impressed with your merit, but now you're up against my strongest spirit!" read Sasuke.

"Thought so." thought the young man.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Aquarius was not happy that Sasuke had taken down her boyfriend. In fact, she was furious.

"I'll kill you!" screamed Aquarius.

Quickly, she sent a tidal wave after Sasuke.

"Oh boy..." thought the young man.

Frantically, he attempted to avoid being swept away.

However, Aquarius quickly followed by summoning a water pillar. Since Sasuke had just taken a shower this morning, he decided that it would be in his best interest to avoid it as well.

However, he was knocked off his feet in the process, allowing Aquarius to hit him with one of her bubbles and trap him inside.

"I don't want to be a bubble boy!" screamed Sasuke as he attempted to burst the bubble.

Fortunately, since his swords were rather sharp, they were able to burst it.

For a moment, he considered using his Chidori again...but he was worried that he might end up being electrocuted for his trouble. He couldn't get close without coming in contact with water, it seemed.

Perhaps he needed an armor that was resistant to water.

Shrugging, he decided to requip again.

This time, he requiped into his Sea Emperor Armor.

"Why do all these armors show off so much skin?" asked Sasuke. Whoever made these armors apparently liked to show off their body. Personally they thought that were rather impractical since it appeared that they were designed for protection. Well, that and offense. Most of these armors seemed to come with offensive capabilities as well.

Fortunately, he was no longer being battered so much by Aquarius's water attacks, and he could finally close in.

Quickly, he swung his blade at Aquarius's blade, causing her to burst into yellow energy.

"That's all the celestial spirits. Finally, I can take the fight to Naruto himself..." stated Sasuke.

He found himself being attacked by a Naruto clone dressed like a merman (which made Naruto's fangirls go wild), but he quickly showed him the way to where the real Naruto was.

"Thanks." said Sasuke as he made the Naruto clone burst into smoke.

As it turned out, he was all the way at the tower, which Sasuke found to be quite odd considering that he had already checked there. Perhaps Naruto had managed to find a way to conceal himself even from the Sharingan?

Well, he might as well climb up the tower and find Naruto now. Personally he wondered what he was doing up there, anyway.

Sure enough, there was one last note for him to read.

"Time for one final test, after that you'll get to be my guest!" read Sasuke.

Unsurprisingly, there was a long staircase that he needed to climb towards Naruto.

Shrugging, Sasuke decided that he might as well get started.

_Meanwhile..._

"Have you seen Erza? I was under the impression that she would be back from her date with Naruto by now..." noted Lucy.

"I'm afraid she's rather busy right now. Said something about protecting Naruto from a madman..." stated Levy.

"Oh dear..." answered the teenage girl. Hopefully Naruto and Erza were safe.

"It was a shame. I wanted to show you a new ability I had..." stated the teenage girl.

"What ability?" inquired Levy.

"Well, I managed to unlock four tails now..." acknowledged Lucy.

"You did?" asked the bookworm.

Lucy nodded.

Immediately, she sprouted four tails from her backside.

However, Levy seemed a bit disturbed.

"What?" asked the teenage girl.

"Your eyes resemble that of Kurama's now..." noted Levy.

"What? Oh..." answered Lucy. She supposed that made sense.

Apparently, the more tails she sprouted, the more she started to resemble Kurama. Perhaps she shouldn't transform out in public so that she didn't scare small children.

Immediately, she transformed back into normal.

"How'd you unlock it?" questioned the teenage girl.

"Well, Natsu accidentally burned away my dress, leaving me in my underwear...I spent a fortune on it so I got so mad...on the other hand, Kurama was absolutely ecstatic..." noted Lucy.

**"I sure was**!" exclaimed Kurama. He just loved it whenever Lucy was in her underwear...especially since it exposed some of her cleavage.

"Anyways, that allowed me to transform into my four tails state..." acknowledged the blonde.

"I better stay on your good side..." noted Levy. Fortunately, since Lucy was her best friend, she doubted that she would ever get on her bad side soon. She might end up triggering Lucy's five-tailed state if she got injured by an enemy, though. Lucy hated it whenever her friends were in danger from psychopaths such as Takeshi and Captain Bloodbeard.

"Kurama did say that I might be able to get a Version 2 state eventually though..." stated Lucy.

Levy placed her hand on her chin. That sounded rather interesting.

_We now return to Naruto and Sasuke._

Unfortunately for Sasuke, in his haste to get to Naruto after such a long series of battles, he accidentally activated a tripwire.

"Huh?" asked Sasuke.

As it turned out, that particular tripwire activated a series of paper bombs that Naruto had placed across all across the stairs. Already, they were starting to collapse.

"Has Naruto been taking brain-enhancing drugs or something?!" screamed the young man. He was really starting to hate how well Naruto had managed to plan this, especially in a short period of time.

Naruto smiled as he watched the chaos unfold, though he was worried that he was going to end up killing Sasuke. Perhaps since everyone else seemed to want him dead he shouldn't worry too much, but still.

He was happy that Virgo had managed to get so many paper bombs on short notice, to say the very least. It was a good thing having a maiden like her.

Sasuke frantically raced up the stairs. He needed to climb up them fast before he fell to his potential death. He was already pretty high up so it was probably going to be messy if he fell.

Eventually, Sasuke managed to reach the top...only for the paper bombs to finally catch up to them. Sasuke screamed as he began to fall.

Noticing what had happened, Naruto began to have rather mixed feelings. It appeared that he had killed Sasuke. He was never going to see him again, that was for sure.

Sadly, it appeared that he had been unable to return Sasuke to Konoha like he wanted. It was a shame, really. They used to be such good friends before they had turned enemies. In fact, they used to be teammates. Kakashi and Sakura were both rather depressed that Sasuke had betrayed them, to say the very least. Besides, he found his replacement to be kind of annoying.

But on the plus side, he was now safe from not only Sasuke, but also Orochimaru. Well, at least until he got a new apprentice to help take care of Sasuke for hm. But since it had taken him nearly three years to mold Sasuke to his liking, perhaps he would be safe for about that amount of time. It was something to look forward to.

Well, it looked like it was time to return to Konoha and tell everyone that he had managed to kill Sasuke. Personally he wondered how everyone would react.

However, as he prepared to climb down the tower, he suddenly heard the sound of wings flapping.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

As it turned out, Sasuke had activated the second stage of the cursed seal...and his cursed seal came with a pair of wings.

"Oh, that's right. Sasuke can fly now. How could I have forgotten about that?" inquired the chunin. Personally he wished that he was capable of flying. That would be cool.

"I'm really impressed, Naruto. You managed to set up quite a nasty trap for me...and in such a short amount of time too..." noted Sasuke.

"You can thank my friend Virgo for that...she is so helpful..." answered Naruto.

"Well, I'm afraid this game of cat and mouse has ended...it's time for us to fight for real, don't you think?" stated the teenage boy.

"I suppose." said the chunin. To be honest, part of the reason he had his summons do most of the work was because he was not looking forward to fighting his old friend. But it appeared that he had no say so in the matter.

Immediately, he began to charge up a Rasengan. It appeared that it was time to finish this once and for all.

_Well, Naruto sure came up with a plan to defeat Sasuke. And it appeared to be fairly successful...though Sasuke is now fighting Naruto personally, he was forced to activate the second stage of his cursed seal just to get to him._

_In the next chapter, Naruto and Sasuke will start fighting for real...I believe that's what you want, right?_

_Peace!_


	58. Chapter 58: Naruto vs Sasuke

In_ this chapter, Naruto's going to take on Sasuke...and guess what? Ezra's going to help him...it's going to be quite a battle, to say the very least. And yes, Sasuke will be surprised that Erza now has the Sharingan and has Uchiha blood in her veins...apparently, Sasuke and Itachi aren't the last of their kind anymore. How about that._

**Chapter 58: Naruto vs. Sasuke**

Wasting no time, Naruto immediately summoned many, many clones to attack Sasuke. Personally the latter was surprised at the occurrence. He was under the impression that he wouldn't be able to summon so many with all the chakra that he had apparently used to summon his twelve celestial spirits.

"I always had a feeling that an angry mob would attack me..." thought Sasuke. Sure enough, some of the Naruto clones appeared to be wielding pitchforks and were carrying torches. He sure seemed to be making a lot of enemies these days, working with the evil Orochimaru and his evil followers.

But as it turned out, Naruto had used magic to summon the twelve Celestial Spirits rather than chakra. They were Lucy's former summons after all.

Though Naruto had used up all his magic power doing so, he still had most of his chakra...meaning that he could still put up quite a fight indeed. Incidentally, Sasuke had ended up using both, but he still had some chakra and magic left, meaning that he still had access to both his and Erza's abilities.

Sasuke frantically slashed through the clones, hoping that he would be able to take them down before they could reach him. Fortunately, each of the clones were pretty weak on their own...but he got the feeling that he was going to end up getting overwhelmed in large numbers.

Fortunately, his armor was protecting him rather well from their blows, as usual. However, he noticed that there appeared to be cracks forming in the armor, and he got the feeling that it wasn't going to last for too long.

Sure enough, one of the clones managed to break his Heart Kreuz armor, who let out a laugh shortly afterwards. Apparently his creator would be proud of him for doing so.

"Score one for Naruto! Believe it!" exclaimed the Naruto clone, happy at his victory.

Immediately, the Naruto clone began to dance. It looked like he was a winner.

In frustration, Sasuke tossed a kunai at the clone's face, which he noticed too late.

"Oh snap." said the clone, realizing what was going to happen.

Immediately, he burst into smoke.

He then requiped into his Purgatory Armor to continue fighting Naruto. Hopefully this armor would be a bit more durable so that the clones wouldn't end up breaking it.

Fortunately, the armor proved to be rather durable, as the clones' kunai and paper bombs weren't doing the trick at all. Sasuke wondered how Naruto had found a way to arm them all, but he decided that it didn't really matter now.

Several of the clones tried jumping on top of him so that they could obtain strength in numbers, but he slashed them all to smoke before they could do so. He was just too fast.

"How many armors do I have?" asked Sasuke. At this point he was a walking armory.

Sasuke continued fighting the clones, and eventually they all burst into smoke. He started to wonder if he should hold his breath so that the smoke didn't suffocate him.

This time, Naruto decided that he was going to summon a bigger fish...or should we say toad.

"Gamabunta, I've got a job for you!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned Gamabunta.

Gamabunta let out a ribbit upon being summoned.

"You're trying to beat me with Gamabunta, are you? Well, two can play at that game..." pointed out Sasuke. Who said that Naruto had to be the only one that could summon? In fact, Orochimaru had taught him how to summon snakes, since he knew that Naruto had trained with Jiraiya and therefore inevitably had the ability to summon toads. Hopefully the snakes would be able to feast on the toads and have some delicious dinner.

Immediately, he decided to summon Manda to counteract Naruto's summon. He appeared in a burst of purple smoke, and began to hiss.

"I hope you're planning to feed me...because I'm feeling awfully hungry. Maybe I should snack on you..." stated Manda.

Sasuke began to sweat. Immediately, he tried to defend himself.

"Don't eat me or I'll stab you with my blades. Besides, I'm the one who summoned you here...the very least you can do is show me some respect." threatened the teenage boy.

"Very well. But I still want something to eat." answered the snake.

"Are you up for toad legs?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?" inquired Manda. Toad legs did not sound bad right about now.

"There's a giant toad right over there for you to eat..." answered Orochimaru's apprentice.

"Perfect. Why didn't you say so?" stated the giant snake.

"Is it really that hard for you to notice a giant toad?" asked Sasuke. Last time he checked, Gamabunta was rather...massive.

Manda sweatdropped. Why hadn't he noticed that?

"Just eat the giant toad already so that I can catch Naruto..." said the teenage boy.

"Very well..." answered the snake.

Immediately, he lunged towards Gamabunta, hoping to have some dinner.

However, Gamabunta immediately leapt out of the way so that he wouldn't end up on the menu.

He then spat sticky oil all over Manda, oil that was boiling hot.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Manda.

"Way to go, Gamabunta!" bellowed the teenage boy.

"Can I get back to Jiraiya soon? I have a favor to ask..." stated Gamabunta.

"Well, this is kind of an emergency..." pointed out Naruto.

"I want to talk to him!" exclaimed the giant toad.

"I know that...I'll try to end this quickly." stated the teenage boy.

"I hope so." answered Gamabunta as he attempted to grab Sasuke with his tongue.

However, Sasuke was not looking forward to becoming toad food, to say the very least.

"You're not eating me!" exclaimed Sasuke as he slashed Gamabunta's tongue with his sword.

"Ow! By mongue!" bellowed Gamabunta.

"Oh dear..." murmured Naruto. He wasn't sure how Gamabunta was supposed to talk to Jiraiya now. Maybe he could send him a letter? That was probably the best choice considering that he was a distance away from the toad sage.

Manda snickered in satisfaction. Perhaps working with Sasuke wouldn't be so bad. He did wonder if Gamabunta would be enough to fill up his stomach however. Sure, he was a big toad...but he had eaten larger summons than that.

Immediately, he spat out poison at Gamabunta's eyes, hoping to blind him.

However, Gamabunta closed his eyes to avoid the attack. Though it did burn his skin a bit, he was still fine for the most part.

"Don't kind be! I deed fat bore by riving exam!" bellowed Gamabunta.

"You're taking a driving exam? Why would you want to do that?" asked Naruto.

"I bust not a boo far!" exclaimed the toad.

"I'm surprised that there's a car big enough to fit you..." questioned the teenage boy. Why would Gamabunta even need a car? Was he hoping to enter a car race?

Once again, Manda attempted to swallow Gamabunta whole.

However, he responded by filling up Manda with water.

"Cold cold cold!" exclaimed Manda. Being cold blooded meant cold water wasn't exactly good for him.

In retaliation, he attempted to constrict Gamabunta.

"Bet lo of be!" demanded Gamabunta.

"What's that? I can't understand you!" exclaimed Manda.

Gamabunta groaned. He hoped that his tongue would heal up soon so that he could speak properly. This was kind of humiliating to be honest. Having a speech impediment could make someone a real laughingstock. Just look at Elmer Fudd.

Personally, Naruto was starting to wonder if he should give Gamabunta a hand.

Immediately, he charged up a Rasengan, and then tossed it at Manda.

Manda recoiled in pain, allowing Gamabunta to free himself.

"Tank foodness!" bellowed Gamabunta.

"Maybe I should get Tsunade to heal your tongue..." noted Naruto.

Naruto then followed by hitting Manda with another Rasengan, followed by Gamabunta hitting him with another water release technique.

However, Manda proceeded to shed his skin in retaliation.

"Darn it! He just healed his injuries!" bellowed Naruto. All the hard work gone down the drain.

But on the plus side, Manda just used up a lot of chakra, so he was now a lot more vulnerable than he was before.

Seizing his opportunity, Naruto began to charge up a Big Ball Rasengan.

"That's it, I'm out of here..." stated the snake. There was no way he was going to let Naruto hit him with something that big. He could end up being vaporized!

Immediately, he burst into purple smoke.

"Oh, c'mon!" bellowed Sasuke. Why was his snake summon such a coward? Maybe he needed to try a different summon.

Fortunately, as it turned out, he had more than one summon in his arsenal.

Shrugging, he decided to summon Aoda.

"You called for me, Sasuke?" asked the viper.

"Yes. I need you to take on Naruto and his big friend over here..." stated Sasuke.

"Consider it done." answered Aoda.

"What a polite snake..." thought Naruto. Personally he wouldn't mind having that as a summon...on the other hand, he had a lot of summons already. Being Lucy's interdimensional partner had its perks.

Speaking of which, he wondered what Lucy was doing right about now.

_Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail guild..._

As it turned out, Lucy was currently reading a book about "How To Live With A Bloodthirsty Monster That Most Likely Eats Babies". She was rather glad that Levy had showed her, to say the very least. Life as a jinchuriki was rather rough, though she got the feeling that she had life better than Naruto did back when he was a jinchuriki.

"Who would have thought that they had this kind of book in the Fairy Tail Library?" questioned Lucy.

Somehow, she got the feeling that this book would come in handy.

Oddly enough, Kurama seemed to find this book awfully amusing.

**"You think that you can tame me, the Nine-Tailed Fox? I'm the mightiest of all the nine tailed beasts! Don't waste your time!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Yeah, whatever." answered Lucy as she began to flip the pages.

Sure enough, there was a page detailing giant foxes.

"What do we have here?" questioned the teenage girl.

Apparently, giant foxes were quite fond of eating rabbits...especially really big ones. Perhaps it would be best if she did not summon giant rabbits in front of Kurama. Otherwise the poor bunny rabbit would probably meet a grisly end.

On the other hand, rabbits did tend to multiply quite a bit. She doubted that foxes would run out of food to eat anytime soon, though they would probably eventually get tired of eating them.

"Figures." said Lucy.

Immediately, she went into the kitchen to go get some rabbit stew. It was a good thing that was on sale today. It wasn't very expensive, either.

"Let's see how you like this..." stated the teenage girl.

**"Oh please! That's not going to work on me!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Oh yeah? Well, I haven't started chugging it down yet..." pointed out Lucy.

Immediately, she began to do so.

**"I'm going to...mmm, delicious...burn a nation...what a nice flavor...to the ground...I actually kind of like the chef now..."** said Kurama.

Lucy smiled in satisfaction. Hopefully that would keep Kurama calm...at least for now.

However, she wondered what her interdimensional partner was up to. Hopefully Erza would be able to rescue him from whatever peril he was in. Would she be as successful as Hinata was when Naruto had been captured by Phantom Lord?

It was a thought that concerned her...though she got the feeling that Kurama wouldn't care what happened to Naruto even if his life were in mortal danger. What an evil fox.

"I guess I'll just have to pray for his safety..." thought Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

Unfortunately for Gamabunta, it appeared that he was losing against Aoda, try as he might. Apparently he had been weakened by his battle with Manda previously.

Perhaps Naruto needed to give Gamabunta a hand.

"What should I do now?" thought the chunin.

Fortunately, he was able to summon more than just one toad to fight his enemies.

"Oh, that's right...thank goodness for my training with Jiraiya." noted Naruto.

Immediately, he summoned two more toads to help him defeat Sasuke. In this case, it was Gamaken and Gamahiro.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he now lacked the chakra to summon more toads. It was rather unfortunate.

Sure enough, Gamaken and Gamahiro began to attack Aoda, who now found himself being overwhelmed.

Eventually, he was forced to head back home.

"Sorry, Sasuke..." apologized Aoda as he burst into smoke.

Sighing, Sasuke decided to try another summon. In this case, it was Garuda.

Immediately, he summoned Garuda to attack the three toads...but unfortunately he did not do well against the toads at all.

Gamabunta quickly swallowed the hawk...then spat him out because he did not like the flavor.

Garuda burst into smoke.

Sighing, Sasuke decided to take on the three toads himself. But would he able to pull it off?

Immediately, the three toads lunged towards Sasuke, hoping to defeat him and save Naruto.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, Sasuke had a way to deal with them.

Quickly, he requiped into his Black Wing Armor.

"Here goes nothing." said Sasuke.

This worked surprisingly well. As soon as the toads came into range, they found themselves being slashed by Sasuke's sword, causing them to scream.

"Oh no..." thought Naruto. Sasuke was overpowering his toads!

Sasuke then summoned two axes to attack the toads with as well. Eventually, all three toads disappeared.

"Now then, where were we? I think that we've summoned enough creatures now, wouldn't you say?" asked Sasuke.

"I suppose." answered Naruto.

Immediately, Sasuke proceeded to attack Naruto.

However, Naruto countered by tossing a Rasengan at Sasuke, causing his armor to break off.

"That is one tough Rasengan..." noted Sasuke.

Sasuke tried requiping into his Flame Emperor Armor, but Naruto broke that too.

"Darn it!" bellowed the teenage boy.

Naruto tossed yet another Rasengan, but this time Sasuke avoided it.

"That Rasengan is rather annoying...but at least I can avoid them if I move fast enough..." noted Sasuke.

Perhaps it was time to requip into his hakama armor (or lack of armor thereof) so that he would be fast enough to avoid the Rasengan and still be able to do damage to Naruto.

Immediately, he decided to do just that.

However, Naruto seemed unhappy about that.

"Do you really have to fight me without your shirt on?" asked Naruto. Unlike Erza's hakama armor, Sasuke's did not come with a sarashi.

Sasuke was not amused.

"What? You don't admire my physique?" asked Sasuke.

"I was just saying-"

Suddenly, Sasuke ripped off Naruto's shirt.

"That will teach you!" exclaimed Sasuke.

"But Sasuke, if we both fight each other without our shirts on, people will start shipping us together! And I already have a girlfriend!" bellowed Naruto.

"What? Oh..." answered the teenage boy. Oddly enough, Sasuke already blew his chances with Sakura, his would-be girlfriend. Again, sometimes he wondered if he had made the right choice.

Suddenly, he noticed something that surprised him. Naruto did not have a jinchuriki mark on his stomach.

"What?" asked Sasuke.

Perhaps this meant that he did not need to capture Naruto after all. He just needed to tell the news to Orochimaru and then he would send him after someone else.

It appeared that he did not need to kidnap Naruto after all. Granted, this made the entire mission a waste of time, but at least he didn't have to betray Naruto again. It was rather relieving.

Suddenly, he noticed Naruto lunging towards him.

Quickly, he moved out of the way...

...and Naruto ended up almost falling off the edge of the tower, dangling on to dear life.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Sasuke.

Immediately, Sasuke stretched out his hand so that Naruto would not fall to his death.

Unfortunately, Naruto assumed that taking Sasuke's hand meant going with him to see Orochimaru, where he would be used as a test subject for his insane research.

He also knew that he would probably not be of use to Orochimaru if he were dead (unless Orochimaru wanted to summon him later) and that Sasuke would fail the mission if he perished (since he needed him alive).

So, he decided not to take Sasuke's hand and let himself fall to his death.

"Nooooo!" screamed Sasuke. This mission had not worked out well at all.

However, as it turned out, Naruto would not end up falling to his death. He had been rescued...

...by Erza.

"Are you alright, Naruto? You had me worried sick!" exclaimed Erza.

"I know..." nodded Naruto.

"And you got your shirt ripped off again..." answered the knight.

"I need to visit the tailor..." acknowledged the chunin.

Curious, Sasuke wondered who this mysterious individual was. Naruto did mention something about having a girlfriend...but he was under the impression that it would be Sakura now that he was gone.

It wasn't someone who he had met before, to say the very least. And yet, he got the feeling that he was somehow connected to her...though he wasn't quite sure how yet.

"I heard that someone was after you...do you know who it is?" asked Erza.

Naruto nodded.

"Who is it?" inquired the knight.

Naruto immediately pointed to the tower where he and Sasuke had fought previously.

"Alright then. I'd advise you to get out of here while I deal with him..." stated Erza. If Sasuke wanted to hurt Naruto, she was going to have to go through her first.

"But if I do that, he might kill you!" warned Naruto. He wouldn't want his girlfriend to have to sacrifice herself in order to protect him...though admittedly she was more than willing to do so.

"I'll be fine. Worry about yourself!" exclaimed the knight.

Reluctantly, Naruto did as Erza asked. He hoped that Erza would be alright, though he got the feeling that she had survived first. After all, she and Naruto had managed to survive an enormous explosion back when they were inside the Tower Of Heaven.

However, he remembered that he had something to tell her.

Sure enough, Erza had already climbed to the top of the tower where Sasuke was.

"I won't let you hurt Naruto!" exclaimed Erza.

"I'm not here to hurt him..." answered Sasuke.

"Don't lie to me!" bellowed the knight.

"I'm calling off the mission! He doesn't have what I want!" stated the treasonous ninja.

"Even if that's true...you're an outlaw to Konohagakure...I can't let you get away with betraying your homeland!" shouted the S-Class Mage.

Sasuke sighed. First he had to fight his former best friend...now he had to fight his girlfriend. How about that?

Immediately, Erza pulled out her sword.

In retaliation, Sasuke pulled out his as well. It looked like it was time for a swordfight. He always wondered if he would get in one someday.

"Hey, Erza! Be careful!" warned Naruto.

"Naruto? I thought I told you to leave!" bellowed Erza.

"I need to tell you something! He's inherited your reequip magic!" exclaimed the chunin.

"Oh...that's not good." noted the knight.

Afterwards, Naruto decided to leave Erza to fight Sasuke. Hopefully she would be able to succeed in defeating him.

Sure enough, Sasuke was requiping into one of her suit of armors. In this case, it was the Morning Star Armor.

"What a copycat you turned out to be..." remarked Erza.

"Huh?" asked Sasuke.

Immediately, Erza requiped into her Heart Kreuz Armor in retaliation.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Was this the person that he inherited his newfound powers from? It would explain a lot, though he wasn't quite sure how he had managed to inherit them.

Curious, Erza wondered if she had inherited something from Sasuke as well.

Suddenly, she remembered her newfound Sharingan.

"Oh, that's right..." answered the knight.

Immediately, she activated her Sharingan so that she could use it to help her fight Sasuke.

As soon as Sasuke noticed Erza had the Sharingan, he gasped in shock. He thought that he and Itachi were the only members of the Uchiha clan member left. How did Erza have a set of Sharingan eyes? It was very perplexing indeed.

He seemed to recall Kakashi having a Sharingan of his own...but she did not appear to be drained of chakra when she used it like he was. It was quite odd. Perhaps the Uchiha clan had another survivor that he had never heard about? He was under the impression that his brother Itachi had managed to find them all and kill them. Curse his genocidal brother.

Personally he wondered if he and Erza should be fighting. Maybe she would be interested in helping him kill his brother and avenge his clan. Itachi would probably want to finish the job if he found out that Sasuke wasn't the sole survivor of his clan along with him.

However, he did wonder why Itachi had decided to spare him when he wanted the entire Uchiha Clan dead. It was really weird...though admittedly Itachi did decide to hit him with the Tsukiyomi. Surely there had to be a way to get around that.

And yet, for some strange reason, he got the feeling that the Tsukiyomi wouldn't be so effective against him, though he wasn't quite sure why.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, his chakra was starting to run low. Apparently, fighting Naruto earlier had taken its toll, even if he did end up winning after Naruto accidentally ended up teetering off the edge of the tower.

Sure enough, he was starting to revert from the second stage of his cursed seal to his first state. Already, his wings had disappeared, meaning that he couldn't fly anymore. Now how was he going to get down from the tower? Perhaps there was an armor that he could use to fly instead?

Curious, Erza wondered what was going on...but it appeared to make fighting Sasuke easier. She wasn't going to question it too much.

Sure enough, she was starting to gain the upper hand now that Sasuke had reverted to the first stage of his cursed seal. In fact, he was starting to revert to his normal state as well.

"No!" thought Sasuke. it looked like he was fresh out of chakra. In other words, he was a sitting duck.

Sure enough, he was now back in his regular form.

Erza quickly followed by stabbing Sasuke in the chest, which of course wounded him.

Slowly he stepped backward...and he fell off the edge of the tower.

"I guess I'll go tell Naruto..." stated Erza. No doubt he would want to hear about this.

_A few minutes later..._

"Did you beat him?" asked Naruto.

"Yes...I stabbed him in the chest..." answered the knight.

"I'm sorry that it ended up like this..." stated the chunin. He wished that he and Sasuke could be friends again...but apparently that was only wishful thinking.

Shrugging, he decided to follow Erza to where Sasuke had fallen.

However, much to his surprise, he found that Sasuke was no longer there.

"Um, Erza...where is he?" asked Naruto.

Erza gasped in surprise. Apparently Sasuke was still alive.

"This isn't good, Naruto. If he's still alive, then he's probably going to hunt you down..." noted Erza.

"I know..." answered the chunin.

"I'm sorry that he's still out there..." said the knight.

"It's fine, Erza...I'm just glad that you managed to keep me safe..." noted Naruto. He was worried for a second that Sasuke would capture him.

"No problem. I promised myself that I would keep you safe, didn't I?" asked Erza.

"Yes, I appreciate it..." answered the chunin.

Immediately, Naruto gave Erza a kiss.

"I suppose we should tell Tsunade that you have the Sharingan now...she might want to know about that..." acknowledged Naruto.

Erza nodded.

Immediately, the two of them went to visit Lady Tsunade.

_A few more minutes later..._

"You wanted to see me, Naruto? I'm glad that you're alright...I heard from Kakashi that you were attacked by Sasuke again..." answered Tsunade.

Sure enough, Naruto was with Erza.

"Well, he's gone for now..." stated the chunin.

"I took care of him...though he'll probably be back." acknowledged Erza.

"Is there anything that you want me to do to keep you safe?" asked the Sannin.

"Nothing at the moment...though I do want you to tell Erza about her new Sharingan..." said Naruto.

"She has the Sharingan now? That might be a problem..." answered Tsunade.

"How so?" asked the chunin.

"You see, Sharingan users suffer from a curse of hatred...it causes them to do all sorts of awful things..." noted the Sannin.

"What?!" bellowed Erza.

"Unless someone reaches out to your girlfriend here, we might have to keep an eye on her in case she dos something evil..." stated Tsunade.

"What do you mean reach out?" asked the knight.

"Well, if someone gets close enough to someone who suffers from the curse, the curse will break. This tends to be rather difficult to do..." noted the Sannin.

"About that...Naruto may have done that already." answered Erza.

"He did?" asked Tsunade.

"He did that during the Tower Of Heaven...he was the first one to volunteer to rescue me...and well, I did everything in my power to save him in return. I guess we became really close over that time span..." noted the knight.

"Oh...I suppose it might already been broken then. It's rather relieving..." stated the Sannin. She didn't want anyone else to betray Konoha...or in this case Fairy Tail.

Erza nodded. Hopefully she wouldn't be committing evil acts anytime soon. Of course, she wouldn't imagine that she would ever betray Fairy Tail due to how loyal she was to it. She was one of their best mages, after all.

"Still, I suppose you might want to know about the Sharingan now that you have Uchiha blood in your veins...in a sense, Sasuke and Itachi are no longer the sole survivors of the Uchiha clan..." acknowledged Tsunade.

Erza nodded once again.

"The Sharingan allows one to copy another person's techniques...so long as they have the skill level to do so. Suffice to say, one that has the Sharingan can learn one's techniques rather quickly. That is why Orochimaru wants Sasuke as his next vessel...since he has the Sharingan, he would be able to acquire many jutsu in a short period of time. Unfortunately for him, he was never a member of the Uchiha clan, meaning that he never possessed it." noted Tsunade.

"That makes sense...I sure hate Orochimaru for taking Sasuke away from me though..." noted Naruto. Hopefully Sasuke would reconsider becoming Orochimaru's vessel.

"I don't blame you..." stated Tsunade. "Now where was I? However, the Sharingan cannot reproduce kekkei genkai abilities, nor can they be used for nature transformations that the user has not yet learned, so there is some limitations. The Sharingan also gives one an incredible sense of perception as well."

"That explains why I was able to swordfight with Sasuke so well." acknowledged Erza. Of course, this may have also been in part that Sasuke was running low on chakra at the time, and he was forced to exit his cursed seal state, while she was still in tip-top shape.

"Finally, Sharingan users are rather skilled at genjutsu. For example, Itachi can trap his opponents in a Tsukiyomi if they make eye contact with them, thus allowing him to torture them. Generally the torture can seemingly last for days, even if it technically occurs over a few seconds. It's sort of like being in a dream...or should we say nightmare." questioned Tsunade.

"That makes sense..." answered Erza. Of course, she got the feeling that she wasn't experienced in using genjutsu yet. She had only gained the Sharingan recently, after all.

"I suggest that you try practicing your Sharingan. It may prove very useful to you if you manage to become skilled enough. Since you're Sasuke's inter dimensional partner now, I would imagine that you do not need to worry about losing massive amounts of chakra upon using it." noted Tsunade.

Erza nodded. Apparently, she could use the Sharingan without any drawbacks.

"I suggest that you talk to Kakashi. He should be able to help you train your Sharingan if you are willing." nodded the Sannin.

Erza nodded. Kakashi would probably be a big help to her in that matter.

Immediately, she went to go visit Kakashi.

"Anything else you want to say to me?" asked Naruto.

"Just keep an eye out in case Sasuke returns..." said Tsunade.

Naruto nodded, and decided to go back home where he felt safest.

_Meanwhile..._

"Wake up!" demanded Karin, healing Sasuke with her healing jutsu by placing his teeth on her skin.

"Ugh..." murmured Sasuke, slowly waking up. He had taken quite a beating. Personally he was a bit surprised that he was still alive.

"I have to admit, he's awfully sexy without his shirt on..." thought Karin.

"What happened?" asked the teenage boy.

"You got stabbed...and unfortunately Naruto managed to get away..." explained the medical kunoichi.

"That makes sense..." noted Sasuke.

"I guess you're just going to have to try again some other time..." noted Karin.

"Actually, I think I've got something I need to tell Orochimaru..." answered the teenage boy.

"Alright then..." stated the teenage girl.

Immediately, Sasuke pulled out the summoning scroll Orochimaru had entrusted him with so that he could finally return home.

As he did so, Karin grabbed onto him so that she could return as well. As she did so, she began to giggle. Sasuke Uchiha was so hot. No wonder he had so many fangirls back when he was still in Konoha.

Sure enough, he found himself back in Orochimaru's laboratory along with Karin.

"I guess I'll just have to tell him the bad news myself..." noted Sasuke. Now that Naruto had transferred his nine-tailed fox to someone else, finding the fox was going to be a lot harder than before. Still, he got the feeling that Orochimaru wouldn't give up so easily.

Hopefully his master would be understanding. He did still need his body so that he could possess him after all. It wouldn't be long before the big day now.

Personally he wondered what would have happened if Orochimaru didn't have to choose another vessel out of the many prisoners he had in his laboratory. If it weren't for Naruto, he probably would be living inside Orochimaru's body now.

_Outside of Orochimaru's laboratory..._

"C'mon, Beast Of Otogakure! Where are you?" inquired one of the Ota ninja.

As it turned out, they were still searching for the Beast Of Otogakure. Where could the beast possibly be?

Suddenly, they saw something suspicious, and they went to investigate.

In the process, one of the Oto ninja ended up being separated from the others.

"Hello?" asked the ninja. Where had his teammates gone?

Apparently, he had gotten a bit carried away. Perhaps he should try reuniting with his companions.

Suddenly, he saw a mysterious ninja approaching him, and gasped in shock.

"It's you!" screamed the Oto ninja.

As it turned out, he had found the beast of Otogakure.

Unfortunately, he did not have his companions to assist him, so it looked like he was in a bad situation.

Nonetheless, he decided to start fighting.

Immediately, he drew his kunai, but the beast proved to be too quick. He had made a grave mistake.

Before he could get a good look at this individual, he suddenly found himself being grabbed by the head. All that he could tell was that this individual was lacking a headband.

"Let go of me!" demanded the unfortunate ninja.

Before he could get a good look at this mysterious individual...he found his skull being crushed. He screamed in agony as he drew his last breath.

Dropping this individual on the floor, the Beast Of Otogakure then went to look for more ninja. They had a score to settle with Orochimaru. They were sure that they would find him eventually.

They had been waiting to find him for quite some time...and they doubted that he could hide from them forever.

When they found him, he was going to pay dearly...in fact, he was going to regret the day that he had even met them.

The sweet thoughts of revenge were filling their head already. They just couldn't wait to finally kill Orochimaru.

Of course, even if they didn't find him, they could always keep killing Oto ninja. To be honest, they didn't just have a grudge against Orochimaru...they also had a grudge against the entirety of Otogakure as well.

Perhaps after they were done with Orochimaru they would burn it to the ground just to spite him. Personally they wondered just how would he react.

Well, it was time to resume searching. To be honest, Orochimaru was awfully hard to find. He simply wouldn't stop switching laboratories. No matter. They would destroy as many laboratories as it took...they could destroy them all for all they cared.

"Soon, Orochimaru will pay..." they thought.

_Back inside Orochimaru's laboratory..._

"So, did you capture Naruto?" asked Orochimaru.

"I'm afraid not. He and his girlfriend managed to overpower me." explained Sasuke.

Orochimaru sighed.

"If you want a job right, then do it yourself..." remarked Orochimaru.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't pull it off..." apologized Sasuke. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad.

"No worries. I shall handle this personally. Not even Naruto will be able to stop me from getting his nine-tailed fox...and then I will use it to finally destroy Konoha...they'll regret the day they decided to interfere with my experiments..." stated the man.

Immediately, Orochimaru left his chambers, ready to hunt down Naruto.

"Lord Orochimaru...before you leave, there's something I need to tell y-"

Unfortunately, Orochimaru was already gone. Apparently, he was in a bit of a hurry.

Sasuke sighed. Orochimaru had been so hasty he hadn't even been to tell him that Naruto wasn't a jinchuriki anymore.

On the other hand, he wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru was in a hurry. It wouldn't be long until he could possess his body now. And judging from the fact that he wasn't sleeping too well at night, he was awfully excited.

Still, he wondered something...if Naruto was no longer the jinchuriki, then had he somehow given the nine-tailed fox to someone else? Personally he was a bit surprised that he had survived removing the nine-tailed fox from his body, though he was aware that the Uzumaki clan possessed great vitality. His mother had been part of it after all.

Personally he wondered who the individual that was now the nine-tails jinchuriki was. No doubt Orochimaru would want to capture them if he figured out who they were.

Immediately, Orochimaru went to talk to Kabuto.

"Kabuto, I've got a mission for you. You and I will be going to Konoha to capture Naruto...with his nine-tailed fox I will be virtually unstoppable..." stated Orochimaru.

"Yes, my lord...though don't you think this should wait until after you're done with possessing Sasuke's body?" asked Kabuto.

"I've waited almost three years for this...I can wait a bit longer if necessary..." stated the snake ninja.

Kabuto nodded. He supposed that Orochimaru had a point.

Immediately, he and Orochimaru set out to hunt Naruto themselves. Sasuke may have failed in this particular task...but there was nothing that could protect him from the Snake Sannin. Why did Naruto think that Konohagakure was so terrified of him, anyway? Was three years all it took for them to forget the war he had declared against Konoha?

Personally he was under the impression that they wouldn't forget the death of the Third Hokage. Everyone and their mother had been attending that funeral. And of course, he had been the one that caused it. And to think that none of this would have happened if Hiruzen Sarutobi had decided to kill him ten years ago when he had the chance.

_Well, it looks like Erza's managed to defeat Sasuke and save Naruto. Thank goodness for that. But unfortunately Orochimaru has decided not to give up on catching Naruto. In fact, he'll be going after Naruto himself this time. Oh dear._ _Not only that, but he'll be bringing Kabuto with him!_

_Things don't look good for Naruto...even if he and Erza managed to defeat Sasuke._

_Well, he'll just have to cross that bridge when he comes to it._

_By the way, you probably noticed the similarities to Natsu's battle with Jellal. Just for the record, I created this small arc specifically so that Erza could become Sasuke's interdimensional partner and vice versa. I figured that Erza could use an interdimensional partner and it simply seemed appropriate. I hope that you enjoyed who I picked._

_In other news, it appears that the Ota ninja are having difficulty hunting down a ninja that wants revenge against Orochimaru. Who could this individual possibly be? What we do know about them is that they're rather dangerous. Will the Ota ninja be able to catch them?_

_For now, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter...since it seems a bit hasty to end Part III now, I'll spoof the Oracion Seis Arc next. If it goes long enough, I guess I'll end Part III right then and there._

_By the way, Part IV will focus on the Akatsuki. I believe at least one reviewer requested for them to show up...so consider that wish granted. For originality purposes I will include an Akatsuki OC, though I'm not going to spill too many details yet._

_See you later!_


	59. Chapter 59: Making An Alliance

_In this chapter, Fairy Tail is going to start taking on Oracion Seis...but unfortunately their first battle is going to go horribly wrong. In other news, Wendy's going to get an interdimensional partner. You probably know who it is already though. Heh heh heh._

_Unfortunately, things are going to go wrong for Fairy Tail. In fact, they're going to be clobbered, even with Kimimaro, Shino, Neji and Kakashi at their side. Yes, I decided to bring them along._

**Chapter 59: Making An Alliance**

Wendy made her way to the interdimensional portal, glad to be home at last. She was starting to feel awfully homesick, even if her previous home had turned out to be an illusion the whole time.

"Well, Konohamaru, it's been fun hanging out with you...but it's time for me to head back to Fairy Tail now." stated Wendy. They were probably missing her by now, especially Carla.

Speaking of Carla, she was currently sleeping in her cat basket.

"Alright. It was nice getting to know you too..." answered Konohamaru. Personally he was glad to have met her, especially after she saved him from the cursed bullies known as the Sorority.

Immediately, Wendy entered the interdimensional portal so that she could get home.

However, as she did so, Konohamaru wondered if he should try exploring Wendy's world, since Wendy already got to explore his.

It seemed as good of an idea as any. After all, his master Naruto had explored this world himself, though it was a bit of an accident. The interdimensional portal had sealed and he had found himself trapped.

Sure enough, Wendy was greeted by Levy, who seemed happy to see her return. She had spent a while in the world of ninja, to say the very least. Personally it reminded her a bit when Lucy had been trapped in the world of ninja due to the interdimensional portal suddenly closing.

Personally she wondered what would have happened if Naruto hadn't ended up using the interdimensional portal and Lucy had managed to make her way back home. She likely wouldn't have a nine-tailed fox living inside her body, to say the very least.

It worried her sometimes that the nine-tailed fox might escape and wreak havoc on the Fairy Tail guild. But it appeared that Lucy was keeping under control. After all, if Naruto was able to keep the nine-tailed fox inside him for fifteen years, then surely Lucy could do the same, right?

Not only that, but it appeared that Lucy was good at keeping the nine-tailed fox relaxed so that he wouldn't be aggressive.

Well, she had thought to herself long enough. It was time for her to talk to Wendy.

"Greetings...did you enjoy being in the world of ninja?" asked Levy.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Wendy. It was a rather thrilling experience, especially once she met Konohamaru. He was a rather good friend of hers, to say the very least.

"There's something that you might want to know. When someone uses the same interdimensional portal as you around the same time...you end up acquiring their abilities...and some aspects of their personality." stated the teenage girl.

"You do?" asked the wind dragonslayer.

"Mm-hmm. We refer to it as an interdimensional partnership since it's generally beneficial...though in one person's case they ended up becoming a stripper..." noted Levy.

"OK..." answered Wendy.

"Just wanted to let you know..." stated the bookworm.

"Well, nobody's used the same interdimensional portal as me when I came in, so I don't think that I'll be an interdimensional partner or whatever..." noted the wind dragonslayer.

Suddenly, Konohamaru leapt through the interdimensional portal.

"Never mind." answered Wendy.

"Hi there, Wendy!" greeted Konohamaru.

"Hey there, Konohamaru..." stated the wind dragonslayer.

"I figured that since you got to explore my world, I might as well explore yours..." said Naruto's apprentice.

"I suppose that makes sense...but I think that you might be my interdimensional partner now..." explained Wendy.

"Huh?" asked Konohamaru.

"Could you lift up your right sleeve for me?" inquired the teenage girl.

Konohamaru did so. There are a lot of things that Wendy could tell him to do at this point.

"It appears that you have my guild mark now...how about that." stated Wendy.

Konohamaru looked in the mirror, and realized that Wendy was right. He did have a guild mark on his right shoulder...which was always a sign that someone was an interdimensional partner...well, at least if they were ninja. There were still Fairy Tail guild members that were not yet interdimensional partners with someone else.

"I guess you're not kidding..." answered Konohamaru.

"Can you try breathing wind?" asked Wendy.

Konohamaru shrugged. He didn't think that he could do such a thing, but he decided to try anyway.

At that very moment, Lucy walked in.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Lucy.

At that very moment, Konohamaru let out a Wind Dragon's Roar, blowing off Lucy's blue dress, leaving her in a pink tube top and miniskirt.

"Darn it!" bellowed the teenage girl.

**"This could be the start of a beautiful relationship!" **exclaimed Kurama, ecstatic to see Lucy wearing such an outfit.

"Sorry!" apologized Konohamaru.

"Please forgive us...i asked him to test out his Wind Dragon's Roar and you came in at the wrong time..." stated Wendy.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you look sexy in that outfit!" exclaimed the preteen boy.

"You already told me that..." answered Lucy.

"When?" asked Konohamaru.

"Back when I was stranded in Konoha by myself...you asked me if I was using sexy jutsu..." questioned the teenage girl. Though she did have access to sexy jutsu, she doubted that she would ever use it in the future. She didn't like the idea of losing her clothes.

"Oh, that's right..." answered the preteen boy.

"Personally I think that I'm already sexy without the sexy jutsu. Heh heh." stated Lucy.

**"I'll say!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"And as usual Kurama is being a pervert again. Apparently, he woke up from his nap after I gave him rabbit soup..." noted the teenage girl.

**"You couldn't keep me asleep forever!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"Of course not." answered Lucy.

Suddenly, they heard an announcement on a loudspeaker. Apparently, Makarov wanted them for something.

_"Please report to the meeting room. We have matters to discuss." _stated Makarov.

Immediately, Lucy, Levy, and Wendy went into the meeting room.

"As you may or may not know, we have been making alliances with other guilds over the last few weeks. They have requested that we destroy Oracian Seis..." stated Makarov.

"Oracian Seis?" asked Lucy.

"I heard that they're a powerful dark guild..." noted Levy.

"I'm scared..." stated Wendy.

"Oracian Seis is part of the Balam Alliance. To our knowledge, they consist of six incredibly powerful mages...so we're going to have our hands full..." acknowledged Makarov.

"Do you want me to go get some ninja to help us?" inquired the teenage girl.

"That seems like a good option. We shall be leaving to confront them shortly, so please do not take too long." demanded the guildmaster.

Lucy nodded, and went through the interdimensional portal to go look for ninja.

Sure enough, she found Naruto and Erza, who both appeared to be training with Kakashi.

"Hey, Lucy...I'm trying to train my Sharingan...apparently, I can use the Chidori now..." noted Erza.

"I'm working on a new Rasengan technique..." stated Naruto. While he was at it, maybe he should try getting stronger summons?

On the other hand, he had researched some collaboration techniques with his summons. He figured that would be awfully useful.

"Makarov wanted your help with taking on a dark guild..." explained Lucy.

"Alright! Count me in!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Count me in as well, I suppose." answered Kakashi.

Immediately, the three of them headed towards the interdimensional partner.

Curious, Lucy pulled out the schedule to when the attack was going to begin.

Apparently, she still had time to recruit more ninja to her cause.

Shrugging, she decided to resume searching.

Sure enough, she found Shikamaru, who once again was sleeping.

Immediately, she woke up Shikamaru.

"What? What's going on?" asked Shikamaru.

"We kind of need your help..." answered Lucy.

"Is Fairy Tail under attack?" inquired the teenage boy.

"Actually, we're going on the offensive..." stated Lucy.

"Alright, I'll help." nodded Shikamaru.

"Thank you, Shikamaru!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

Immediately, she gave Shikamaru a kiss, causing him to blush.

"Should we get other ninja?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could get your teammates...we don't have much time though." answered Lucy.

"I know how we can get Choji..." said the teenage boy.

"How?" asked the jinchuriki.

Immediately, Shikamaru pulled out Choji's bag of potato chips.

"I'm starting to get it now..." answered Lucy.

"These potato chips are delicious! I think I'll eat them all without saving a single one for Choji!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"I agree! They must be the most delicious potato chips ever!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

At that very moment, Choji arrived, looking rather furious.

"Hey there, Choji...about that...we were only kidding...we just needed you to go on a mission with us." explained the teenage boy.

"Yeah...I don't think I would eat all those potato chips in one setting..." agreed Lucy.

"Good." answered Choji.

"Unfortunately, Ino has the flu, so I guess we're going to have to go without her..." acknowledged Shikamaru. Perhaps she should have taken a flu shot before she agreed to become a ninja. Shikamaru and Choji were somewhat weakened without her at their side.

Lucy nodded.

Fortunately, they still had some time to gather more ninja. Sure enough, there was Kimimaro, who appeared to be sharpening his bones.

"Can I help you?" asked Kimimaro.

"We kind of need your help..." answered Lucy.

Kimimaro nodded.

"Are there any other ninja nearby?" asked the teenage girl. She needed all the help that she could get if she wanted to take on Oracion Seis. She was a bit surprised that the allied guilds had given them such a request to be honest with herself.

Kimimaro pointed towards Hinata and Natsu, who was sparring at each other with their fire techniques. Oddly enough, neither of them seemed tired at all.

Shino was sitting nearby, communicating with his insects.

Immediately, Lucy, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kimimaro went to visit the trio.

"Where are Kiba and Akamaru?" asked Lucy.

"I'm afraid that they were injured badly while out on a mission..." answered Shino.

"That's terrible!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

"What exactly happened?" inquired Shikamaru.

"They were on a mission to stop Ebemener Scourge from giving tainted and literally magically delicious chocolate to Konoha and making them morbidly obese...apparently he wanted to get back at Konoha for imprisoning him..." stated Shino.

Perhaps Tsunade needed to keep a better eye on her prisoners.

_Unfortunately for Kiba and Akamaru, they had gotten a bit careless and had been captured by Ebemener Scourge's marshmallow golems._

_Currently, they were being suspended above a vat of chocolate by a rope._

_"Right then...let's lower you in my vat of chocolate, shall we?" asked Ebemener Scourge._

_"No! Not chocolate!" bellowed Kiba._

_"That's our greatest weakness!" screamed Akamaru. Who would have thought that Ebemener would use THAT against them?_

_"Precisely!" exclaimed Ebemener Scourge. Why hadn't he thought of using that against the dog user before? He had destroyed enough of his golems as it was...perhaps he should have made them out of something stronger than marshmallows. Rock candy, perhaps?_

_Immediately, Ebemener Scourge threw his sword and cut the rope, causing Kiba and Akamaru to fall in._

_"Aaargh!" screamed Kiba and Akamaru as they fell inside the vat. Unfortunately, they couldn't activate their flight abilities in time._

_"Hahahaha! Now nobody can stop me!" bellowed the former mayor of Icevale._

"Wow..." said Shikamaru. Who would have thought that Ebemener Scourge would use chocolate to poison Kiba and Akamaru?

"Did he succeed in his plan? Everyone seems as skinny as ever to me..." noted Lucy.

"Fortunately, he did not. Kurenai managed to succeed where they failed..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

_Ebemener Scourge smirked in satisfaction. It appeared that there was nobody to stop him now. Soon the Land Of Fire would be the Land Of Fat. He was absolutely delighted._

_Since he had completed his shift for today, Ebemener Scourge decided to leave through the conveniently located exit. He couldn't wait to look at all the fat Konoha ninjas._

_Unfortunately, as he did so, he ended up falling off a balcony._

_"Aah!" screamed Ebemener as he began to fall._

_As it turned out, Kurenai had tricked Ebemener into doing so by using genjutsu._

_"That'll teach him to poison my apprentice..." remarked Kurenai._

_Fortunately, she had managed to rescue Kiba and Akamaru, so it appeared that they were going to be alright._

_It was a good thing, really. She didn't want her apprentices to be fat. They would stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd, making espionage much more difficult._

_Hopefully Ebemener Scourge would not escape this time. She got the feeling that he had survived the fall...though he would no doubt have several broken bones._

"That was an awfully crazy story...but we don't have much time to listen to you...we really need your help. It's almost time for us to get ready to go after a dark guild!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You can count me in. Natsu? Hinata?" inquired Shino.

At that very moment, Hinata and Natsu decided to stop sparring with each other.

Hinata and Natsu nodded.

Since it was about time for Fairy Tail to prepare to leave, they all entered the interdimensional portal.

Hopefully they would be able to stop Oracion Seis. Personally they wondered what exactly they were up to. Knowing that they were a dark guild, it clearly could not be any good.

_Meanwhile at the Oracion Seis guild..._

"Greetings, my minions. For our latest mission we shall be activating Nirvana...we will then use it to turn the good mages that approach us evil...personally I look forward to making the mages turn on each other...it's rather satisfying, really." noted Brain.

"Can't we just poison them?" asked Cobra.

"We might be able to do that...but personally I just don't see it as satisfying." answered the man.

"Have it your way." said Midnight, Brain's second-in-command.

"Where could Nirvana possibly be?" questioned Angel.

"I believe that we are close to finding it..." answered Brain.

"Finally! This was taking forever!" exclaimed Racer.

"I suppose once we find it all that's left for us will be to activate it..." noted Hoteye.

"That is correct. Unfortunately, it appears that Fairy Tail has been sent after us...apparently, the other guilds believe that with the new agents that they have they will be able to stop us." answered Brain.

Immediately, the other members of the guild began to laugh hysterically. They must be out of their minds.

"Fortunately, we should be able to take care of them. Anyways, I've managed to find a demon that happens to know the way to Nirvana...unfortunately, he is in a comatose state and I need to find a way to awaken him..." explained Brain.

Immediately, Brain showed them a casket containing the demon.

"A demon? You sure this is a good idea?" asked Racer. He looked like an awfully vicious demon.

"If it means finding Nirvana, then yes. I was originally going to use Jellal...but unfortunately I could not find his body. I had heard that he had perished in the Tower Of Heaven...but I never found him there." explained Brain.

"That's a setback..." answered Hoteye.

"No matter. If I can take control of the demon, not only will I have access to Nirvana, I will have access to its power as well. It happens to be a powerful demon, you see. Not as powerful as I am, but powerful nonetheless." stated the man.

"I'm still not sure that this is a good idea.." noted Racer.

"Are you saying that you're going to betray us?" inquired Brain.

"No, of course not!" exclaimed the speedy Oracion Seis member.

"Good. You should know that I have no tolerance to betrayal..." answered the man.

Racer nodded. He was starting to feel rather frightened. Was awakening a demon really such a good idea?

"Right then...I don't think that we have much time to waste. As it turns out, Fairy Tail now has the exact kind of mage we're looking for. It's just a small matter of finding them now. Perhaps if we can capture a Fairy Tail member, they will tell us where they are." answered Brain.

The other Oracion Seis members nodded in agreement.

"Well, I suppose we might as well wait for the Fairy Tail members to show up..." noted the man.

"Why don't we set up a party for them?" asked Racer.

Shrugging, the other Oracion Seis members decided to do so.

Hopefully the Fairy Tail members would arrive before too long. They wanted to clobber them already.

_A few minutes later..._

"That's weird, the Oracion Seis appear to be waiting for us..." questioned Erza.

"This might be a trap..." noted Naruto.

"I suppose we're just going to have to do this together..." answered Makarov.

Immediately, the Fairy Tail squad went into the party to investigate.

As they did so, Natsu and Hinata both felt awfully hungry.

However, they found themselves being ambushed by Midnight.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Midnight.

Hinata spat soda pop on Midnight's face in surprise.

"Grr..." murmured the Oracion Seis mage.

Immediately, the duo attempted to attack Midnight, only to be grabbed by Cubellios.

"Let go!" demanded the duo.

Kimimaro attempted to assist Hinata and Natsu, only to end up being bitten for his trouble.

All of a sudden, he wasn't feeling so well.

"Ugh..." murmured the bone ninja.

Realizing that Hinata and Natsu were in danger, Shino decided that he needed to help his friends.

However, as soon as he went to do so, Shino found himself being ambushed by Angel.

"I would get away if I were you. I have an army of bugs at my disposal." pointed out Shino.

"Oh dear. It's not like I happen to have a can of bug spray...oh wait." answered Angel.

Immediately, Angel sprayed Shino with bug spray.

"Aargh! It burns!" screamed Shino.

Laughing with delight, Angel then summoned two angels to attack Shino.

Unfortunately for Shino, these angels happened to be fallen angels...so they weren't exactly saints.

Immediately, Shino found himself being hit by a rather nasty-looking beam of light.

"I am in so much pain..." remarked Shino as he fell on the ground, nearly unconscious.

"Good!" exclaimed Angel sadistically.

As it turned out, Makarov had decided to take on Brain himself. After all, they are both the guildmasters of their respective guilds.

"You think you can defeat the leader of Oracion Seis himself? Surely you must be mistaken..." answered Brain.

"I can't let you obtain Nirvana!" exclaimed Makarov.

"Since you insist on defying me...very well." stated the man.

Immediately, he summoned a horde of voodoo zombies to attack Makarov.

As it turned out, they wanted to eat his brains. That was the name of their master, after all.

"Nooooooo!" screamed Makarov at the top of his lungs as the zombies began to swarm him. Why couldn't these zombies be vegetarian? Then again, he had never heard of a vegetarian zombie.

Naruto and Erza decided to join the fight. It was the Fairy Tail guildmaster's life on the line after all. If he was slain, there would be much grieving, and it wouldn't just the Fairy Tail guild doing the grieving either. He had a lot of friends outside the guild, in particular other guilds.

Unfortunately, as soon they tried to do so, they were unable to move.

"Huh?" questioned Naruto.

"Oh?" said Erza.

Curious, they looked down, and gasped in shock.

As it turned out, they were now sinking in quicksand courtesy of Hoteye.

"Well, this seems awfully familiar..." noted Erza.

"Not again!" bellowed Naruto. This was their mission in the jungle all over again.

Realizing that wearing heavy armor was going to make her sink deeper, Erza once again requiped into her sarashi.

Sure enough, she was now sinking much more slowly.

"That's better...now then, Naruto, if you would just create some clones and-" stated the knight.

Suddenly, she noticed that Naruto appeared to be in a trance, and appeared to be losing.

"Why do I have to be so sexy?" questioned Erza.

Soon enough, the quicksand hardened, leaving them trapped in cement. Unfortunately, Erza's swords weren't cutting through it.

"And we're trapped..." stated the knight.

Naruto sighed. At least he got to see so much of Erza's skin.

Gray and Juvia attempted to join the fray, the former of which was tossing icicles.

Unfortunately, Midnight reflected the icicles right back at Gray and Juvia, and they were knocked out cold.

"That was too easy!" exclaimed Midnight. His reflector magic was just so darn useful.

Curious, Elfman noticed that for some strange reason Hoteye somewhat resembled Wally...though he wasn't quite sure why. It was really weird.

However, Mirajane interrupted his train of thought, as she had something very important to tell him.

"Um, Elfman..." stated Mirajane.

"What?" asked Elfman.

Before the two of them could react, they were both crushed underneath the heel of a Duplo Tyrannosaurus.

"This is too easy, really..." thought Hoteye. His younger brother Wally preferred to play with Legos instead of Duplos, but apparently that was just the way he was.

Cana attempted to toss cards at Midnight, but unfortunately he reflected them all right back at her. She quickly found herself pinned to a tree.

"Stupid attack reflector shield..." stated Cana. How were they going to get around it? Apparently, projectiles were out of the question.

Realizing that Makarov was being eaten by voodoo zombies, Kakashi decided that it was his best interest to help him out. Fortunately, he had played a few games that involved slaying zombies, so he knew what to do. Quickly, he tossed kunai at the zombies' heads, which appeared to help.

However, more of the voodoo zombies were approaching Makarov. As such, Neji decided to help Makarov well. He was the interdimensional partner of Makarov's grandson, after all. It seemed rather appropriate.

Fortunately, they were able to kill the voodoo zombies, with Kakashi using his Chidori and Neji using his lightning abilities to return the voodoo zombies back to the earth in which they had came.

Unfortunately, since the voodoo zombies lacked a soul, Gentle Fist wouldn't be too effective against them. He was going to have to rely on something other than that particular jutsu in case Brain decided to summon more.

"Oracion Seis is really tough..." answered Makarov. He was worried for a second that he was going to become zombie food, to say the very least.

"I'll say..." nodded Kakashi.

Suddenly, Neji noticed that there appeared to be something falling from the sky.

"Huh?" asked Neji.

Shortly afterward, the three of them found themselves crushed underneath a grand piano by Brain's telekinesis.

"They don't call me Brain for nothing. I knew my piano lessons would come in handy one day." remarked Brain.

Immediately, he began to smirk.

"I can't believe this! We're being slaughtered out here!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"I will admit that things are going south for us..." noted Levy.

Suddenly, they found themselves being attacked by Angel's fallen angels of evil.

"Huh?" asked Gajeel.

Quickly, they found themselves being squeezed by a lethal halo.

"I can't believe...I lost to a girl...again!" exclaimed Gajeel as he passed out.

"You and your sexism..." remarked Levy as she passed out as well.

At this point, only Lucy, Shikamaru, and Choji were left to fight the Oracion Seis Arc members.

"Choji, maybe if you used your body expansion jut-"

Shikamaru was cut off when suddenly he noticed Choji lying on the ground, writhing in pain.

Immediately, Shikamaru ran up to him, concerned at the welfare of his best friend.

"What's the matter?!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

"Ugh...I ate too much food at the party...now I have food poisoning..." stated Choji Akimichi. Why did he have to be so gluttonous? He was starting to see why Ino had asked him not to eat so much.

"Aaugh! Crap!" screamed Shikamaru Nara. It appeared that Choji had eaten too much at the party that Oracion Seis had set up for the Fairy Tail members before their rather brutal battle, and he wouldn't be able to help them at all.

Personally, it reminded him of the time that he had decided to drink a ton of fruit punch...and he had woken up in his underwear in a bathtub full of ice with one of his kidneys cut out. Apparently, the culprit was a pervert.

But on the plus side, Lucy had shown up. She thought that Shikamaru looked awfully sexy in his underwear, and she proceeded to make out with him, taking off her shirt in the process. By the time she was done, Shikamaru was covered with kiss marks.

Oh wait. That had been a nightmare turned into a wonderful dream. He still had both of his kidneys, after all...though he would be willing to donate one for Choji or Lucy.

"I guess we're going to be in the obituaries...where did I put the bagpipes for my funeral?" noted Lucy Heartfilia.

"Darn right, you are. And just for the record, I think you left them in your room." answered Brain.

"Thanks." stated the teenage girl. Why was it so hard to remember where she placed her instruments?

Immediately, he hit them both with a burst of darkness magic, and they went down for the count.

He then decided to take a look at the defeated Fairy Tail members. They all lost horribly.

Sure enough, he let out an evil laugh.

"Fairy Tail's finished." thought Brain.

_A few minutes later..._

After successfully defeating Fairy Tail, Brain had decided what to do with his enemies. Why did people think that they could defeat him and bring him to justice? He was under the impression that his guild was the most powerful in the universe...though he supposed that the other dark guilds begged to differ.

As it turned out, he had trapped them all in a magical rocket so that he could send them elsewhere. He had already chosen a venue.

"I'm going to send you on a one-way trip to the ends of the earth until your prospects take a typical dip!" bellowed Brain.

"Not the ends of the earth! We'll get frostbite!" screamed Happy.

"I don't see what's so bad about that..." questioned Gray.

"That's because you could run around the polar ice caps in your underwear without your temperature dropping a single degree." pointed out Levy.

Juvie began to squeal at that thought.

Immediately, the rocket began to take off.

"So long, Fairy Tail!" exclaimed Brain.

Together, the Oracion Seis members waved farewell to Fairy Tail as they all began to scream. Personally they were a bit surprised that they were all going to die like this. Life was so brief.

Well, it looked like they were off to visit the Eskimos at the North Pole. Maybe they could share igloos?

"Now that we've taken care of our enemies, it's time for us to find Wendy...where could she possibly be?" asked the leader of Oracion Seis.

"She's cowering in a corner along with her friend...whoever he is." stated Angel.

Sure enough, Wendy and Konohamaru were doing just that.

"There you are! Come with me! We're going to awaken a demon!" exclaimed Brain.

Immediately, he picked up Wendy and began to take her with him back to their headquarters.

However, he noticed that Konohamaru was tugging at his leg.

"Nooooo! Take me instead!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

Wendy was rather touched at Konohamaru's heroic sacrifice, to say the very least.

"Why should we?" asked Midnight.

"I happen to have the exact same powers she does..." explained Konohamaru.

"Really?" questioned Cobra.

Konohamaru nodded, and used his Wind Dragon Roar to demonstrate his powers, nearly knocking Brain's staff out of his hands in the process.

"Impressive..." stated Brain.

"Do you have a deal?" asked the teenage boy.

"Why only have Wendy when I can have a two-for-one deal?" answered Brain.

"Um..." said Konohamaru.

Immediately, he found himself being picked up by Midnight.

Konohamaru sighed. It was worth a shot. But it looked like both he and Wendy were both going to Oracion Seis, whether they liked it or not.

_Fifteen minutes later, at the North Pole..._

"Well, that mission to take down Oracion Seis arc didn't go too well..." noted Naruto.

"No, it did not. We all got clobbered." nodded Erza.

"Perhaps we should have prepared first..." acknowledged Kakashi.

"Now we're going to become human popsicles!" exclaimed Happy. Why did Brain have to take them all the way to the North Pole?

"We're awfully far from the equator..." noted Levy. It looked like they were going to have to find a way to get back to Oracion Seis so that they could finish what they started.

"It's times like this where I regret dressing immodestly..." stated Cana. At this rate she was going to get hypothermia.

"I wish that I were a snowman right about now..." said Neji.

"Wait, where are Wendy and Konohamaru? I thought that we took them with us..." stated Naruto.

"Yeah, where are they? I was under the impression that he would stuff them in the rocket along with us...it was awfully cramped in there..." noted Hinata.

"Perhaps Brain had a use for them..." questioned Shino.

"Like...what?" asked Lucy.

"Oh dear..." remembered Makarov.

"What is it, Guildmaster?" inquired Mirajane.

"I think Brain might want them so that he could awaken a demon...I heard rumors that he had found a slumbering demon that knew the way to Nirvana..." stated the guildmaster.

"Oh no! We need to rescue them!" screamed Naruto.

"That's easier said than done...they're probably at Oracion Seis HQ by now..." noted Makarov.

"I suppose we're going to need to find a way to get there then..." nodded Erza.

"Any suggestions?" asked Neji. He doubted that they could simply wish for them to go back to where they were and it would happen. They did not have a genie lamp.

"I have Gamabunta...but I don't think that he would do well in temperatures like this." answered Naruto. He was cold-blooded, after all. He would probably end up being frozen.

"Maybe I could build a teleporter..." said Levy. She was pretty good at inventing things. She was the one that had designed the interdimensional portal so that they could head across dimensions.

"That would probably take a long time...and I hate waiting!" exclaimed Gajeel. He wanted to go home already where it was nice and warm. He hated being in the North Pole. Besides, he got the feeling that the polar bears wanted to eat him.

"We don't have all day. The more time we waste, the more time Brain has to reawaken the demon...and by extension get to Nirvana..." noted Elfman.

"How are we going to get out of here?" questioned Hinata.

Suddenly, they noticed a nearby Eskimo. He appeared to be selling magic carpets.

"Well, speak of the devil." stated Natsu.

"We're going to meet the devil if we don't stop Brain! Let's get going!" exclaimed Gray.

Fortunately, the magic carpets weren't very expensive, and they could use them to fly back to where they were before.

However, as they did so, they noticed that Kimimaro was not with them.

"Where's Kimimaro? Did he get captured too?" questioned Naruto. He wasn't sure what Brain would want with him.

Suddenly, Hinata ran up to Naruto. She had rather urgent matters to discuss.

"Um, Naruto...I think Kimimaro's been poisoned..." stated Hinata.

"What?!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, the Fairy Tail team went to investigate.

Sure enough, there was Kimimaro, who was sprawled out in the snow.

"This isn't good...how are we supposed to save him?" asked Hinata.

"Maybe we could have Wendy or Konohamaru do it?" inquired Naruto.

"Wendy and Konohamaru have been captured, remember?" questioned the teenage girl.

"I know that. I guess it's a race against time then..." noted the chunin.

"Hopefully we can save him before it's too late..." said Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto and Hinata went back to where the others were. As it turned out, they were testing out their flying carpets.

Shrugging, Naruto and Hinata climbed onboard two of them. Hopefully they wouldn't be too difficult to use.

_Meanwhile at Chiyoye's lair..._

As it turned out, Chiyoye had decided to set up a fortress at one of the villagers that she had slaughtered. She had decided to do so due to the fact that it was A rather wealthy village, and she could use to hire mages that were interested in helping her. Unfortunately, it appeared that not many were interested in working with her.

Nonetheless, she liked the job that her undead minions had done with the place. The fortress in question resembled a giant skull...a giant skull dripping with blood.

Shrugging, she decided that she had a favor for her champion and commander of her army, also known as her Death Knight.

"You called, mistress?" asked the Death Knight.

"Yes, I did. I want you to gather the magic from powerful mages...I would prefer Fairy Tail, so I'm sending you after them. However, if you by any chance encounter a mage that's equal to or stronger than them, feel free to drain their powers as well. Come back when you've gathered at least six..." stated Chiyoye.

The Death Knight nodded. He would perform this task for his mistress.

Immediately, he began to leave the fortress.

Fortunately, it appeared that since Fairy Tail was currently occupied dealing with a dark guild, she had some free time on her hands, and she did not need to worry about them discovering her hideout.

Of course, she had been smart and had been careful to protect her hideout from intruders. She didn't want to have any hero coming to her and try to slay her, though admittedly she wouldn't mind draining them of life.

Feeling rather satisfied, she decided to relax on her throne, which she made out of human skulls. They were always so plentiful when you were a mass murderer.

Speaking of dark guilds, she began to remember the time that she was part of one. Unfortunately, she had been kicked out before too long. She remembered the incident that had gotten her kicked out quite well.

_"Greetings, my minions and fellow mages. As of now, we are currently interrogating a prisoner." said the leader of the dark guild._

_Naturally, Chiyoye was attending._

_"Unfortunately, he is being stubborn and has refused to divulge information to us. As such, you all have permission to interrogate him to get the information you want. And yes, you are allowed to torture him. Just make sure that you don't drive him insane...we need him to be sane so that we can continue to gain information from him..." explained the guildmaster._

_Chiyoye nodded. This was going to be awfully fun._

_Immediately, Chiyoye waited patiently for the fellow mages in her guild to be done with the prisoner. She had to admit, it felt awfully satisfying to listen to the prisoner scream. Still, she wondered when it was going to be her turn._

_Eventually, one of the senior officers in the guild beckoned her. It looked like it was her turn to shine._

_She smiled in satisfaction._

_A few hours later, the senior officer went to check on Chiyoye. She had not yet reported her results to the guildmaster, and he wanted another mage to take over for the time being._

_As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, he wished that he hadn't._

_Sure enough, there was the prisoner...but there was something off about him. He was snarling at him like a wild animal. In addition, he was giggling madly. He also appeared to be foaming on the mouth._

_Immediately, he felt rather sickened. It appeared that Chiyoye had interrogated him for much too long, and she had tortured him to the point that he had gone insane._

_"Admiring my handiwork?" questioned Chiyoye._

_Feeling rather frightened, the senior officer went to alert the guild master._

_He came by a few minutes later._

_"Chiyoye, what have you done?!" bellowed the guildmaster._

_"Oh, I tortured him so that he went insane...completely and utterly insane." answered Chiyoye. To her, it had felt quite satisfying sucking every last drop of sanity out of him._

_However, her guildmaster did not see things her way._

_"That's horrific, Chiyoye! And you want to know what the worst part is? We can't even interrogate him now! if we try to question him, he'll just snarl at us!" exclaimed the man._

_"Oh, I already got the information I needed. I just wanted to play with him some more..." stated the sorceress._

_"That's it! From now on, you are suspended from our guild! Now get out of my sight!" bellowed the guildmaster._

_Chiyoye frowned, and immediately did as the guildmaster asked._

_"Shouldn't we have asked her what she had gotten out of the prisoner?" asked the senior officer._

_"I do not want it anymore! In fact, I'm about to retire..." said the man. After seeing what Chiyoye had done to him, he did not want to do anything evil for a long, long time._

_As he left the room as well, he instructed the senior officer to put the prisoner out of his misery. At this point, he did not have much left to live for._

_The senior officer nodded, and stabbed him through the head._

"Some leader of a dark guild he was! He couldn't even put up with my antics...I'm baffled how soft he was." thought Chiyoye to herself. She would later get revenge by burning the dark guild headquarters to the ground. To this day, nobody was quite sure how that had happened, though not too many were sad to see the dark guild gone.

Well, nobody but her of course.

_Oh dear...it looks like Fairy Tail is going to have to __rethink their strategy. They all got horribly slaughtered out there. Not only that, but Wendy and Konohamaru __have been captured and Kimimaro's been poisoned. Things aren't going too well for them right now, wouldn't you say?_

_And to make matters worse Chiyoye is sending her Death Knight to gather the magic from powerful mages...this cannot be good news for anybody._


	60. Chapter 60: No Brainer

_In this chapter, Konohamaru and Wendy are going to be taken to Oracion Seis HQ...but thankfully they're going to break out. But they need to hurry if they want to save Kimimaro._

_However, they'll have to face a member of the guild first. Can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint...he just might remind you of Sonic the Hedgehog._

_Oh, and then they'll reunite with Fairy Tail so that they can heal Kimimaro and remove the deadly snake venom from his body. How about that?_

**Chapter 60: No Brainer**

"Where are we?" asked Konohamaru, looking around. His instinct was telling him that he was not in a good place. For starters, it looked rather creepy. And he got the feeling that there was something evil inside.

Well, aside from Brain himself of course. He was definitely evil. Why else would he want to create a dark guild? Hand out Girl Scout cookies?

On the ceiling was a chandelier that was made completely out of silver. Much of the walls had been painted black, and there was a red carpet.

Taking a closer look, Konohamaru noticed that the carpet appeared to be stained with blood. There were also several suits of armor inside the hallway...armor that happened to be stained with blood as well. Apparently, things had gotten rather messy.

"Ugh..." murmured the preteen boy. What was Brain doing in this mansion? Did it once belong to his ancestors or something? He wondered what his ancestors could possibly be like. Maybe they were evil dictators and the like? Just when was magic invented?

"Welcome to my humble estate..." answered Brain.

"Humble?" questioned Wendy. He had clearly spent a lot of money on the place...money that he had probably stolen in retrospect.

Curious, they looked around, and noticed that they appeared to be in a manor. An evil manor. Sure enough, there appeared to be lightning outside. It was quite frightening, really.

It was rather strange. The forecast stated that it would be sunny. Was the meteorologist a liar? Or was he really bad at his job? Either way, he was probably going to get fired.

"So this is where your headquarters is..." stated Wendy. Personally he was under the impression that Brain's hideout would be in a laboratory or something. But apparently he wasn't a mad scientist despite his name.

Brain nodded. This was where he and his minions concocted their evil schemes...and occasionally had a party. Why couldn't they clean up after themselves for a change? He was sick of having to do the job himself. He didn't even like balloons.

"Right then...I need you two to do me a favor. You see, you both have the exact kind of magic that I need...for some strange reason, none of my guild had ever bothered using healing spells...apparently, they thought those were for good mages..." stated Brain.

"Having healing magic doesn't necessarily mean that you're a good person..." noted Wendy. It might in fact be useful for interrogating ninja in case they wanted to torture them.

Konohamaru in particular recalled Orochimaru having an experienced ninja on his side that was capable of using healing jutsu. It made him very difficult to kill, to say the very least.

Personally he wished that Orochimaru had never managed to find him...he wouldn't be nearly as successful in his experiments if it weren't for him. Though to be fair, he wasn't able to cure Kimimaro's illness since he didn't know much about his Kaguya clan. Apparently, being the last survivor of that sort of clan had its disadvantages.

"I keep telling them that, but they don't seem interested in listening to me..." acknowledged the guildmaster.

"Sorry to hear that..." sympathized Konohamaru.

"Now then, where was I?" asked the leader of Oracion Seis.

Immediately, he pulled out the coffin that he had shown to Oracion Seis earlier. Konohamaru's eyes began to widen. Just looking at it made him feel uneasy.

"What kind of favor?" asked Wendy. Somehow, she got the feeling that Brain was up to no good. What exactly was inside the coffin?

Immediately, he opened a coffin, revealing a demon with six arms, red skin, a tail, and black eyes. Also, his tongue was purple and he possessed a barbed tail. He had hooves for feet, as if he were a satyr. An evil satyr.

"Would you look at that..." said the female dragonslayer.

Konohamaru gulped. Personally he was under the impression that demons only existed in fairy tales...he then remembered that this was a fairy tale world.

Was the demon going to torture him if he woke up? Granted, he probably wasn't injured in torturing someone as young as himself, but it was still a concern. Of course, Brain didn't seem to want any information out of them, but perhaps he was sadistic.

Fortunately for Wendy and Konohamaru, it appeared that the demon was injured though, as it was covered with what appeared to be scars from sort of holy attack. Apparently, it had gone into slumber to avoid death, waiting for someone to heal him so that he could resume causing chaos.

Perhaps that was going to be the big day.

Sure enough, Brain was planning on healing the demon, and he began to explain his intentions.

"I need you to heal him so that I can use him to find Nirvana...and maybe use him to attack Fairy Tail while I'm at it.. They never seem to learn." stated Brain.

Of course, neither Wendy or Konohamaru had intention of doing such an evil thing. Awakening demons was not something that they did at Fairy Tail, especially not for dark guild masters. Makarov would kill them if he found out that they were doing so. He certainly was not the man that would make a deal with the devil.

"Are you insane? No way!" exclaimed Wendy.

Konohamaru shook his head. There was no way either of them were going to help Brain with his mad schemes.

Upon being refused, Brain transformed into his Zero state. He immediately glared at Wendy and Konohamaru, who were starting to sweat rather nervously.

**"You must awaken the demon or else you will die!" **bellowed Zero at the top of his lungs in a very scary voice.

Wendy and Konohamaru gasped in shock. They had not been expecting such an outburst.

Apparently, they didn't have a choice but to go along with his demands.

"OK...we'll do it...just don't hurt us!" bellowed Konohamaru. Brain was rather persuasive, to say the very least...especially in his crazy alter ego.

Brain transformed back into his normal state, satisfied that Wendy and Konohamaru were going to do what he wanted.

Reluctantly, Wendy and Konohamaru began to heal the demon. Sure enough, his injuries were beginning to disappear.

In just a few minutes, they were done with their work.

Immediately, they began to hide behind one of the suits of armor. They were rather frightened by the demon, to say the very least.

Sure enough, the demon back to wake up, stretching out all six of his arms and yawning.

"Ah...I've been slumbering for 666 years...I wonder how I ended up in this mansion..." stated the demon.

"That would be...I brought you here so that you can do my bidding!" exclaimed Brain.

"Your bidding? Now why would I do that?" asked the devil.

"I brought you to life!" bellowed the mage.

"You may have a point...but why should I?" inquired the demon.

"I can always seal you back in that coffin..." pointed out Brain.

"Alright, you got me. My name is Devix...pleased to meet you, I suppose..." said Devix.

Immediately, he shook hands with Brain. All six of his hands.

"Why do you have six arms?" asked Wendy.

"I wanted an advantage in hand-to-hand combat. A lot of demons have petty squabbles with me..." noted the demon.

"Can't argue with that logic..." answered Konohamaru.

"Now then...tell me where I can find Nirvana!" exclaimed Brain.

"Oh, that? It's been in your basement the whole time..." stated Devix.

Brain sweatdropped.

"You know, it's funny...my master once told me that one of his friends went up with a young man with six arms once..." noted the teenage boy.

"I've seen him...he does everything a spider can...in Hell!" exclaimed Devix.

"Er, yeah..." nodded Konohamaru. Hopefully he could purify himself of his sins one day along with the rest of his squad. But for the time being, it looked like he was stuck there.

"Now then, where were we? You really need to clean that place out. It's full of cobwebs..." stated the demon.

Brain sighed. When was the last time he had summoned his maid?

Shrugging, he decided to have Racer do the job...which he reluctantly accepted.

In just a few minutes, he was done.

"Done and finished..." said Racer, who was now covered with soot.

Sure enough, there was Nirvana, inside the basement.

"Why have I never noticed that before?" asked the man.

Racer shrugged.

Immediately, Brain picked up Nirvana. For some strange reason, it resembled a spider...and was about the size of one.

"Yes! Now all I have to do is activate it!" exclaimed Brain.

"By the way, the two kids you were with are escaping." stated Devix.

"What?!" bellowed the man.

Sure enough, Wendy and Konohamaru were running out of the mansion.

"It's a good thing he was distracted..." acknowledged Wendy.

"Now seemed as good of a time as any to make a break for it..." agreed Konohamaru.

Together, the two of them climbed up the stairs and ran towards the door.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the door was locked.

"Oh no! The door is locked! What are we going to do?" asked the preteen boy.

"Maybe we need to do what the Big Bad Wolf did in The Three Little pigs...Grandeeney read that to me when I was small..." acknowledged Wendy.

"Good idea!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

Immediately, Konohamaru and Wendy huffed and puffed...and blew the door down.

Sure enough, Brain heard them busting down the door.

"Damn it! That was solid mahogany!" bellowed Brain.

"Yes! We're free!" exclaimed the boy.

"Don't celebrate yet, Konohamaru. We still need to find a way to get back to Fairy Tail..which thankfully doesn't seem to be too far from here." stated Wendy.

"I guess we better start heading there then..." noted Konohamaru. Surely they would be safe within its walls, right? Granted, Fairy Tail had lost to Oracion Seis earlier...but they had been fighting offensively at the time and had no idea what they were up against.

Realizing that he might still have use for the two due to their magic potential, Brain decided to send Racer after them, since he was the closest.

"Bring them back to me!" demanded Brain.

Racer nodded.

"So...now that you're done with me, do you want me back to home sweet home?" asked Devix.

"Is there anything else you're talented at?" inquired Brain.

"I could gather some of my friends...this seems like a decent place to hang out." noted the demon.

"Do what you wish. Just don't wreck the place or I'll banish you and your friends back to Hell." warned Brain.

"Don't worry...we'll try to behave ourselves...though we'll most likely have a hell of a time..." stated Devix.

"Very funny..." answered the man.

Immediately, Devix went to the dining room.

Meanwhile, Wendy and Konohamaru stormed out of the manor.

"It's a good thing we managed to make a getaway..." noted Konohamaru.

"Yeah...and yet, this feels too easy..." answered Wendy.

"We've got company!" warned the teenage boy.

Sure enough, Racer was chasing down out of the manor, hoping to recapture them.

Fortunately, he wasn't as fast as his name implied, and they were able to elude him for a fair distance.

However, as he started getting closer to them, Wendy and Konohamaru started running slower.

"What's going on?" asked Wendy in a slowed down voice.

"Our voices sound really messed up..." noted Konohamaru.

Eventually, Racer caught up with them.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Racer.

Immediately, he stabbed Konohamaru in the leg.

"Ow! My leg!" bellowed Konohamaru.

Fortunately, Wendy managed to blow Racer away using her Wind Dragon Roar, then proceeded to heal Konohamaru.

"Thanks..." stated Konohamaru.

However, Racer was still pursuing them, and once again, they were feeling rather slow.

"I don't get it...this didn't happen when he was first chasing us..." questioned Konohamaru.

"Maybe it only has a certain range?" inquired Wendy.

"Either way, I'm getting tired of running like this. At this rate I'm going to run out of breath...even if I happen to be a wind dragonslayer like you..." noted Konohamaru.

"Yeah...taxi!" exclaimed Wendy.

Quickly, Wendy and Konohamaru summoned a taxi to get away from Racer.

"It looks like we're safe now..." noted Konohamaru.

"Judging from the fact that you just tempted fate, we are not safe..." answered Wendy.

Curious, Konohamaru looked out the window, his eyes widening as he discovered Racer had summoned a motorcycle to pursue them.

"You think that it's that easy to get away from me?" inquired Racer.

"He's awfully stubborn..." noted Konohamaru.

Personally, he wondered how far he was going to chase them. It seemed that they were a few miles away from the manor at this point. Did the motorcycle even have fuel?

Unfortunately, the motorcycle that Racer was riding happened to come with weapons.

Immediately, the motorcycle opened fire on them.

"Aah!" exclaimed Wendy.

"Oh no!" bellowed Konohamaru.

And to make matters worse, one of the bullets hit the driver in the head.

"Guess what? I'm a dead man! See you later in the obituaries!" bellowed the driver, who fell to the ground shortly afterwards.

Wendy and Konohamaru screamed in horror. Who was going to drive now?

This unfortunately forced Wendy and Konohamaru to try to drive the taxi themselves...and neither of them had a driver's license.

"Whoa!" bellowed Konohamaru.

"Where are the brakes?!" screamed Wendy.

"I can't reach them!" exclaimed the boy. Why did his legs have to be so small?

Unsurprisingly, the two of them ended up crashing their taxi, leaving them on foot.

"Oh man..." stated the teenage boy.

"Thank Mavis Vermillion we have car insurance..." said Wendy.

"Do you have health insurance?" inquired Racer.

Konohamaru and Wendy gulped.

Sure enough, there was Racer, and he was driving a monster truck.

"Give it up already! Guildmaster Brain is waiting for you!" bellowed Racer.

"He must be getting impatient..." acknowledged Wendy.

"I guess I'm going to have to try out the technique that Naruto taught me..." noted Konohamaru. Fortunately, he was a very strong nina for his young age.

Immediately, he tossed a Rasengan at the monster truck.

This worked surprisingly well, and the monster truck exploded.

"Aah!" bellowed the man.

"Yes!" cheered Konohamaru.

However, Racer survived the explosion, albeit with some small injuries. Apparently, he was rather tough.

"You ruined my ride! You kids are going to pay for this!" exclaimed Racer, cracking his knuckles.

In retaliation, he summoned a bulldozer to attack Wendy and Konohamaru.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep running..." stated Wendy. Racer had many vehicles at his disposal, it seemed...and they all came with several different weapons.

"Maybe we should try leaping!" suggested Konohamaru.

"Leaping?" questioned Wendy.

"Ninjas do it all the time...it should come naturally to you..." noted the boy.

Shrugging, Wendy decided to try doing so. She was surprised how far she jumped.

"Huh. I guess I can jump pretty high now..." stated Wendy.

Sure enough, this proved to be faster than running. Wendy was glad that she was a ninja now...even if she was only a genin.

Eventually, the bulldozer crashed into a tree.

In frustration, Racer switched back to his motorbike.

"I'm going to catch you kids! Don't think you can escape from me!" bellowed Racer.

Immediately, he began to chase after them.

Checking the inside of the motorcycle, he discovered that there were several bombs inside.

Quickly, he began to toss them at Wendy and Konohamaru.

"Whoa!" bellowed Wendy.

"He must be really mad..." acknowledged Konohamaru.

"I'm going to take you back to Brain even if I have to blow your legs off!" bellowed Racer.

"He's getting serious..." stated the female dragonslayer.

"He sure is...although...those explosives do give me an idea..." said the male dragonslayer.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Brain had called the members of Oracion Seis for a meeting. However, he quickly noticed that Racer was not present. Was he still trying to catch the two mages that had escaped from his grasp while he was distracted?

"Hmm...Racer's taking an awful long time..." noted Brain. It had been at least half an hour since he had sent Racer after them to catch Konohamaru and Wendy so that he could continue using their healing abilities for his own purposes.

Personally he was under the impression that Racer would catch them by now. Why would it be such a difficult task? Surely he could slow them down enough for him to grab them once they were affected by his slowing magic.

"I'm sure that he'll be back sooner or later..." answered Midnight. Personally he wondered why Racer couldn't catch them when he had vehicles and Wendy and Konohamaru were on foot. Did he forget to go to the gas station or something?

"There does seem to be something off about those kids though..." stated Angel.

"Personally I wonder if their healing magic could be used to cure my venom..." questioned Cobra. If so, he might have a problem if they managed to make it back to Fairy Tail.

Personally he found it rather unlikely considering that Fairy Tail was at the ends of the earth...but they were probably finding a way to get themselves back to their guild.

"Maybe I should use my quicksand abilities to catch them..." suggested Hoteye.

"I'm sure that Racer will be fine..." stated Brain. After all, they were one of the top dark guilds in Fiore. Why would they lose against another guild after all the ones that they had conquered?

_Back outside the manor..._

Racer shot at Wendy and Konohamaru using his motorbike, but they quickly took cover behind the trees.

"Why are all the trees here dead?" questioned Konohamaru.

Wendy put her hand over Konohamaru's mouth.

"Shh! Be quiet! We don't want him to hear us!" warned Wendy in a quiet voice.

"Sorry." apologized Konohamaru.

Fortunately, it appeared that Racer had lost sight of them both, and he began to search for them.

"Where are you? You know you can't hide from me..." stated Racer.

Personally he was surprised that he was having a hard time catching the two. They were always persistent in staying away from him, to say the very least. And unfortunately they had figured out the weakness in his slowing magic.

He was rather surprised that they of all people would be able to figure it out. Perhaps he needed to get a few new spells.

Taking advantage of his opportunity, Konohamaru tossed a kunai at Racer.

Quickly, he moved out of the way to avoid it.

"What was that?" asked Racer.

Konohamaru and Wendy then followed by attaching paper bombs to several trees. They were attached to a tripwire...which of course would go off if Racer stepped on it.

"Where did you get these?" asked Wendy as she set up more paper bombs.

"They sell them at the ninja academy...but only to those that have been certified as ninja...they aren't exactly toys..." acknowledged Konohamaru.

"Yeah...they'd probably blow up in my face if I tried to use them as writing paper..." questioned Wendy.

Sure enough, Racer was coming.

Quickly, the two of them dispersed.

"Alright, I've had enough of this game of hide and seek! Come on out already and-"

Suddenly, he tripped over the tripwire.

"What are they up t-"

Racer was interrupted with a loud explosion.

"Oh crap..." murmured Racer.

Sure enough, the paper bombs were beginning to go off.

"Oh god! I need to run!" screamed the man, not looking forward to being blown to smithereens.

Unsurprisingly, Racer went to do just that, but he was sent flying by a subsequent explosion, causing him to scream just like Wilhelm.

"Did I just scream like Wilhelm? That scream is so overused..." remarked Racer.

Immediately, he crashed into a tree.

"Ugh...my face..." murmured Racer. All of a sudden, he had fresh bruises.

Suddenly, he discovered that his motorbike had been destroyed by the explosion.

"Aaugh!" screamed Racer. Not his precious motorbike!

Wendy and Konohamaru gave each other a high five. Teamwork had really paid off, it seemed.

"You little brats!" screamed the now furious Racer. Now he was going to have to get a new motorbike...and those didn't grow on trees..unless you counted the pieces of shrapnel that had gotten lodged into the trees where Wendy and Konohamaru had set up the paper bombs.

It was going to be quite a story to tell to his repairman...assuming that the motorcycle hadn't been damaged beyond repair. He was probably going to have to get a new motorcycle.

"Oh dear...he doesn't give up, does he?" asked Konohamaru.

"I was hoping that he would eventually call off the search...but I guess not..." answered Wendy. How determined was Brain to get them back, anyway? Granted, he had only sent one member of his guild after them, but still.

"There you are!" exclaimed Racer. Finally he could get this over with. He was starting to wonder if another member of the guild was coming to get him. Brain loathed tardiness with every fiber of his being.

Immediately, he began to walk over to where they were.

"And we've been talking too much..." stated the preteen girl.

"What do we do?" asked Konohamaru. Clearly they did not have much time.

"If only there was a way to combine our powers...maybe that way we would stand a chance against him..." said Wendy.

Suddenly, Konohamaru felt the urge to try grabbing Wendy's arm.

Trusting his instinct, he decided to do so.

"Huh?" asked Wendy.

He then proceeded to stretch it out along with his.

A few seconds later, things started to become quite windy all of a sudden.

"Whoa! Hold on to your hat!" exclaimed Wendy.

"I don't wear a hat..." pointed out Konohamaru.

"Well, you wear a headband..." pointed out the female dragonslayer.

"Oh, right..." said the preteen boy. Most ninjas tended to wear one to show off their nationality, and he was no exception.

Immediately, he grabbed onto his headband since that was the last thing in the world he wanted to lose. If it even got scratched, people would think that he was a missing-nin, and they would probably take action against him.

Racer attempted to approach Wendy and Konohamaru, but the wind was restricting his movement. He couldn't reach them at a ll.

"C'mon! Brain's going to be mad at me for being late for one of his meetings!" exclaimed Racer, trying to push his way through it. He knew what a bad boss his boss could be when he was angered.

How had things gotten so windy all of a sudden? The weather was rather bizarre today. It had been pretty sunny just a few moments ago.

Suddenly, he began to hear some very loud howling. It appeared that something was approaching him...something big.

"What's going on?" asked the motorcycle driver. For some strange reason, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was in a very bad situation, and that he should look for a bunker.

As it turned out, there was a tornado heading straight towards him. Immediately, he began to scream.

"I'm going to be sent away to the Land Of Oz!" thought the man. And he doubted that he could simply click his heels together and say "There's no place like home."

Unfortunately, the tornado was too quick for him to outrun, and he ended up being swallowed.

"Aah!" screamed Racer.

Suffice to say, Racer found himself being injured. Significantly.

"Ugh..." murmured the man.

Suddenly, he noticed Wendy and Konohamaru, who were both charging up a Rasengan. It appeared that were up for another team attack.

"Kids..." said Racer.

Wendy and Konohamaru tossed both Rasengans at Racer, and that was it. He was down for the count...and they were free to finally return home. Or in Konohamaru's case, to Fairy Tail.

"It looks like we did it..." stated Wendy. No doubt Brain would be surprised if he found out that Racer had lost to hem.

"I'm surprised that we managed to pull it off..." acknowledged Konohamaru.

Immediately, Wendy and Konohamaru decided to head back home. Fortunately, all they needed to do is follow the yellow brick road...however long it was.

Unbeknownst to them however, a certain individual was approaching the now unconscious Racer.

Quickly, he grabbed onto Racer...and drained the magic out of him.

He then left him there on the ground, disappearing as suddenly as he appeared.

Of course, that individual was Chiyoye's number two.

"My mistress will be pleased..." stated the Death Knight.

Of course, he decided that he might as well keep looking for mages to drain. The more mages he managed to get, the better. Still, he got the feeling that his mistress would want to return for too long. Granted, she was rather patient, but still.

_Meanwhile..._

"We've finally managed to make it back home...it took forever!" exclaimed Naruto.

"How's Kimimaro holding up?" asked Hinata.

"He still appears to be ill from the poison..." noted Shino. Personally he was worried that Kimimaro was going to die from it. He had just barely survived his illness when it had kicked in during his battle with Chiyoye after all.

"I guess we're going to have to try to rescue Wendy then..." stated Erza. The sooner they did so, the more time they had to save Kimimaro's life. They didn't want to end up losing a guild member...though considering how powerful the dark guild they were facing were perhaps sacrifices had to be made.

"Don't forget Konohamaru!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, they went into the meeting room to come up with the plan to save Wendy and Konohamaru from the madman that called himself Brain.

"Maybe we could get a catapult and toss stones at his hideout until he released them..." suggested Gray.

"Where are we going to get that many rocks?" asked Hinata.

Gray sighed. He had no idea.

"Maybe we could try to disguise ourselves?" inquired Naruto.

"That would probably take a long time.." pointed out Levy.

At that very moment, Wendy and Konohamaru stepped in.

"Um, excuse me-"

"Not now, Konohamaru! We're plotting a rescue mission!" bellowed Naruto.

"Naruto..." said Konohamaru.

"We're busy! Leave us alone so that we can have our meeting!" demanded the chunin.

"Naruto!" yelled Wendy.

"What?!" exclaimed Naruto, looking in the other direction.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened.

"Konohamaru! There you are! Where is Wendy?" asked the boy.

"Over here!" exclaimed Wendy, waving at Naruto.

Immediately, everyone at the meeting hall gasped in surprise. They were not expecting Wendy and Konohamaru to show up so quickly.

"How did you manage to rescue yourselves?" questioned Neji. He had no idea how they managed to pull it off. Perhaps Brain had underestimated them.

"Well, it wasn't easy...we had to take on a member of the Oracion Seis member on the way here...but we managed to pull it off...and he's probably still unconscious too." stated Konohamaru.

"That's really impressive!" exclaimed Levy.

"Meh...I bet I could take on the entire dark guild by myself..." stated Gajeel.

"But even when we tried fighting together we got slaughtered..." pointed out Lucy.

"I wasn't ready yet..." pouted the iron dragonslayer.

"Which member did you face?" inquired Cana.

"Well, he tried slowing us down with his magic...so we needed to keep him at a distance..." explained Wendy.

"It appears that you went up against Racer then..." answered Makarov. It was good news for Wendy and Konohamaru that Racer's magic did not work at long-range, which gave them both the opportunity to attack him.

"Still, even with one member short, we're still going to need to come up with a strategy if we want to keep fighting Brain and his army..." suggested Shikamaru. They couldn't just rush headlong at the guild and hope for the best. They had already lost to them once, after all.

Perhaps it would be best if they analyzed the powers of the other Oracion Seis members and come up with a way to counteract them. Apparently, Wendy and Konohamaru had managed to find a way to counteract Racer's powers judging from his defeat.

"How did you manage to defeat Racer?" asked Shikamaru.

"Since his slowing magic only worked at close range, we used our slowing magic to blow him away..." stated Wendy.

"We also used our Rasengan to blow up his vehicles..." answered Konohamaru.

"Good to see you managed to find his weaknesses..." said the shadow ninja. With one member of the guild down, taking on the rest would be easier. Still, they needed to be cautious. There were still four members of the guild left if they wanted to get to Brain.

And of course, he was now focusing on activating Nirvana.

"And another thing...he forced us to reawaken a demon...so he may have that on his side now..." said Wendy.

"A demon? That sounds bad..." noted Hinata.

"Yeah...Erza and I both faced a demon before in the Tower Of Heaven...it wasn't fun for us..." stated Naruto. Those demons had been rather powerful.

"It happened to have six arms..." continued Konohamaru.

"By the way, would you heal Kimimaro already? I'm really worried about his health after that snake bite..." asked Erza.

Wendy and Konohamaru nodded, and went to do just that.

Fortunately, it appeared that Kimimaro would be fine. He had been able to shrug off the terminal illness afflicting his body for quite some time after all.

"Phew..." stated Konohamaru. It appeared that Kimimaro would be able to fight once again.

In fact, he appeared to be waking.

Pretty soon, he was on his feet, and he joined up with the group that was going after Oracion Seis.

"We have no time to waste! Let us head to Brain and stop him from activating Nirvana!" ordered Brain.

Immediately, the Fairy Tail squad set out to stop Brain and his demented plans.

"What about us?" asked Konohamaru.

"If you need anything there's some food in the fridge..." stated Naruto.

"Alright..." nodded Wendy.

"We'll go get you if we need anyone else to be liberated from poison..." explained Hinata.

Immediately, the Anti-Oracion Seis squad left the building.

Konohamaru shrugged. Hopefully there would be delicious food inside...and that Hinata, Choji, and Natsu had not eaten it all.

As they did so, Carla woke up from her cat nap.

"What's all the commotion?" asked Carla.

Suddenly, she noticed Wendy.

"Ah, there you are!" exclaimed the Exceed.

Immediately, Wendy and Carla began to hug.

"You two sure are close, aren't you?" questioned Konohamaru.

"We sure are!" bellowed Wendy.

"Who's your friend?" asked Carla.

"I met him on the other side of the interdimensional portal..." stated the female dragonslayer.

"Oh..." said the Exceed. It was good to see that Wendy was making friends...she had been awfully lonely since Grandeeney had left her. It was good that Grandeeney had directed her to Fairy Tail so that she could finally make some real friends for a change. Being in an illusionary guild probably did her toll on her mind.

_Meanwhile..._

"What is taking Racer so long? I was under the impression that he would be back by now!" exclaimed Midnight.

"Who would have thought that those two kid would keep him so busy?" questioned Cobra.

Brain sighed. It looked like he wouldn't be able to use Wendy and Konohamaru to heal him and his team. But perhaps he didn't have use for them anyway.

"It's a shame...he's going to miss out on all the fun..." stated Angel.

"We're going to make each and every Fairy Tail member turn evil...maybe they'll start calling themselves Imp Tail..." questioned Hoteye.

"Perhaps they will...well, I suppose we'll just have to continue the plan without him..." said Brain.

Immediately, he turned to Nirvana. Personally he was rather surprised that it had been in his basement the whole time. Next time he was going to keep his mansion clean, even the attic.

Suddenly, Devix entered the room.

"Do you mind?! We're trying to have a meeting here!" exclaimed Brain.

"I just wanted to let you know that Fairy Tail is coming this way to stop you...they're not exactly friends of yours, are they?" asked Devix.

"Of course not...wait, how did they escape from the ends of the earth?!" bellowed the evil guildmaster.

"Did you know that they were having a magic carpet sale at the North Pole?" inquired Devix.

"Curses! Well, one of us is going to have to stop them in their tracks and keep them busy while we focus on activating Nirvana...any volunteers?" inquired Brain.

"Personally I think that I would be the one for this task...since I can create quicksand..." acknowledged Hoteye.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that..." answered Angel.

"I guess it's up to you to keep them busy then..." stated Cobra.

Immediately, Hoteye set out to stop Fairy Tail, riding an airplane made out of Duplo bricks.

"And now there's just four of us..." noted Midnight.

"Hopefully he'll have more luck than Racer did..." remarked Angel.

_A few minutes later..._

"I think I see the manor out in the distance..." said Hinata.

As it turned out, she was using her Byakugan to search for the manor along with Neji.

"It appears that's the place..." noted Neji.

"Let's get going!" exclaimed Elfman.

Suddenly, they found themselves sinking in quicksand.

"Oh great! It's him again!" bellowed Naruto. He had recalled the unfortunate incident when they had encountered Hoteye earlier. Mirajane and Elfman had been taken down by him as well.

And this time, his guildmates were all sinking too.

"There's got to be a way out of this mess..." remarked Kakashi. Surely there had to be a way.

Sure enough, there was Hoteye, and he had brought several Duplo creatures with him.

"Sorry, but I can't let you go any further! That would be bad for my boss's business!" exclaimed Hoteye.

"I suppose not..." answered Lucy.

Unfortunately, the quicksand had already hardened into cement.

"How are we going to get out of this?" asked Gray.

Curious, Juvia decided to transform into water to see if that would do the trick...oddly enough, it actually did. She was able to seep through the cracks.

"That actually worked..." thought Juvia.

Likewise, Neji managed to break free using his lightning abilities...since earth was weak to lightning in his world.

"This might be a job for me..." remarked Neji.

Choji was able to break free as well by expanding his body.

"Here I come!" exclaimed Choji.

Suddenly, his stomach began to grumble.

"Where did I put my chili dogs?" asked the teenage boy. He needed to keep better track of his food.

Immediately, the three of them began to attack Hoteye, causing him to lose concentration and allowing the others to escape.

"Yes! We're free!" exclaimed Cana.

"But I wanted a mud bath..." complained Erza.

"We can have one later...just the two of us." answered Naruto.

Erza smiled. That seemed rather enjoyable.

"What? How did you get out?" inquired Hoteye.

"For your information, Fairy Tail is not as weak as you might think..." noted Juvia.

"You think you can handle him, Choji?" asked Shikamaru.

"If it's your life on the line, then yes!" exclaimed Choji.

"Be careful Neji...this reminds me a bit of the time you went up against Kidomaru..." noted Hinata.

"Didn't the author already mention him in this chapter?" asked Neji.

"I know...it's kind of weird..." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"Be careful out there, Juvia!" warned Gray.

Immediately, Gray gave Juvia a kiss.

Together, the Fairy Tail squad (now missing a few members), continued making their path towards the manor.

Hopefully, Juvia, Choji, and Neji would be able to keep Hoteye still long enough.

"You think they can handle him?" asked Lucy.

"Hopefully. They appear to be our best shot in taking him down...Wendy and Konohamaru seemed to be a good choice for Racer...though admittedly they were by themselves at the time..." stated Shikamaru.

"Oddly enough we seem to have left them at the Fairy Tail guild by themselves..." answered the teenage girl. Would they be safe from Brain if he decided to hunt them down? Granted, he probably didn't need them anymore, but still.

"I told them that if they saw anyone approach...then they could use the interdimensional portal so that they could hide..." noted the guildmaster. Hopefully that would do the trick.

"That seems fair enough..." acknowledged Naruto. He wouldn't want his apprentice and his friend to be threatened again.

"You think Juvia and your friends will catch up with us?" asked Gray.

"Probably not...the last time my squad and I went on a mission like this, none of us were able to catch up with each other...to be fair, we each did make it out alive...though Choji and Neji were both badly injured..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"That is rather unfortunate..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah, I was there...I ended up making it the farthest..." said Naruto.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get to go on that mission since I was on a family trip..." noted Shino.

"Yeah...I couldn't go either since I was having a doctor's appointment...at least Kiba got to go along..." answered Hinata.

"Unfortunately, he won't be coming with us this time..." answered the bug user.

Hinata sighed. If only he and Akamaru hadn't fallen into a vat of chocolate.

"This is starting to remind me of when you gathered a team to rescue me..." noted Lucy.

"I know...that mission was rather similar to the one I had three years ago too..." acknowledged Shikamaru. Of course, this time it appeared that it was going to be on a greater scale.

Hopefully they would be able to stop Brain before it was too late. They didn't want to end up becoming a dark guild themselves. That wasn't what Fairy Tail was about, after all.

_Well, this was a rather interesting chapter...it appears that Racer is down for the count...but unfortunately the other Oracion Seis members have not given up despite this setback._

_Can Fairy Tail stop Brain before he activates Nirvana? If they don't, this fanfic just might be coming to a close...heh heh heh. Unless of course I decide to write a fanfic featuring Imp Tail where they do all sorts of nasty things to the public at large. Would you be interested in that sort of fanfic? Heh heh heh._


	61. Chapter 61: Stop Nirvana!

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going up against Angel...who despite her name is not heroic whatsoever. Yeah...in retrospect she should probably come up with a different name for herself. She is part of a dark guild after all. Perhaps she should start calling herself Devil or Succubus?_

_Then again, there already is a demon on their team..._

_Also, we're going to see Choji, Juvia, and Neji duke it out against Hoteye...can they handle him? He did prove to be a dangerous opponent the last time Fairy Tail met him...of course, you could say that to his teammates as well._

_By the way, it's been a year since I first created this story. Time does fly, doesn't it?_

**Chapter 61: Stop Nirvana!**

Hoteye continued trying to make Choji, Juvia, and Neji sink into cement...but unfortunately the trio of them would not be trapped that easily. Juvia transformed into water, Neji used his lightning techniques (which were naturally effective against earth), and Choji expanded to free himself.

Unfortunately, it appeared that his enemies had chosen the ideal opponents for him. Of course, it didn't hurt to have a challenge every now and then...after all, he was quite a powerful mage. His younger brother Wally was actually a bit jealous of him.

Speaking of which, he wondered how his brother Wally was doing. He had heard that he had went to work with Jellal...but of course Jellal had apparently died when the Tower Of Heaven exploded. He was probably in heaven now...ironically.

Hopefully his brother had managed to make it out of the Tower Of Heaven in time...he had heard that a group of mercenaries had apparently perished in the tower as well...and they were all quite powerful. It was a shame really. Where else were people like Jellal going to get such powerful minions? They were known as...Trinity Raven, right?

He wondered what they were all doing now that their master was six feet under and the tower had been destroyed. Perhaps Jellal had not chosen a successor and they were all fighting each other to decide who got to be the leader next.

This time, Hoteye decided to summon a Duplo elephant. Killer pachyderms always seemed to do the trick. It was a shame that they were in danger of extinction nowadays. Why did the poachers hate the elephants so much? Was ivory really that valuable?

Immediately, the elephant began to charge towards Juvia.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Juvia.

Fortunately, she managed to avoid it by converting her body into water so that the elephant didn't stomp on her head. Instead, the elephant ended up slipping over her, and collapsing into a pile of Duplo bricks.

"Score one for Juvia..." stated the water mage.

However, the elephant was gradually beginning to rebuild itself. It would not be defeated that easily, it seemed.

Fortunately, Choji was able to put a stop to that, smashing the Duplo bricks into dust.

"Maybe Juvia and I should work as a team..." thought Choji. Besides, it would be good to have something to drink after eating so much. He didn't want to end up choking, even if Ino and Shikamaru knew the Heimlich maneuver.

Hoteye sighed. It looked like his summons wouldn't be able to freely regenerate themselves. That was one of his greatest strengths too. Apparently he was just going to have to come up with a different plan to deal with the trio.

Suddenly, he noticed that Neji was approaching him, hoping to hit him with his Gentle Fist technique.

Fortunately, Hoteye managed to place cement over his feet, temporarily stopping him in his tracks. Perhaps it was best for Neji not to telegraph his attacks too much, though to his credit he was running towards Hoteye awfully fast.

"Let's see you try to punch me now!" exclaimed the quicksand mage.

"I don't need to do that..." answered Neji. He had more than one trick up his sleeve.

Neji followed his attempted attack by striking Hoteye with lightning, forcing him to avoid that as well. Due to the fact that it was fast as...well, lightning, Hoteye did not have an easy time avoiding it. Dealing with lightning users was difficult when one was an earth user, to say the very least.

"Attacking me twice in a row? That's rather impressive..." thought the man. Not as impressive as his guild was, but still.

Curious, he wondered if any of the three had valuable possessions that he could steal. He did want to make some money nowadays.

Taking a closer look, he noticed that Choji was eating potato chips. He was in fact eating the potato chips to help him gain chakra, but Hoteye was not aware of where Choji got his strength.

Shrugging, he decided to take the potato chips so that he could have a snack. They looked rather delicious.

However, Choji would not part with the potato chips too easily.

"Hey! Those are my potato chips! Get your own!" demanded Choji.

Immediately, the two of them ended up getting in a tug-of-war.

"I just want one...is that too much to ask?" asked Hoteye.

"Yes!" bellowed the teenage boy. Those potato chips were for HIM!

Taking advantage of the situation, Juvia hit Hoteye...with her three-armed punch.

"Ow!" bellowed Hoteye. All of a sudden, he felt that he had been punched...three times at once. How did Juvia manage to pull it off?

In retaliation, Hoteye summoned a Duplo hippopotamus to attack Juvia. He was awfully hungry and he could use something to eat.

Oh wait, hippos were herbivores.

Not only that, but Juvia was made of water, not out of meat.

Perhaps the hippopotamus was thirsty?

However, as it turned out, the hippopotamus could not simply bite Juvia to attack...as she was basically made out of water.

"How am I going to make her dry up?" thought Hoteye. This was a real problem.

Perhaps if he managed to defeat Choji and Neji, then Juvia would retreat and then he would be free to return to Brain's Manor.

As such, he decided to attack Neji. Maybe he would be an easier target than Juvia.

But as it turned out, Neji had his own defense. As soon as he fired Duplo bricks, Neji spun around in a circle to deflect them. As Hoteye discovered, Neji also had some defensive techniques that he could use when his opponent was using projectiles.

One of them hit him in the face.

"Ouch!" bellowed Hoteye. Now he had a bruise.

Perhaps it would be best if he tried attacking Choji for the time being.

Deciding that he was good of a target as any, Hoteye decided that it was time to make Choji pancakes.

Immediately, he summoned two bricks to smash Choji.

However, it appeared that Choji was using his Human Bullet Tank technique to counter it. Personally he wished that he could turn himself into a giant ball.

Suddenly, he noticed that Juvia was heading towards him.

Acting quickly, he tossed mud at Juvia, getting mud all over her in the process.

"Darn it...now I'm going to have to take a bath..." stated the teenage girl.

_Meanwhile..._

"Gray, why are you drooling?" asked Natsu.

"Huh?" inquired Gray.

Curious, he noticed what he was doing, and he stopped.

"Why did you do that, Gray?" questioned Hinata.

"I don't know...I just felt like drooling all of a sudden..." stated Gray.

"I tend to feel that way too..." noted Akamaru.

"That's because you're a dog..." pointed out Kiba. Of course Akamaru would drool.

"Of course I'm a dog. And yes...dogs do tend to drool..." acknowledged the dog. He tended to salivate on his dog food because it was so delicious.

"I don't drool..." stated Happy.

"What about when you saw Carla posing for Sorceror's Magazine?" asked Natsu.

"Oh yeah..." answered the Exceed. That was one of the best days of his life...though he wondered why Carla had decided to so. Maybe she wanted to be famous?

_Back in the forest where Hoteye and the others are fighting..._

Personally, Hoteye wondered how Nirvana was doing. Once it was complete everything would go according to Brain's desires. However, he knew that Fairy Tail was trying to stop him.

It was a race against time for both of them it seemed. Hopefully Brain would win the race and Fairy Tail would lose...that way they might be able to get them to join their cause.

Imagine how powerful they would be if they decided to work together.

_At Brain's meeting chamber..._

"Yes...Stage 1 is coming along nicely...I just hope Hoteye was able to buy me some time..." noted Brain.

"About that..." answered Angel.

"Yes?" asked the leader of Oracion Seis.

"According to what Devix told me...the Fairy Tail members are still making their way here...minus a few members..." stated the summoner.

"Darn it! It appears that I overestimated him...well, I suppose that's better than nothing..." said Brain.

"Shouldn't we do something?" asked Angel.

"You do something! I'm a busy man!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"But you do not have a girlfriend..." pointed out the not-so-angelic mage.

"Shut up! I need to concentrate to activate Nirvana!" bellowed Brain.

"Oh..." stated Angel.

"Now hurry up and kick some Fairy Tail butt!" exclaimed the man.

"OK...but I'm not going to do that literally. That's kind of...perverted." answered the summoner.

Immediately, Angel went to go fight the remaining Fairy Tail members. Hopefully she would be more successful at holding them off than Hoteye was. Brain would be disappointed if they suddenly burst into his manor before he could finish the spell.

"Those Fairy Tail mages still think that they can stop us after we managed to wipe the floor with them?" asked Midnight.

"They must be awfully persistent..." noted Cobra.

Brain nodded. If they wanted another trip to the ends of the earth, then they've got it.

Of course, that was assuming that he had to enter the fray himself. Unfortunately, it was still some time before the spell was ready. As such, he needed the help from his guildmates...whether he liked it or not.

Hopefully Angel would be able to do the job...he only had two guildmates left...well, three if you included Cobra's snake.

_Back at the path to the manor..._

"Do you think Choji, Neji, and Juvia will return to us?" asked Lucy.

"I hope...I would imagine that Hoteye will keep them busy for a while though..." stated Shikamaru. Hopefully Choji wouldn't be as badly injured as he was when he went to retrieve Sasuke with them. If only he had time to bring Ino with him as well...that would make them really effective.

"I'm worried about Juvia..." worried Gray. He didn't want Juvia to get hurt, especially after all that she had done for him. The chocolates he got for Valentine's Day were awfully delicious.

"I'm sure that she'll be fine..." answered Levy. After all, she can always enter another person's body to heal herself when she was injured, though it did suffer from the handicap of experiencing the same injuries as the person she entered.

"I think I see someone up ahead..." said Happy. Was it a friend or a foe?

Curious, Hinata and Natsu decided to take a look.

"Oh no..." murmured Hinata.

As it turned out, it was the latter.

"Is something the matter, Hinata?" inquired Kiba.

"It's another member of Oracion Seis...I think we're going to have to send more members of our group after her..." stated the teenage girl.

Fortunately, it appeared that Angel had not noticed them yet.

"We're probably going to need to come up with a plan...is there anyone of us that is good with dealing with summoners?" asked Hinata.

"I might be able to handle her...for some strange reason I always get stuck with female opponents...and I usually do pretty well..." answered Shikamaru.

"If that's the case I might be up for the job as well..." noted Levy. She was Shikamaru's interdimensional partner, after all.

"I'll handle her as well...I want to see if my summons are better than hers..." stated Naruto.

"I doubt it..." said Angel.

Naruto gasped in shock. Apparently, Angel had noticed them.

Immediately, she began to attack the remaining members with a whip.

"Careful, she means business!" warned Makarov.

"We know that, old man..." retorted Gajeel.

Makarov sweatdropped. Was he Captain Obvious today? If that kept up, he was going to have to don a costume and fly through the sky saying obvious things. No doubt people would start to hate him, and not just his rogues gallery.

Immediately, Naruto, Levy, and Shikamaru went into a defensive position while the others went on ahead.

"I hope Naruto will be fine..." said Erza.

"I hope that Shikamaru will make it out alive..." stated Lucy.

"Levy better not do anything crazy..." thought Gajeel.

Once again, the Nirvana Stopping Squad continued their way towards Brain's Manor, leaving behind a few more members in the process. Personally they wondered who would make it all the way towards Brain himself. It seemed like it wasn't going to be a big number since there were at least two members of the guild left other than Brain himself.

Hopefully they wouldn't impede them too much.

_Elsewhere..._

Choji attempted to hit Hoteye with his Human Bullet tank technique, but unfortunately Hoteye tossed mud at Choji to slow him down.

"Darn it! That was my favorite shirt!" exclaimed Choji.

"Do you want me to try washing it?" asked Juvia.

"Can you dry it off?" inquired the teenage boy.

"Probably not..." answered the water mage.

Choji sighed.

Suddenly, they began to heard the sound of rumbling.

"Huh?" asked Neji.

As it turned out, mud geysers were opening underneath their feet.

"This can't be good..." answered Juvia.

Unfortunately for the trio, it appeared that the geysers were rather unpredictable and they couldn't determine where they would strike next.

Well, apart from Neji.

As it turned out, he could see where the geysers were underground thanks to his Byakugan, and he was able to dodge them accordingly.

However, Choji and Juvia were not so lucky.

"Let us down!" demanded Juvia.

"You're making me sick to my stomach!" exclaimed Choji.

Suddenly, he vomited on Juvia's face.

"Yuck!" bellowed the water mage.

"Sorry, Juvia..." apologized Choji.

Fortunately for Juvia, it was a simple matter of wiping it off with her water abilities.

Neji continued attacking Hoteye, this time trying to hit him with his Gentle Fist technique from behind.

This time, he managed to hit Hoteye.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Hoteye.

However, before he could injure Hoteye anymore, he trapped Neji behind four Duplo brick walls.

"Darn it! I'm trapped!" bellowed Neji.

It appeared that he was going to have to find a way out of this one. Perhaps he could use his Byakugan to try to find a weak point, like the time he was trapped in Jirobo's Earth Dome Prison?

Hoteye did have some things in common with Jirobo, though he was greedy rather than gluttonous.

Speaking of which, he was currently hugging a bag of money like it was his son or something.

Realizing that he was currently distracted, Neji decided that now was a good time to try to escape.

Immediately, he began to call down building to reduce the Duplo bricks to ash.

Fortunately, it appeared that he was succeeding...though he would need more volts if he wanted to destroy the wall completely.

Maybe he could try jumping over it instead?

Quickly, Neji did so. However, in the process he was a bit clumsy and he ended up tripping over the top.

"Whoa!" bellowed Neji.

Immediately, he fell on his face.

"Ow..." murmured the teenage boy, rubbing his forehead.

In the process, his headband came off.

"What's that on your forehead?" asked Hoteye.

"It's a cursed seal...my superiors use it to keep me in line like the rest of my household..." answered Neji.

"My guildmaster keeps me in line all the time..." stated the man.

"Like...how?" asked the teenage boy.

_Brain hit Hoteye in the face with a powerful darkness spell._

_"Yeow!" bellowed Hoteye. That really hurt!_

_"That's for showing up late!" exclaimed Brain. He hated it whenever his employees did that, to say the very least._

_A few days later, Hoteye accidentally tracked mud over the carpet._

_"Whoops!" bellowed the mud mage._

_"How dare you! Do you have any idea how much money that cost?" asked Brain._

_"I'm greedy as sin and even I can't afford it!" exclaimed Hoteye._

_"Darn right! You're going to pay!" bellowed the guildmaster._

_"How can I? I'm broke..." stated the quicksand mage._

_"Then you'll have to pay for it with your pain and suffering!" shouted the evil sorcerer._

_Hoteye gulped._

_In retaliation, Brain summoned voodoo zombies to bite him in the arm several times._

_"My arm!" screamed Hoteye._

_And a week later, he accidentally broke a window._

_In retaliation, Brain forced him to eat one of the broken glass pieces, causing his mouth to bleed._

"Good god..." stated Neji.

"It hasn't been a fun working experience..." said Hoteye.

"I bet it hasn't..." answered the teenage boy.

Suddenly, he received a phone call from his younger brother.

"Hey there, bro! Want to hang out with me? I haven't seen you for quite a while..." stated Wally.

"But I'm working!" exclaimed Hoteye.

"You're still working with Brain? You told me once or twice that you wanted to quite working with him...and you're only doing so because of the money involved..." said Jellal's former minion.

"You make a good point..." noted the quicksand mage.

Remembering what Neji had told him, Hoteye came to a decision.

"You know what? I quit working with Brain!" exclaimed Hoteye.

"I figured you would say that..." answered Wally.

Neji faintly smiled.

Immediately, Hoteye deactivated the mud geysers that were sending Choji and Neji flying, allowing them to be free.

They began to pant heavily.

"I'm starting to see how Natsu feels when he ends up inside a vehicle..." noted Juvia.

"I think I might vomit again..." stated Choji.

Quickly, Juvia handed Choji a barf bag. His face was looking awfully green.

"Ugh..." murmured the Akimichi clan member.

Hoteye then left to go reunite with his brother. He just hoped that Brain wouldn't hunt him down for his betrayal.

Of course, this left Neji, Choji, and Juvia to try to reunite with the others.

"You think we'll be able to catch up?" asked Neji.

"We can try..." answered Juvia. She was hoping to see Gray again.

Immediately, Neji, Juvia, and Choji continued making their way towards Brain's Manor.

_A few minutes later..._

"Curse you, Hoteye! How can you betray me like this?" asked Brain. Why did his brother have to give him a phone call at that particular moment? It was very inconvenient for him.

"You did insult his mother last week..." pointed out Midnight. In fact, he had also insulted his uncle, his grandmother, and his ancestors (who were deceased).

"Whatever! I guess I'll have to deal with the three of them myself..." answered the man. Apparently, he couldn't rely on his guildmates for everything, such as activating Nirvana. Every now and then he had to do a job himself.

"Aren't you working on activating Nirvana, right now?" inquired Cobra.

"I can spare some of my magic...if only for a few minutes..." stated the guildmaster.

Midnight shrugged.

Immediately, Brain began to activate some of his magic to impede the trio.

Hopefully this would keep them busy long enough to prevent them from reuniting with the others. The less Fairy Tail members attacking him, the better. He only had two guild members left...and of course Devix. He was glad that he had successfully managed to awaken him.

_Back to where Neji, Choji, and Juvia are._..

"That battle wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be..." noted Neji.

"Be careful...I can't help but shake the feeling that we're not out of the woods just yet..." stated Juvia.

"Speaking of the woods..." warned Choji.

As it turned out, the trees in the woods were moving.

Unfortunately for Juvia, Choji, and Neji, Brain had recently enchanted the trees in the forest to attack intruders. The trees were attacking them, pummeling every inch of the trio that they could reach. Branches thick as a python swung towards Choji.

"Aargh!" screamed Choji as the tree punched him in the face.

"Run for it!" exclaimed Juvia.

Unfortunately, the trees simply followed them. It appeared that they weren't immobile as one would expect from a tree.

"We're done for!" bellowed Neji.

"Wait, why is the author making Harry Potter references?" asked Choji.

"The author is a Harry Potter fan. Why do you think he's writing a story about witches and wizards?" inquired Juvia.

"I suppose that makes sense..." answered the teenage boy. He happened to like Harry Potter himself...though he did not like Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Now can we please get back to trying to stop the trees?" questioned Neji.

Juvia and Choji nodded. It appeared that since the trees were surrounding them they didn't have anywhere to run.

Immediately, the trio got into a defensive stance.

_Back to where the Nirvana Stopping Squad are..._

"I can't help but shake the feeling that Juvia and the others are in trouble..." noted Gray.

"I suppose they might have run into trouble fighting Hoteye..." answered Lucy.

"For some strange reason I get the feeling that Hoteye isn't the only thing they have to worry about..." stated the ice mage.

"Oh dear..." murmured Hinata.

"You wouldn't happen to be able to use fire magic to burn down trees, would you, Phoenix?" asked Gray.

"Yes, I can. Why do you ask?" inquired the teenage girl.

"Then you and Salamander might want to do it..." suggested Lucy.

"Huh?" asked Natsu.

As it turns out, the trees were coming to life...and they meant business.

"Oh dear...Brain must be setting up traps for us..." noted Hinata.

It appeared that the closer they got to his manor, the more perilous their journey was going to become. It appeared that his guild wasn't the only thing that they needed to worry about, that was for certain.

Immediately, the trees began to throw apples at them.

"Ow! Quit it!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Unfortunately, the trees ignored him. It seemed that they liked to bug the iron dragonslayer.

This would backfire on them spectacularly.

"That's it!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer, clenching his teeth in range.

One of the trees scratched its head.

In retaliation, Gajeel transformed his arm into an axe, causing the trees to gasp in shock.

He proceeded to chop down the trees, who looked rather frightened all of a sudden.

"Anyone else want to toss apples at me?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

The trees pulled out a white flag.

"That's better..." answered the former member of Phantom Lord.

"Should we leave another member of our party behind?" asked Natsu.

"I don't think that the trees will slow us down enough...they seem to be backing away already." answered Lucy.

Sure enough, not as many of the trees were attacking them as before, meaning avoiding their apples and the swinging of their branches was easier.

"Phew!" exclaimed Happy. He was worried that he was going to end up being separated from Natsu, his best friend in the world so that he could take on the trees. Well, that and Hinata. She was his best friend too.

"Something tells me that might not be the only defense set in place..." questioned Hinata.

It appeared that they were going to have to be cautious as they made their way towards the manor. There were probably traps inside that Brain had created to protect his mansion from intruders.

They were going to have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

_Meanwhile..._

"You three think that you can stop me? I'd like to see you try..." stated Angel, pulling out her whip.

"If you're such an angel, then why are you part of a dark guild?" asked Levy.

"Brain promised me that he could make me into a real angel..." pointed out the female summoner.

"I doubt that they would let you in Heaven..." said Shikamaru.

"But I'm hot!" bellowed the Oracion Seis member.

"Not as hot as my Sexy Jutsu..." stated Naruto.

"Your sexy what?" asked the angel wannabe.

Naruto used his Sexy Jutsu on Angel.

"Darn it! You're making me jealous!" exclaimed Angel.

Unfortunately, Naruto's Sexy Jutsu stunned Levy and Shikamaru.

Seizing her opportunity, Angel hit Shikamaru and Levy with her whip.

"Ow!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"You're burning us!" screamed Levy.

"Next time pay attention to me!" exclaimed Angel.

"You are so self-absorbed..." remarked the shadow ninja.

"That's because I am so much better than you!" bellowed the summoner mage.

Immediately, Angel began to laugh.

Irritated, Naruto tossed a kunai at Angel.

Quickly, she avoided it.

"How dare you toss a knife at my beautiful face! I'm going to make you pay for that!" bellowed Angel.

Immediately, she pulled out some coins.

"Are you trying to bribe us?" asked Levy.

"No no no. I'm not interested in giving you money...I'm just interested in giving you pain..." answered Angel.

This time, Angel had used two coins to summon a Hammer Angel.

Immediately, the Hammer Angel proceeded to attack Naruto by trying to whack him on the head with a hammer.

All of a sudden, Naruto found himself playing a game of whack-a-mole with him as the mole.

Quickly, he attempted to avoid being hit on the head, using a Substitution Jutsu to replace himself with a log.

The Hammer Angel immediately scratched his head.

"Where did he go?" asked the hammer angel.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto hit the hammer angel with his Rasengan, causing him to transform back into his coin state.

"Hmph. It seems that you will not go down that easily...but I have more summons where that came from..." stated Angel.

"How many summons do you have?" questioned Shikamaru.

"More than enough to take care of you!" exclaimed the angel mage.

"That's not a good sign..." noted Levy.

This time, Angel pulled out three coins.

"Something tells me that this angel is going to be stronger..." answered the shadow ninja.

"You bet your ass!" exclaimed Angel.

"But I don't want to bet my butt...I need that to go to the bathroom...and to fart I suppose..." noted Naruto.

Angel sweatdropped. It appeared that Naruto was taking things a bit literally.

This time, Angel summoned Barakiel, an angel with three heads, two large wings, and two large arms.

Immediately, the angel began to attack them with holy light.

"Where are my sunglasses?" asked Naruto.

"How are we going to stop this one?" inquired Levy. It certainly seemed stronger than the last angel that Angel had summoned.

Shikamaru scratched his head. Suddenly, he had an idea. Wasn't Barakiel producing light?

If so, it should be a simple matter of latching onto its shadow and then forcing the angel to obey him.

Sure enough, Barakiel did not seem to be paying much attention to him, instead focusing on Naruto and Levy.

Now seemed like a good time to grab its shadow.

Immediately, Shikamaru went to do just that...and succeeded.

Sure enough, he could now force Barakiel to do what he wanted.

"Huh? What's going on?" asked Barakiel.

Suddenly, he found himself attacking his mistress instead.

"Barakiel? What the heaven do you think you're doing?" inquired Angel.

"I can't help it! One of them's forcing me to attack you!" bellowed Barakiel.

Angel sighed.

"Back to heaven you go..." stated the teenage girl.

Immediately, Angel dismissed Barakiel.

"That was fun while it lasted...though it did not last very long." answered Shikamaru.

"Let me try another summon..." thought Angel.

"Not if I summon a Celestial Spirit first!" bellowed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto summoned Aries.

"How may I help you, N-"

Aries was cut off when suddenly she gasped.

"Oh no! It's my former mistress!" exclaimed the sheep spirit.

"Remember me?" answered Angel.

Immediately, she began to whip Aries.

"You had better obey me or I'm going to be having lamb chops tonight!" bellowed the "angel".

"Yes, former mistress..." stated the sheep spirit.

"What's going on here?" asked Naruto.

"Believe it or not, these Celestial Spirits used to belong to me...that means I can make them obey me even if they're under the control of another summoner..." explained Angel.

"That's a problem..." answered the chunin.

"I delight in the idea of you being vanquished by your own spirits!" exclaimed the evil summoner.

"You sure you don't want to be a demon? You would probably make a good succubus since you like strapless clothing..." noted Naruto.

"Don't be ridiculous! Attack him, Aries!" bellowed Angel.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..." apologized Aries. Personally it was rather heartbreaking for her to fight Naruto after what they had been through...but she couldn't obey her former mistress. She would receive many lashings if she refused.

A tear left Naruto's eye. First Sasuke, and now this!

Immediately, Aries began to attack Naruto as her new mistress demanded.

Sighing, Naruto decided that he might as well summon another spirit in order to deal with Aries. There had to be something that he could do.

Shrugging, he decided to summon the Gemini twins.

But as it turned out, he did not have luck in that endeavor.

"Guess what? Those used to belong to me too!" bellowed Angel.

Naruto sighed. How many Celestial Spirits did Angel use to own? At this rate he was going to have his entire celestial army turned against him...and then he would end up dead.

Shrugging, he decided to summon Scorpius and hope that did not count as one of her former's summons.

But as it turned out, he was a former summon of Angel too.

Immediately, he banged his head on a nearby tree, which suddenly began to attack him.

"Sorry!" apologized Naruto, backing away.

Unfortunately for Levy and Shikamaru, the Gemini Twins were working together to perform Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.

In this case, it was the Boy on Boy technique.

"Ravish me!" bellowed Gemi.

"You are so sexy!" exclaimed Mini.

Oddly enough, Angel appeared to be drooling.

"I have no idea who taught you that technique...but I like it!" bellowed the angel.

"Why are they making out with each other?" asked Levy.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Angel snickered in delight.

"How am I going to stop those twins?" thought Naruto.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he was going to have to stop Scorpius first...he was trying to sting him with his tail.

"Aah!" bellowed the chunin. He was not interested in being stung.

Suddenly, he remembered something. Weren't Scorpius and Aquarius a couple?

Immediately, he summoned Aquarius to help him fight Angel.

"Hey there, Scorpius...would you like to go on a date with me?" asked Aquarius.

"Yes, Aquarius!" bellowed Scorpius.

Immediately, the two of them disappeared into yellow light, causing Angel to scowl.

"Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto in satisfaction.

In frustration, Angel grabbed Naruto with her whip and began to pull him closer to her.

She then began to stomp on his face.

"Not my face! I need that to attract Erza!" bellowed the chunin.

"Too bad!" exclaimed Angel, giving Naruto some fresh bruises.

Not tolerating this behavior from Angel, Shikamaru hit Angel with his Shadow Imitation Jutsu.

He then followed by attempting to strangle her.

"What...the heaven..." said Angel as shadow hands began to approach her neck.

"Gotcha..." remarked Shikamaru.

Unfortunately, Angel was putting up a fight against Shikamaru's shadow.

"You're not strangling me!" bellowed Angel.

"Levy, I could use some help..." stated the shadow ninja.

Levy nodded, and she combined her shadow with Shikamaru's, making it more difficult for Angel to resist.

However, Gemi and Mini would not simply stand there and let Shikamaru and Levy attack their mistress.

Immediately, they interrupted what the duo were doing, forcing them to let go of Angel.

Shikamaru sighed. He was afraid that would happen.

Deciding to get even, Angel then summoned Shamsiel to attack the trio.

Shamsiel attempted to hit Shikamaru with a light spell, but Shikamaru countered by seizing his shadow as well.

Unlike the previous summon, however, Shamsiel was proving to be resistant to the jutsu, in part due to how strong he was.

"I'm not letting you make me a puppet!" exclaimed Shamsiel.

"Reminds me of Kankuro..." thought Naruto.

However, with Levy assisting, Shikamaru was able to successfully control Shamsiel.

"Interesting...it appears that combining our shadows makes the technique more effective..." acknowledged Levy.

"It appears that it does..." nodded Shikamaru. Perhaps that was a feature of the jutsu? Or maybe it was simply because he and Levy were interdimensional partners.

Either way, it appeared that it was making life for them easier.

"This is so frustrating!" bellowed Angel as she was forced to dismiss the angel.

Hopefully, spending 100 coins would be enough to do the trick. She never thought that she would have to use that particular angel...but perhaps her opponents were stronger than she thought.

Either that, or their teamwork skills were superb. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.

This time, Angel summoned Raguel.

"You're mine!" bellowed Angel.

Sure enough, Raguel was attacking them with sound waves.

"My ears!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Make it stop!" bellowed Shikamaru.

"Now I can't read my book..." complained Levy.

Angel smirked in satisfaction. It appeared that she was finally getting the upper hand at last.

However, Naruto decided to put a stop to that.

Immediately, he summoned Gamabunta, who proceeded to flatten Raguel.

"I'm a pancake!" bellowed Raguel.

Curious, Naruto noticed that Angel grimaced when Raguel was hit. Perhaps they were linked somehow.

Gamabunta then proceeded to attack Angel by attempting to grab her with his tongue.

"Is your tongue healed?" asked Naruto.

"Yes..." nodded Gamabunta. Sasuke was awfully feisty.

"That's it! I'm pulling out the big guns! You're finished!" bellowed Angel.

"The big guns?" inquired the chunin.

Immediately, Angel summoned a swarm of devouring angels that just so happened to want some lunch.

Fortunately for Naruto, he was fast enough to avoid it. Unfortunately for Levy and Shikamaru, they were too slow and they ended up being trapped.

"Levy! Shikamaru!" bellowed the former jinchuriki.

Unfortunately, it appeared that it was now up to him to stop Angel.

This time, Angel summoned a Punching Angel to go Captain Falcon on Naruto.

"Angel Punch!" bellowed the Punching Angel, sending Naruto flying.

"Aah!" screamed Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

"I just felt a strange sense of deja vu..." stated Sakura.

"Did you now?" inquired Gajeel.

"Yeah...it was really weird..." noted the pink-haired girl.

Suddenly, she began to strip down, causing Gajeel to snicker.

"Not again!" bellowed the teenage girl. She needed to pay more attention to what she was doing.

_Back to where Angel and Naruto are duking it out..._

Fortunately for Naruto, he was still alive and kicking. However, he now had a concussion.

"Why are there three of you all of a sudden? Can you clone yourself like I can?" asked Naruto.

"No...you just hit your head..." answered Angel.

"Oh...that makes sense..." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Angel summoned Aries and the Gemini Twins.

"Finish him off!" demanded the "angel".

"But we like him..." stated Aries.

"Do it!" bellowed Angel.

All of a sudden, Aries remembered the good times that she had with Naruto. After all, she probably wouldn't have met Taurus otherwise.

Likewise, Gemi and Mini remembered how Naruto liked to play with him.

They then remembered the bad times that they had with Angel, like the time where Angel had made them take a bath...in molten lava.

It wasn't fun for them, to say the very least.

Eventually, they came to a decision.

Suddenly, Gemi and Mini grabbed onto Angel to restrain her. Likewise, Aries did the same with her wool.

"What the...how dare you!" bellowed Angel.

Seizing his opportunity, Naruto used his chakra to hit Angel with a Rasengan.

This worked surprisingly well. It hit Angel dead-on...and she passed out.

Shortly afterwards, the angels attacking Levy and Shikamaru disappeared, as well as the punching angel.

"Is it over?" asked Naruto.

"I believe so..." nodded Aries.

Naruto sighed in relief.

"I'm glad that you came through for me in the end...but now I think I need to go to the infirmary...I hit my head rather hard..." acknowledged the chunin.

Immediately, Naruto summoned Virgo to take him to the hospital.

Hopefully the doctors would be quick so that he could resume the fight.

"Levy and Shikamaru...hang in there for me!" thought the chunin.

_I hope you liked this chapter! In the next chapter, our protagonists are going to battle Midnight and Cobra...you might be curious about the matchups. You may be thinking that Erza is going to face off against Midnight..._

_Well, believe it or not, she's not going to...surprise surprise. Of course, that might make you ask whether she's going up against Cobra, Devix, or Brain...well, you'll find out the answer in the next chapter. Oh wait...I might have revealed it already. Oh well._

_I'll see you again later. Bye now!_


	62. Chapter 62: Assault On Oracion Seis

_In this chapter...well, as you probably know already, our protagonists are going to continue their assault on Oracion Seis. This time, they're going up against Cobra and Midnight...after that, all that will be left are Devix and Brain...the latter of which unfortunately has a split personality that's rather crazy..._

_And yes, Part III will be coming to a close...now sounded like a good time to end it. I was in fact originally going to end Part III with Naruto facing off against Sasuke...but this seemed like a better time. I might have already said that...but just in case I decided to say that anyway. I never really got the opportunity to show off Erza's new abilities since Erza managed to finish what Naruto started fairly quickly. It's kind of crazy, huh?_

_Oh, and rather than go up against Midnight she's going up against Cobra. Why you ask? You're about to find out._

**Chapter 62: Assault On Oracion Seis**

"No sign of Hoteye or Angel..." noted Midnight. Racer, Hoteye, and Angel were unable to handle the mages of Fairy Tail, it seemed. And to think that they had so well against them earlier. Perhaps they had managed to get their game back together. Even their youngest members proved to be a match for Racer, discovering his weakness and exploiting it accordingly by forcing him to fight at a distance.

"I think the two of us can handle them, wouldn't you say?" asked Cobra. Surely there couldn't be many of them left now. How many members of Fairy Tail were hunting them down, again? He had lost count. All he knew was that their guildmaster was among them. Apparently, he decided not to sit on his arse all day and let his guildmates do all the work for him.

Cubellios nodded. They had faced stronger opponents than this...and they had still come out on top. There was a reason that Oracion Seis was so feared among the wizard community.

"Don't you want to watch Nirvana get activated?" questioned Brain's second-in-command. It sure was a rather exciting show, and he had no idea why Cobra would want to miss it. Did he have to use the bathroom?

Sure enough, Brain was getting closer to activating it than he was before. At this rate, it would be complete and Brain would be free to use it on Fairy Tail. Served them right for trying to stop his guild. What made people think that they could defeat his guild, anyway? He was certain of his superiority.

"Yes...but I'm worried that there might be a misfire. If it hits me or my snake...we're going to be the opposite side of the moral spectrum...and I doubt that Brain would be happy if I turned traitor..." acknowledged the snake man. No doubt he would hunt him down and vaporize him with a particularly nasty spell. Nobody would even recognize his body. And he would probably kill Cubellios too. Wouldn't want to happen either.

Midnight noted that Cobra did make a good point. Apparently, it was his turn to fight the intruders now. How many of them were left when they sent mages to deal with Angel and Hoteye? Of course, the latter had decided to leave, so maybe he wouldn't have taken down as many members as he could have. Filthy traitor.

Curious, he decided to check. Apparently, there were still several mages left. Cobra was going to have his work cut out for him...though admittedly they were smaller in number than before. They were proving awfully difficult to squash. Perhaps Hoteye and Angel had run into more trouble than they had expected.

Not only that, but the members that they had left behind were trying to reunite with the rest of the squad. Fortunately, Brain was impeding them with his magic, so hopefully they wouldn't be able to regroup.

Immediately, Cobra and his snake (AKA Cubellios) left to go deal with the intruders.

At this point, Brain had activated the first stage of Nirvana.

A pillar of light and darkness appeared, shooting through the manor and into the sky.

"Yes!" cheered the guildmaster. Now it was time to try activating the second stage.

"Isn't this an interesting show..." remarked Midnight. At this point, he was the only member of Oracion Seis (other than Brain and their new recruit) that had not gone off to fight Fairy Tail.

It felt rather strange. He felt lonely all of a sudden.

_Meanwhile..._

"What's that pillar doing in the sky?" asked Natsu.

"Yeah! I want to know already!" exclaimed Happy.

"This isn't good...Brain has activated the first stage of Nirvana!" bellowed Makarov.

"What? He has?!" screeched Lucy. If so, they were in big trouble.

"Hopefully we can stop him before he activates the second stage..." noted the guildmaster. It was a good thing that Nirvana took time to prepare...but unfortunately, time was not on their side.

Unfortunately, they noticed that there was yet another obstacle in their path.

Sure enough, there was Cobra and his snake. He appeared to be waiting for them to show up.

"Careful...that's the man that bit me." warned Kimimaro.

As it turned out, he was standing in front of the entrance of the manor. It appeared that he did not want to let in any intruders.

"You're not going to be saved this time!" exclaimed Cobra.

Kimimaro began to worry. Was he going to be poisoned again? They might not have time to try to extract the venom this time.

Immediately, Cobra sent his snake after them.

"This guy reminds me a bit of Kiba and Akamaru..." thought Hinata.

However, Kimimaro was fast enough to avoid it this time, and it bit Erza instead.

"Oh no! Erza!" bellowed Natsu.

Erza's face turned pale upon realizing that she had been bitten. It appeared that the venom was already starting to enter her bloodstream.

However, much to her surprise, she did not feel poisoned at all.

Immediately, she began to scratch her head. What was going on?

"Why didn't that snakebite have an effect on me?" inquired Erza. Of course, she probably shouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth...but since it had worked quite effectively on Kimimaro it was quite peculiar.

Cobra gasped in shock. Why wasn't the venom working? It had always worked before...and yet, not this time.

Erza then remembered something...wasn't her interdimensional partner an apprentice to a snake master? Naruto and Kakashi had given her information about him.

If so, it seemed plausible that Sasuke was resistant to poison.

"I suppose that makes sense..." answered Erza. It appeared that today was her lucky day.

All of a sudden, she knew who she wanted to face as her opponent.

"Let me handle him!" exclaimed the knight.

"You sure you want to handle him alone?" asked Mirajane.

"You can come with...just be careful not to be bitten. I'm not sure if you can resist the venom like I can." noted Erza.

"If she's going to fight him, I'm going to fight him too!" exclaimed Elfman.

Leaving the trio behind to deal with the mage once again, the remaining members of the Nirvana Stopping Squad entered Brain's manor. Hopefully they wouldn't have a hard time finding him now.

However, they got the feeling that Brain had boobytrapped the manor to keep them out.

Hopefully this stalling technique would be effective as before. The longer they managed to keep him busy, the better. Of course, if they managed to defeat him, it would be even better.

It was rather fortunate than Erza was immune to the snake venom, to say the very least. Without it, Cobra was probably going to be in a heap of trouble.

However, Erza knew that Cobra would not go down easily even with that factor in place. He and his snake didn't get to be members of Oracion Seis for nothing.

"I'd like to try to see you try to stop my master..." remarked Cobra.

"We'll stop him! Just you wait!" exclaimed Erza, pulling out her blades. Personally she wondered if Brain was really as tough as he claimed.

Immediately, Cubellios began to hiss at the trio.

"I wonder if I happen to have snake summons now..." noted the knight. She supposed that made sense.

Curious, she pressed her arm against the ground to see if she could summon Manda...which she did.

"Alright, which one of you summoned me...Orochimaru or Sasu-wait a minute! You're not either of them!" exclaimed Manda. Since when did he have a mistress?

"Surprised?" asked Erza.

"Why should I help a complete stranger?" inquired the giant snake.

"I'll pay you..." answered the knight.

"With...what?" asked Manda. Personally he was hoping for a snack...he in particular liked to eat rodents. Rodents of unusual size.

Immediately, Erza put on her Seductress Armor.

"With this!" exclaimed the knight.

"Alright, you have me convinced. Dang that armor is sexy..." remarked the snake. He had never seen such a girl with an admirable physique like that.

"I'm very proud of it...especially Naruto." answered Erza.

Speaking of which, she hoped that Naruto had managed to win his battle against Angel. She would be very distressed if he ended up going down for the count. Of course, she wondered what had happened to Shikamaru and Levy as well. Would they be alright?

Now that he thought of it, hadn't Sasuke been wearing suits of armor lately? He wondered how he managed to get them...though he figured he already knew the reason why he got them. In the dangerous world of ninja it was a good idea to bring protection.

"I didn't know that you could summon a giant snake, Erza..." questioned Mirajane.

"It's a new ability of mine...I think I got it when I used the interdimensional portal." answered Erza. Hopefuily he would be able to restrain himself from eating Naruto and Lucy's toad summons. They probably looked delicious to Manda.

And if they got eaten, Naruto and Lucy would probably be up a creek without a paddle. Where else were they going to get such powerful summons? From the black market?

It looked like Erza might as well get started...

Immediately, she swung her swords towards Cobra and Cubellios...which was followed by Manda trying to eat Cobra once again.

However, Cobra retaliated by using his Poison Dragon's Roar to send them flying, although neither of them felt the nasty side effects.

"I'm hating this immunity to poison..." remarked Cobra.

Cubellios nodded. It made fighting their opponents so much harder. Not only that, but Erza's snake was bigger than his was. He was starting to feel pretty jealous.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, we're in the manor...I'm not sure what to expect once we're inside though..." noted Lucy.

Suddenly, a chandelier fell from the ceiling...just a few feet away from where she was standing.

"Yikes!" exclaimed the female mage.

"It appears that Brain knows that we're here..." noted Makarov.

"I'll say..." nodded Hinata.

"I'm scared!" exclaimed Happy. Getting through Brain's Manor was going to be rather perilous.

"We can still do this!" bellowed Natsu. For the sake of Fairy Tail, they couldn't stop now. Besides, it seemed only a matter of time before they could fight Brain and put a stop to his evil plans now that they were actually inside the manor.

Of course, Brain would probably try to slow him down to ensure that his little plan would be a success...but he was sure that they could work around it. They had managed to take on Phantom Lord and win after all...though admittedly that was in part due to the efforts of Naruto and Hinata, who had only joined the guild fairly recently at the time.

"There should be only one member that Brain can send after us now..." noted Sakura. Hopefully they would be able to handle them. Fortunately, they had not seen any sign of the other Oracion Seis members since they had left members of their team behind to deal with them, so it appeared that they weren't being pursued.

But that probably did not matter that much, since they couldn't stop to take a breather considering the drastic situation they were in.

After the chandelier incident, they noticed that there appeared to be several suits of armor moving straight towards them.

"This reminds me of when I was in that haunted castle..." noted Hinata.

Fortunately, Gajeel could devour them rather effortlessly. It was a good thing that he was still in the party...though Hinata didn't like it when he beat up Naruto or Happy. Why was he such a bully?

_Meanwhile..._

"I think I see somebody up ahead..." stated Neji. Of course, he was using his Byakugan to search for his teammates. It seemed a good idea since it was in their best interest to reunite. Granted, they might not be able to catch up...but it was still worth a shot.

"Is it our teammates?" asked Choji.

"It looks that way, yes." answered the Byakugan user. Personally he wondered how his cousin was doing. Was she fighting another member of Oracion Seis?

Eventually, Neji managed to get a closer look.

Sure enough, it was in fact members of his team. For a moment, he was a bit worried that it was another member of Oracion Seis. But apparently that had been a false alarm.

"Naruto, is that you?" asked Neji.

"Neji! Choji! Juvia!" cheered Naruto.

"It's good to see that you're alright..." noted Levy.

Shikamaru nodded. Fortunately, it appeared that Neji hadn't gotten several kunai lodged in his back for his trouble this time. Choji also hadn't needed to use up all his fat reserves like before. It felt funny having him be so skinny.

And of course Juvia seemed to be fine as well, though she seemed to be dripping a bit. Perhaps she did that whenever she was injured, since she was basically made of water and all.

"Did you decide to stay behind as well?" inquired Juvia. She was aware that there were other Oracion Seis members other than the one that they had ended up facing.

"Yes, we did." nodded Naruto. He figured that Angel would be the ideal opponent for him...though he wasn't really expecting to face off against a girl. Of course, it didn't surprise him so much that Shikamaru decided to take her on. He always fought against girls...at least whenever he didn't bring a girl with him while out on missions.

"Yes...we're using the holding off strategy like we did during our Sasuke retrieval mission..." noted Naruto. Unfortunately, that dwindling party tactic didn't work in the long run considering that Sasuke decided to go visit Orochimaru in the end...but at least they managed to take down the Sound Four. That was rather impressive, especially since Kimimaro had showed up to help them.

Suddenly, they noticed a strange figure approaching the unconscious Angel.

Immediately, he began to drain Angel of magic.

They wondered who that strange man was. He appeared to be dressed in armor, so they didn't know who it was at all.

Fortunately, he did not notice them.

However, it appeared that he was heading towards Brain's manor.

"We might want to..stay behind him." noted Naruto.

"But he might be going after the others!" exclaimed Juvia.

"That is a problem..." noted Shikamaru. "However, there is the possibility that he is only interested in Oracion Seis mages..." They had access to more powerful spells than they did, even if they had still managed to get on top against their opponents. It was strange how battling others could work.

"I think we should probably go to Brain's Manor anyway...Nirvana seems like too much of a threat for us to ignore..." acknowledged Naruto.

"I'm afraid so...though I wonder if someone sent him..." questioned Levy. His armor ooked like it had been designed by someone else..someone evil.

She probably didn't want to know who it was. They had better take caution and try not to attract the knight's attention...though at the same time they should keep heading towards the manor.

More carefully, the six of them began to head towards the manor.

This time, it appeared that there were flying monkeys coming from the roof.

"Ooh aah aah aah!" exclaimed the flying monkeys as they left Brain's manor.

"I didn't know that monkeys could fly..." questioned Naruto.

"Brain must have sent them to keep out intruders...we may want to take to the skies..." suggested Shikamaru. Personally he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to do that...but perhaps they could find a way.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the flying monkeys were heading directly towards them. It appeared that they had fairly decent vision. How else would they find bananas?

Incidentally, this wasn't a problem for the Death Knight, since he managed to grow a pair of wings similar to that of Angel's.

"Did you see that?" asked Levy.

"It appears that he's managed to absorb Angel's magic..." noted the shadow ninja. Perhaps this particular knight was trying to make himself more powerful...and he was stealing magic from other sorcerers in order to do it.

Curious, Naruto was reminded of someone when Shikamaru mentioned that...but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Immediately, the flying monkeys began to swarm them. Apparently they wanted to beat the bananas out of them.

"Get them off me!" screamed Naruto.

One of the flying monkeys ripped off his shirt. It appeared that the author enjoyed running gags like that. In retrospect maybe Naruto should wear another shirt underneath.

"Once again I'm half-naked!" screeched the chunin.

"Erza will be so happy..." noted Levy.

"I bet she will!" exclaimed Naruto, smiling. Maybe they should go to the beach sometime so that he could keep being shirtless...granted, he would probably have to watch out for his crazy fangirls...but if it was for Erza then it was worth it.

Immediately, the flying monkeys began to shoot at them.

Fortunately, Shikamaru and Levy wrote down "WALL" and a brick wall showed up so that they could take cover.

In retaliation, Juvia began to trap the flying monkeys in bubbles, causing them to screech. It appeared that they could not get out...and it was only a matter of time before the lack of oxygen set in.

Neji then followed by using lightning...since water was a conductor for electricity, it ended badly for the evil monkeys.

"Looks like a job well done...though I will admit that Brain likely has more tricks up his sleeve." said the Hyuga branch household member.

"i don't recall Brain's Manor being in the middle of Oz..." questioned Choji. Were they picked up by a tornado all of a sudden? He was under the impression that he would have noticed if he was.

Neji shrugged. They didn't really know that much about the world of magic...other than Naruto and Levy.

"We do live in a world filled with flying cats..." acknowledged Levy. This made a degree of sense in their crazy world.

_Meanwhile..._

"Are there still intruders trying to stop me?!" exclaimed Brain.

"Yes." nodded Devix.

Brain stamped his foot impatiently. He was using most of his resources trying to stop them from invading his manor. And yet, they still persisted.

At long last, it was time to send out Midnight.

"You had better not fail me like the others...I couldn't count on them, it seemed." noted the evil guildmaster.

"Please...I'm better than each of them put together..." remarked Midnight. Let's see how they liked his illusionary and reflection abilities.

Immediately, Midnight left.

Shortly afterwards, Brain successfully activated Stage 2 of Nirvana. For some strange reason, it now resembled a giant spider. A creepy, crawly spider.

"I'm not sure why it looks that way...but it doesn't matter. It won't be long now..." noted Brain.

At this rate, his guild would be virtually unstoppable.

_Meanwhile..._

"How am I going to stop this giant snake from eating me?" thought Cobra. Not even Angel had a summon that big to his knowledge. It was enormous!

Still, he wasn't going to give up that easily. If he couldn't beat that giant snake, he probably couldn't beat Erza or her friends.

"Any ideas?" suggested Cobra.

Cubellios stretched out her tongue.

"Maybe you could try to constrict him? Alright, but he's awfully big..." noted Cobra. He wasn't sure if constriction would work...though admittedly Cubellios was strong for her size.

Immediately, Cubellios attempted to do so.

"Urgh!" exclaimed Manda. All of a sudden, he was in pain. Perhaps it was in his best interest to try to shake Cubellios off. Unfortunately, she had a stubborn grip.

"Maybe I should help..." noted Erza.

Immediately, she stabbed Cubellios, forcing her to let go.

"Cobra!" exclaimed Cobra.

Fortunately for Cubellios, the wound wasn't very deep, and she would live to see another day.

"I suppose I should thank you..." acknowledged Manda.

"You think?" answered Mirajane sarcastically.

Unfortunately, Cubellios had no intention of slowing down the assault, and began to spew out poison towards the trio and her snake summon.

"Gross...she's spitting at us..." frowned Mirajane. She sure hoped that it didn't end up on her new dress. It had been rather expensive. Why had she decided to fight in a dress, anyway?

"This might get messy..." noted Erza. The poison that Cubellios was spewing looking rather corrosive...and chances are that it might melt her armor if it hit. She didn't want to take that chance.

_Meanwhile..._

"I see another member up ahead..." stated Hinata.

"Just one more?" asked Sakura. If so, then it appeared that they were almost done.

"It looks that way..." answered the teenage girl. Hopefully he was the last obstacle between them and Brain. At this point it was in their best interest to stop him quickly.

Apparently, he was the strongest out of Brain's minions...so it wasn't going to be an easy fight. They were going to have to plan accordingly.

"What powers does he have?" inquired Lucy. She wasn't quite sure. She would probably need a few minutes to analyze his abilities.

Fortunately, Makarov already knew the answer from what the united guilds had already told him about Oracion Seis and its respective guildmates.

"He has access to illusionary magic...and he can reflect attacks right back at them...depending on whether they're projectiles..." acknowledged Makarov.

"That does sound like a problem..." noted Sakura.

"I might be able to handle him...my beetles are rather resistant to genjutsu after all..." answered Shino. Their mental capacity was rather limited compared to a human.

"Let's hope so." nodded Lucy. Still, she doubted that Shino could take him on alone. Midnight was the strongest out of Brain's mages. There was a reason he was chosen to be second-in-command.

"He looks like a girl..." remarked Gajeel, who began to snicker.

"Hey..." murmured Hinata.

"I heard that!" exclaimed Midnight.

Immediately, he began to approach them.

"Apparently, Gajeel and Shino are going to take him on...anyone else?" asked Sakura.

"Well, he is your boyfriend..." pointed out Hinata. Surely she wouldn't want him to be in danger, especially when he up against a member of Oracion Seis.

"Fine, I'll help Gajeel in case he does something reckless...which he likely will." noted Tsunade's apprentice, cracking her knuckles. She in fact recalled dispelling a genjutsu once...

Sometimes she wondered what was going on inside his head.

With only a few members of the Nirvana Retrieval Squad left, the remaining members said goodbye to the trio as they went to look for Brain. He couldn't be far now.

"I'll teach you to call me a lady!" exclaimed Midnight, attacking Gajeel with ethereal blades.

"Sheesh..." remarked Hinata. That battle was going to be messy. Maybe Gajeel would be better if he avoided angering off his opponents. That did play into her favor during her battle with him after all, since she was a fire mage.

_Meanwhile..._

Cubellios continued to spew out venom at the trio, hoping to hit them.

Eventually, she managed to hit Erza's shoulderplate, which began to melt a bit.

"Darn it! That armor was a rental!" exclaimed Erza. Those armors didn't exactly come cheap...even if she had so many pairs of them. Armor made her feel so comfortable...even if she liked to flirt with Naruto with her hakama and her seductress armor.

"My apologies..." retorted Cobra.

Cubellios tried to wrap around Erza, but Erza forced her to back away with her blade.

Elfman lunged towards Cobra...but he countered by using his Poison Dragon's Spiral Jaw, forcing him to stand back so that he could avoid being bitten.

"Maybe I should try making an antidote..." suggested Erza. She had heard that antidotes to snake venom were oddly enough made from snake venom themselves. It was rather ironic.

Immediately, she decided to ask Manda on the matter. Unfortunately, he wasn't very helpful.

"Why would I want to make an antidote to snake venom? I'm a snake!" exclaimed Manda.

"Surely there has to be another snake summon that's more agreeable..." questioned Erza.

"Well, maybe you should summon Aoda...I'm not that fond of him though." pointed out the giant snake.

"That's a disappointment..." acknowledged the knight.

Pressing her hand against the ground, she summoned another snake.

This time, it was Aoda.

"Would you help me a venom antidote? Manda isn't very cooperative..." noted Erza.

"Yes...unfortunately, he isn't the friendliest summon in the world." acknowledged Aoda.

Fortunately, Aoda was cooperative, and she managed to make an antidote to Cobra's venom.

"That ought to do the trick..." stated Erza.

Frustrated, Cobra used his Poison Dragon's Sharp Horn to help him punch Erza, leaving burn marks on her armor.

"Punching a girl? I thought you had more chivalry than that..." answered Erza. Of course, one could say that he was doing it out of pragmatism rather than anything else.

In retaliation, she stabbed him in the leg.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Cobra. That hurt.

"Maybe we need backup..." noted Cubellios.

Cobra nodded. It seemed rather apparent.

Immediately, he pulled out what appeared to be a snake flute.

"What is he up to?" questioned Mirajane.

Quickly, Cobra used the flute to lure in reptiles from the nearby area. Apparently, they were going to help him attack the trio.

However, Manda didn't seem so worried. He was happily eating all the reptiles.

"Grr...let's see how you like a komodo dragon!" exclaimed Cobra.

Immediately, a komodo dragon began to attack Manda.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed Manda. Fortunately, his scales nullified most of the damage.

"I heard of those...they attack humans sometimes..." worried Mirajane. They were rather poisonous.

Mirajane and Elfman tried attacking Cobra as a team...but it appeared that he was reading their thoughts. They weren't quite sure what was going on.

"Good luck attacking me...my sound magic allows me to listen to thoughts..." stated Cobra.

"Sound magic? Alright then...why don't we try exploiting it..." answered Erza.

Immediately, Erza instructed Mirajane and Elfman to scream at the top of their lungs. Though they questioned it at first, they decided to do what Erza asked of them.

This worked surprisingly well.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Cobra, clutching his ears.

This gave Erza an opportunity to slash Cobra across the chest.

"Ergh..." murmured the snake man.

Immediately, he collapsed on the floor, causing Cubellios to panic.

"Looks like we win today..." stated Erza.

Suddenly, the Death Knight showed up.

Quickly, he drained Cobra of his poison magic...acquiring his abilities.

"What was that?" questioned Elfman. He had never seen that man before.

"I don't know...but it appears that he's managed to obtain Cobra's magic..." noted Mirajane. That presented a problem. Judging from how evil he looked, he was probably their enemy.

Immediately, he entered Brain's mansion to search for more prey to extract magic from.

"This resembles Chiyoye's handiwork...however, it doesn't appear to be fatal like her draining magic typically is..." answered Erza. That was probably a good thing...though she wondered if Cobra would ever get his magic back. Perhaps it was only temporary...if he was lucky, anyway.

Even so, it appeared that the Death Knight was growing more powerful. She got the feeling that the Death Knight had trained other mages already.

Suddenly, she heard someone approaching her.

"Naruto, is that you?" asked Erza.

"Erza!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, the two of them gave each other a hug.

"Naruto, why are you shirtless?" inquired the knight.

"My shirt got ripped off again..." answered the chunin. The tailor was starting to get annoyed with him. Maybe he should start keeping some spare shirts.

"It's alright, I like you better that way..." noted Erza.

"I bet you do." smiled Naruto.

"I wonder how Lucy's doing..." answered Shikamaru. Apparently, she had gone off ahead.

"Well, if we're fine...chances are Lucy is too." noted Levy.

Choji nodded. Hopefully his friends were still alive...he got the feeling that things would get worse the deeper they went into Brain's lair.

Nonetheless, it appeared that they had to press on. The fate of Fairy Tail was on their hands...in fact, perhaps the world of magic was in their hands as well. Brain probably wasn't going to stop with just Fairy Tail, given that he seemed to enjoy conquering things.

Perhaps this was why other guilds had requested this from them...they very well might be in danger as well.

Immediately, they continued their path towards the manor. It wasn't far from them now.

Oddly enough, there appeared to be fighting at the entrance. They wondered who had stayed behind this time.

_Meanwhile..._

"Give it up! You can never defeat me!" exclaimed Midnight.

"If you keep acting like that...chances are you are going to be defeated." pointed out Shino.

"I tell that to Gajeel all the time...he never listens." remarked Sakura. That had cost him his fight with Hinata back when he was still in Phantom Lord.

"Hmph." pouted Gajeel. Personally he thought that Hinata had gotten lucky...especially since Naruto had shown her where she could find some more fire to eat.

Sure enough, Gajeel charged right at Midnight, believing that he could beat him with his bare hands.

However, as he quickly discovered, Midnight was also skilled at hand-to-hand combat himself. In fact, it appeared that he had been training longer than Gajeel was.

Gradually, Gajeel was becoming overwhelmed.

"I'm going to beat you..." murmured Gajeel.

"Try me." answered Midnight.

Immediately, Midnight punched Gajeel in the face. Really hard.

"Ow!" exclaimed Gajeel. Unsurprisingly, his lip was bleeding a bit. Midnight packed a rather mean punch.

Sakura was not amused. A scowl immediately appeared on her face.

Immediately, she decided to attack Midnight next.

"Punching Gajeel is supposed to be my job!" bellowed Sakura, hurling icicles at Midnight.

Midnight took a short break from fighting Gajeel to reflect the icicles right back at Sakura, forcing her to punch and shatter them.

"What was that?" asked Sakura.

"It appears that he has some sort of reflector shield..." acknowledged Shino. This was just what Makarov had told them about when he told them what they were up against.

"A reflector shield? Dang it!" exclaimed the teenage girl. Things had just gotten more complicated.

Midnight smirked. Having a shield to reflect attacks was so useful. It felt rather satisfying to attack his opponents that way. It was so deliciously ironic.

He then proceeded to use his magic to make himself invisible.

"Darn it! Where did he go...he had better not have run off like a coward..." remarked Sakura.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself being punched in the face.

"And he's used an invisibility spell. Perfect. Just perfect." remarked Sakura. Makarov had also warned them that he liked to use illusionary magic in order to toy with his enemies' senses. It was rather similar to genjutsu really.

Unfortunately for Midnight, this wasn't very effective against Gajeel, who was capable of using his sense of smell to pinpoint his location.

Immediately, he punched Midnight in the face.

"Ow! How did you find me?" asked Midnight as he regained visibility.

Gajeel pointed to his nose.

Midnight sighed. Why did he have to be up against a dragonslayer like his comrade Cobra?

It looked like was going to have to try a different tactic.

Immediately, he used illusionary magic. All of a sudden, he appeared to be everywhere in the room.

"Which one is me?" asked Midnight.

"I know." stated Shino, attacking Midnight with his bugs.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the androgynous mage. Things just weren't working out for him right now. There had to be a way to take down his opponents, but how?

Shrugging, he decided to try using a more powerful spell.

Immediately, he stretched out his arm and began to point at Gajeel.

"What the-" exclaimed Gajeel.

Suddenly, Gajeel found himself lifted up towards the ceiling by what appeared to be a pillar of distorted air.

"The pain...the pain!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Shortly afterward, he was sent crashing to the ground.

"Gajeel!" screamed Sakura.

"Well, that's one d-"

Suddenly, Sakura began to heal Gajeel.

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed Midnight. This was frustrating as heck.

Getting desperate, he transformed into his monstrous illusionary form.

"How do you like me now?" asked the mage.

"That's an illusion, isn't it?" inquired Sakura.

"What...what makes you say that?" inquired Midnight.

"Well, you do seem to be experienced with illusionary magic..." noted the teenage girl.

Midnight gulped. It appeared that Sakura was not terrified of him.

Immediately, she punched Midnight as hard as she could, sending him flying right through the wall. Personally it reminded Gajeel a bit of his ill-fated battle with Hinata that had gotten him captured by Fairy Tail.

He was rather lucky that they were willing to give him a second chance, to say the very least. How else would he have gotten out of that plastic prison?

Apparently, this was enough to take down Midnight.

"You will never...stop my master..." murmured Midnight.

"We'll see about that." answered Sakura.

Shortly afterward, he passed out on the floor.

"Yeah! In your face!" taunted Gajeel.

Sakura rolled her eyes. It figured that Gajeel would say something like that. Why was he so cocky? Granted, he did win the battle along with his teammates, but still.

Besides, it wasn't exactly a time to celebrate. Brain was still working on his evil plan...and they didn't have much time left. They needed to stop him fast.

Suddenly, the Death Knight showed up. Immediately, he drained the magic out of Midnight, leaving him without his powers.

He then went to contact Chiyoye.

"What was that?" asked Sakura.

"I do not know...however, I did get a bad vibe from him." noted Shino. Something told him that he was very dangerous...and that he was likely their enemy.

"He doesn't scare me..." retorted Gajeel.

"He probably should..." pointed out the teenage girl.

At that very moment, Naruto and his friends burst in.

"Any sign of Lucy?" asked Shikamaru.

"She went ahead of us..." pointed out Sakura.

"That's too bad..." answered the shadow ninja. He was worried about her.

Fortunately, it appeared that Midnight was down for the count...and therefore all that was left was Brain himself. Perhaps it was time to search for him and end this madness once and for all.

Of course, it seemed likely that their friends were hunting Brain down themselves as they spoke. Maybe they had already found him?

Together, they set out to stop Oracion Seis once and for all. Hopefully they could disband the guild and bring peace back to the world.

Oddly_ enough I figured I wasn't going to use Manda in my fanfic as much as I am currently...but I guess I like to change my plans every now and then. Besides, since Erza is Sasuke's interdimensional partner I figured it would make sense if she had access to his summons. Lucy has access to Naruto's toads, after all...though of course it helped that Jiraiya decided to take her on as a second apprentice...in part due to her looks. Heh heh._

_That was an exciting episode, was it? I suppose in the next chapter we might be ending this arc...and then we'll be moving onto Part IV...however, that particular arc is going to be more Naruto focused, if you get what I'm saying. I'm going to send in the Akatsuki...and in case it's not obvious, I'm going to start with Itachi and Kisame...since they were the first ones to show up in the series. Just for the record, I'll be including an Akatsuki OC to make things more original...how does that sound?_


	63. Chapter 63: Braindead

_In this chapter, Brain and Devix are both going to die...R.I.P. Of course, you probably aren't going to miss them. You might be surprised how the former dies though...but maybe not._

_Well, you probably didn't see that one coming. But in this chapter, we're also going to have a special guest. Someone very evil indeed...can you guess who?_

_Well, of course the Death Knight is going to show up. But someone else too._

_Also, Lucy's going to learn some shocking news regarding that of her father. Can you guess what happened?_

**Chapter 63: Braindead**

"Guess what? The Fairy Tail mages are still coming for you!" exclaimed Devix. Not even Midnight could finish the job, it seemed. At this rate the guild would be disbanded.

"What? This cannot be happening! I can't rely on my guildmates at all..." answered Brain. This was absolutely infuriating. How else was he going to take on Fairy Tail? Perhaps he needed to get better henchmen if they were going to allow Fairy Tail to penetrate his defenses so deeply.

"In fact, they'll be here in just a minute..." stated the demon.

Sure enough, Brain could hear their footsteps and their voices. He had to do something fast.

Getting desperate, Brain decided to retreat elsewhere for the time being. Maybe the roof would be a good spot to finish the spell while Devix kept the rest of them busy?

"Do me a favor and deal with them yourself...I cannot be bothered." stated the guildmaster. What was up with the rest of his guild today? He might have to hand out discipline once he was done activating Nirvana. It really enjoyed him when his guild failed him so miserably.

Perhaps he should try docking their pay? Wait, what was he even paying them?

"Yes, master..." answered Devix, cracking his six knuckles. Some people simply refused to give up. Apparently, Fairy Tail did not know when to quit. Perhaps they never would.

Immediately, Devix went to confront the Fairy Tail guildmates. To be honest, he was actually looking forward to getting to fight them himself. Why not get his hands dirty for a change?

"Someone needs to learn a lesson in respect..." remarked Devix. Personally he was surprised how many mages were trying to stop Oracion Seis. He was under the impression that the guild wouldn't have trouble dealing with them.

But apparently, each member of Oracion Seis was down for the count, and that Fairy Tail was stronger than Brain had thought previously.

"I don't remember him being part of the guild..." acknowledged Makarov.

Hinata did note that was rather odd.

"I'll hold him off!" exclaimed Natsu, setting himself on fire. He wanted to at the very least buy his guildmates some time.

"You sure you can handle him alone?" asked Hinata. That seemed awfully risky. Of course, Natsu had always been a risk taker, as she knew when he went bursting into the Tower Of Heaven.

Perhaps it was fortunate that Shikamaru had decided to have her work with Natsu. She prevented him from doing anything too reckless.

"Probably not..." acknowledged the fire dragonslayer. He had six arms and he only had two.

"Then let me help..." stated the teenage girl.

Natsu smiled. It was good that Hinata was giving him assistance.

Gray decided to partake as well.

"I guess it's up to us to stop Brain now...where is he?" asked Lucy.

"Apparently he's on the roof..."" answered Makarov.

"I guess we're just going to have to climb to the top..." stated Kimimaro.

"Good thing I can fly!" exclaimed Happy.

"Lucky you." thought Lucy.

Immediately, the four of them went to the top of the staircase.

Frustrated, Brain decided that it was time to deal with them himself. He was almost done with Nirvana too. A few more minutes of spell casting and his victory would be complete.

Quickly, he pulled out his staff.

"I should have known that it would come down to this..." acknowledged the sorcerer.

Immediately, he fired a burst of darkness at the four, who scattered to avoid it.

In retaliation, Lucy tossed a Rasengan.

However, Brain was too quick and avoided it.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Lucy. Perhaps she needed to work on not telegraphing her attacks...though to her credit, she was able to make Rasengans pretty fast now. It appeared that she had inherited Naruto's talent with it at this point.

Curious, Lucy wondered how the others were doing below. Hopefully they would make it past the evil demon...who for some strange reason had six different arms. Why exactly did he have that many arms?

Of course, considering that she had a fox with nine different tails living inside her body, maybe she wasn't the one to judge.

As it turned out, Devix was countering Natsu's fist strikes with his six fists. Having six arms made him awfully versatile...though admittedly he was rather average compared to the mages of Oracion Seis.

Still, at least his new master would find him useful...assuming that he and Brain managed to survive the battle. If he lost, he would be banished back to Hell for quite some time. What would Satan say?

Realizing that Natsu would not beat Devix in a fistfight alone, Hinata decided to assist him.

Immediately, she hit Devix with her Gentle Fist technique.

"Gah!" exclaimed Devix, knocked backward by the blow. Oddly enough despite how old he was he had never encountered that particularly magic technique before.

Wait, was it even magic?

Unfortunately, it appeared that Devix had a healing factor to help him avoid damage to his internal organs.

"That's a problem..." noted Hinata. She did admit that she had never gone up against a demon before...though apparently Naruto and Erza had done so.

In retaliation, Devix picked up Hinata and tossed him into Natsu.

"Oof!" exclaimed Natsu. He was starting to know what it was like to be a bowling pin. Speaking of which, he had bowling on Wednesday. He was still working on getting a 300.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Hinata as she helped Natsu to his feet. Devix was as strong as his six arms would suggest.

Devix then attempted to toss fireballs...but he then stopped when he realized that Natsu and Hinata were both fire dragonslayers.

"I can't do that...I'll just make them stronger..." noted Devix.

Suddenly, he found himself being stabbed with an ice sword, causing him to bleed ichor.

"Ergh!" bellowed the demon.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Gray.

Frustrated, Devix tried to breathe fire on Gray, forcing him to move out of the way quickly. Wouldn't want to become barbecue now. He had a guild to save.

Unfortunately, it appeared that since Devix was a demon, fire probably wouldn't be so effective against him. Perhaps they needed to try something different.

Perhaps they could try using their Gentle Fist techniques? Generally that tended to ignore enemy defense...though it depended on the circumstances.

Immediately, Natsu grabbed onto Devix so that he couldn't move.

"Let go!" exclaimed Devix.

This gave Hinata the opportunity to hit him several times with her Gentle Fist technique.

"Go to my home sweet home!" bellowed the demon in anger.

"He looks angry..." noted Gray. Sure enough, Devix was stomping his foot on the ground.

"Your house?" asked Natsu, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's right. He lives in Hell.." noted Hinata.

Now that Devix thought of it...perhaps it would be best not to wish them there. They probably would throw eggs at his house or something.

This time, Devix summoned a sword in his upper-left arm. A sword of evil, that is.

Immediately, he used it to counter Gray's ice sword...though he was rather surprised that it did not appear to be breaking easily. That ice was more durable than it looked.

Since Devix was currently occupied fighting Gray, Natsu decided to try attacking him from behind...

...but Devix summoned a club in his upper-right arm.

Immediately, he used it to whack Natsu away.

"It appears that he has a weapon for each arm..." acknowledged Hinata. He clearly wanted to cover each and every one of his potential weaknesses.

Perhaps they needed to come up with a different strategy.

Fortunately, Gray also had more than one weapon as well.

Quickly, he pulled out an ice spear.

But of course, Brain retaliated by putting a spear in his lower-left arm. A pitch black spear.

He began to use it to try to stab Gray, who had to counter with his ice shield.

"Do you think that you can still defeat me?" asked Devix. He wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"As a matter of fact, we do." nodded Hinata. She was already contemplating trying the Unison Raid with Natsu to see if that was effective. Perhaps it would be, perhaps it would not. She did admit that she and Natsu had only done it twice before.

Still, it appeared that it might be their best chance to take on the demon. Gentle Fist was getting too risky with all the weapons that Devix was summoning.

Sure enough, Devix was summoning another one in his lower-right arm. This time, it was an axe.

"Here's Johnny!" exclaimed Devix.

"Where's Johnny? I don't see him anywhere..." stated Natsu.

Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan.

"I'm not sure who you're talking about..." questioned Hinata.

Devix sweatdropped. Why did he say that whenever he pulled out an axe? He wasn't quite sure.

"I need some help holding him off!" demanded Gray.

Quickly, Hinata and Natsu used their Unison Raid, the Dragon Merge.

"I sure wish Juvia and I could do that..." remarked the ice mage. He felt kind of left out. Of course, he wasn't even sure that ice dragonslayers existed. Maybe he would meet them one day. It seemed likely that they lived out in the cold.

Immediately, Hinata and Natsu lunged towards Devix.

However, he quickly countered by attacking them with his weapons.

"Ergh!" exclaimed Hinata. Fortunately, their scales absorbed most of the damage...though of course being hit by the weapons still hurt.

Quickly, Devix summoned a crossbow in his middle-left arm and began to shoot at them.

"These crossbow bolts are so annoying..." remarked Natsu.

"They certainly are..." nodded Hinata. Apparently, he was going to use that on them if they tried flying. Archers were typically effective at taking on flying enemies, after all.

"And...one more weapon..." stated Devix.

Immediately, he summoned a staff in his middle-right arm.

"Now I have all my weapons..." said the demon.

Gray was starting to feel rather scared, to say the very least. How was he supposed to fight Devix now?

"You're mine!" exclaimed Devix, lunging towards Gray.

Getting desperate, Hinata decided to try biting Devix. Since they were a two-headed dragon now...perhaps they had rather sharp teeth.

Sure enough, they did in fact happen to have sharp teeth.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Devix.

Hinata and Natsu continued chomping on him...and eventually, he burst into ashes.

They then spat out the ashes shortly afterward and turned back into their normal form.

"Did we get him?" asked Hinata.

"I think so! Yes!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Well, I think we should reuniting with the others then. Fortunately, I don't think they're far." noted the kunoichi. Granted, they might have defeated Brain already by themselves...but just in case she wanted to check.

Sure enough, they were still fighting Brain.

"Wait, didn't Cobra poison you?" asked Brain. Despite that, Kimimaro still appeared to be on his feet.

"We happen to know some healing mages, thank you." answered Kimimaro.

"Oh that's right...Racer let the two kids that helped me resurrect Devix escape..." remarked the guildmaster. Why couldn't he take on two kids? He thought that he was stronger than that.

Then again, they weren't exactly ordinary kids. They were wind dragonslayers. He was well-aware that wind dragonslayers happened to have access to decent healing magic...even so, there seemed to be something different about these two particular dragonslayers. They reminded him of ninja...

Quickly, he began to swing his staff at the four of them, hoping that they would get hit. Sure enough, Lucy got bumped on the noggin.

"Hey!" exclaimed Lucy.

In retaliation, she kicked him in the shin with her Lucy Kick.

"Ow!" bellowed Brain.

This was then followed by her Lucy Punch.

"And that is why you don't pick on pretty ladies that know kung fu!" exclaimed the blonde. Normally she wouldn't beat up an old man...but today she was going to make an exception.

"You're starting to remind me a bit of Rock Lee..." noted Kimimaro. Was Lucy going to get herself intoxicated so that she could find Brain better next?

Once again, Brain decided to summon the voodoo zombies.

"Not my brains! I need that for thinking! And Shikamaru said that I was about as smart as he was..." noted Lucy.

"I'm impressed..." remarked Kimimaro. Wasn't he the leader of the Sasuke Retrieval Team almost three years ago? Apparently he was a rather effective leader...despite what Jirobo had claimed. He almost managed to beat Tayuya of all people.

To be honest, he was actually starting to miss his former teammates...though admittedly he did threaten to kill them sometimes. He was well-aware that each member had a flaw that slowed down the team. For example, Jirobo was an enormous glutton who simply could not resist eating chakra.

However, as Kimimaro discovered, if he stabbed them through the head, then the voodoo zombies would die instantly.

It was rather effective, considering that they were rather resistant to pain otherwise. They were zombies after all.

Unfortunately, Brain was beginning to summon reinforcements.

This time, it was the flying monkeys that had plagued Naruto and his friends.

Immediately, the flying monkeys grabbed Happy.

"Help!" bellowed Happy.

Fortunately, Lucy used her Rasengan to knock the flying monkey that had seized Happy down.

"Thanks..." answered the Happy. Fortunately, Exceeds always landed on their feet, so he didn't need to worry about injuring himself while falling.

Of course, since he was capable of flight, he never needed to worry about falling to begin with. Funny how life worked for an Exceed, huh?

In retaliation, he scratched another flying monkey in the face, causing him to screech.

"My face! Wah!" cried the flying monkey.

"Don't be such a baby." sad Lucy as she struck said monkey with her whip.

Of course, the flying monkeys continued to swarm them.

"Get off!" demanded Makarov.

Shrugging, Lucy wondered if maybe it was time for her to try summoning as well.

However, she wondered what exactly she should summon. She might be in trouble if she picked a bad choice.

Since she was up against flying monkeys, perhaps she should try summoning an ape.

As such, she decided to summon a gorilla...a gorilla who for some reason had a coconut cannon.

Well, she supposed if he shot the flying monkeys, it was gonna hurt.

Immediately, the gorilla began to shoot down the flying monkeys, who collapsed on the floor in a heap.

"Curses!" bellowed Brain.

"I guess this was a good choice." answered Lucy.

**"I don't know...something tells me that he's going to fall off the top of the Empire State Building..." **stated Kurama. The bigger an ape, the harder they fell, eh? Gravity must be their worst enemy.

"Yeah...if only he has wings like those flying monkeys..." noted the teenage girl. Those airplanes were surprisingly dangerous to gorillas.

Brain also tried directing the trees to attack Makarov and his comrades...but it appeared that they couldn't climb to the roof. It was rather unfortunate.

Sighing, Brain decided to try another spell...or at least he would have if the gorilla wasn't shooting coconuts at him.

Frustrated, he impaled the gorilla with his staff, causing him to burst into smoke.

"My gorilla..." pouted Lucy.

**"He was driving me bananas anyway." **answered Kurama.

"But he wasn't your enemy..." pointed out the teenage girl.

**"I know." **clarified the nine-tailed fox.

Unfortunately for Brain, Makarov counterattacked by launching a light spell at him. It contrasted perfectly with his darkness magic spells now that he thought of it. Perhaps this was the reason Makarov had decided to take him on himself...other than the fact that they were both the leaders of their respective guild.

Though he managed to avoid it for the most part, Brain was knocked off his feet. He then followed by using his staff to make the floor collapse underneath Lucy.

"Uh-oh..." said Lucy.

Immediately, she was sent crashing through the floor, causing her to scream.

"Lucy!" exclaimed Happy.

Fortunately, Happy caught her before she fell.

"Thank you, Happy. I appreciate it." answered Lucy.

"Are you going to give me a kiss?" asked Happy.

"I already have a boyfriend, thank you. And why would I kiss a cat?" inquired the teenage girl.

Happy frowned.

Immediately, Happy took Lucy back to where the rest of her guild were fighting. Speaking of which, he was using a lightning spell to attack Kimimaro and Makarov.

"Ergh!" exclaimed Kimimaro. Some of the voltage had managed to reach him.

Fortunately for Lucy, she had a way to counter that. After all, lightning users were weak against wind users...and wind happened to be her speciality.

Tossing a Wind Rasengan, she hit Brain's staff, causing the skull to pop off.

"Curse you!" exclaimed Brain.

Lucy smiled in satisfaction. It appeared that Brain might no longer have a weapon to fight with. If so, he was evidently severely weakened. They might have basically won the fight already.

However, as it turned out, his staff had his mind of his own.

"Hey! What happened to me?" asked Klodoa.

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Brain reattached the skull to the staff.

"Thank you." said Klodoa.

Suddenly, he turned into a gun and began to shoot Kimimaro, who had to harden his bones to prevent the shots from penetrating him.

He then followed by launching several spheres of darkness.

Once again, Makarov countered by launching several spheres of light.

Frustrated at the apparent stalemate, Brain decided to use a more powerful spell.

This time, he casted Dark Rondo, causing horror-stricken faces to appear around him.

He then launched them at the four, terrifying Happy out of his wits.

"Aah!" screamed Happy, hiding behind a tree.

"Happy, I thought you were braver than that..." stated Lucy.

Happy reluctantly returned to Lucy. He didn't want his teammates to think that he was a coward, after all.

Frustrated that his enemies were not going down, Brain decided to cast Genesis Zero. Maybe that would do the job once and for all. If he were to succeed in his evil plans, Fairy Tail must fall.

Quickly, Makarov got ready to defend.

Immediately, countless phantoms began to swarm the four of them. Fortunately, Happy was smart and flew away in time.

Lucy quickly used her substitution jutsu so that she didn't get hit.

Brain laughed maniacally as the swarm began to attack them.

Kimimaro collapsed in a heap.

Makarov gasped in shock. Fortunately, he had managed to properly defend himself, and he wasn't heavily injured.

Frustrated that he wasn't making headway, Brain suddenly remembered something.

Since his guildmates had all been defeated...that meant that he could transform into Zero.

"You've proven yourselves to be awfully persistent..." acknowledged Brain. "I guess it's time for me to show you my alternate personality...mind you, I don't expect that you'll like it now..."

"No! It's too dangerous!" exclaimed Klodoa.

Happy wet himself in terror.

Immediately, Brain transformed into Zero and let out a scream.

"This...is going to suck." remarked Lucy.

**"You bet your ass!" **exclaimed Zero.

**"I love Lucy's ass..." **remarked Kurama.

Lucy rolled her eyes. Kurama was still being a pervert even in drastic times like this. Did it occur to him that Zero could probably effortlessly tear her apart with his bare hands?

Immediately, Zero punched Makarov, sending him flying off the mansion.

"Ugh...my back." murmured Makarov. He really hated his lumbago.

"Are you going to be alright, guildmaster?" shouted Lucy from the top of Brain's Manor.

"Yes...but I suggest that you leave him to me..." answered Makarov. At this point he was too dangerous for Lucy to handle, even with the nine-tailed fox at her side.

"Huh?" asked the teenage girl.

Suddenly, Zero sent Lucy flying with a simple arm swipe.

**"Yah!" **screamed Zero.

Immediately, she crashed through a tree, leaving a hole shaped exactly like her.

"Ow." said Lucy as she fell on the floor, rubbing her head.

Quickly, Makarov transformed into his titan state. It was time to fight fire with fire.

Makarov and Zero wrestled for what felt like hours, neither of them seeming to gain the upper hand overall. In the process, several trees were overturned, Brain's Manor was decimated (fortunately, none of the Fairy Tail members were hurt, except for Naruto when a piece of rubble bumped him on the head), and their blood began to splatter over everything.

"I liked this outfit..." complained Lucy as she was pelted with blood. Was it Zero's or Makarov's? She couldn't tell.

Eventually however, Makarov managed to gain the upper hand, pinning Zero to the ground.

He then proceeded to pummel him repeatedly, causing him to revert back to his regular state.

"How could I...lose? Now I will...never get to...activate Nirvana..." stated Brain.

"It's over, Brain." answered Makarov.

"I think it might be time to finish him off...unless you want to show him mercy, Makarov." noted Lucy.

Makarov contemplated what to do. Imprisoning him might be a safe option...though there was the possibility of him escaping from prison.

But before he could decide, someone else came to a decision.

"Let me do it!" exclaimed a voice.

"What the-" bellowed Makarov.

As it turned out, Chiyoye had suddenly shown up. She certainly appeared to show up in the most unexpected of places. But of course, considering that there was a powerful magical artifact nearby, maybe that wasn't such a surprise. Apparently she had decided not to remain on her throne in her castle during the entirety of the Death Knight's mission, comfortable as it was.

There were just too many opportunities to pass out, especially since she was aware that Naruto and Erza (her sworn enemies) had decided to participate in the mission.

"You!" exclaimed the guildmaster.

"Long time no see, Makarov. Isn't this a pleasant reunion?" asked Chiyoye.

"You murdered my guildmates, Chiyoye! You must be punished for that!" bellowed Makarov. He was very cross with her, to say the very least. Nobody murdered his comrades and got away with it.

Chiyoye simply laughed. She found Makarov's threats to be rather amusing. Did he even know who he was dealing with? Personally, she thought that she should be guildmaster of Fairy Tail rather than Makarov.

Suddenly, Kimimaro woke up from his forced nap.

Immediately, he noticed Chiyoye.

Chiyoye was rather surprised at the occurrence.

"What's this? It appears that you've somehow returned from the dead...it appears that I'm going to have to rectify that..." acknowledged Chiyoye.

Kimimaro glared at Chiyoye. How he wished to stab her to death with his bones.

Brain had gasped in shock. Word of her atrocities had reached his ears. To be honest, even he was somewhat disturbed by the depths of her depravity...even if admittedly he wasn't the friendliest mage in the world.

Immediately, she drained the life of the fallen Brain/Zero, causing him to scream as his life began to fade.

In less than a minute, Brain was completely and utterly dead. At this point, it appeared to be curtains for Oracion Seis. The mission was accomplished...though not in the way that they were expecting.

Personally, Makarov wouldn't call it a victory since Chiyoye now had Brain's immense power.

Chiyoye laughed in delight. Her dark magic potency had increased tenfold. Oddly enough, she did not seem to have developed a split personality. Perhaps it had more to do with his psyche than his magic.

"You sick monster..." remarked Makarov. He should never have allowed her inside his guild. It certainly would have prevented a lot of deaths if he had declined her invitation.

"Well, the deed is done. Now I just need to drain Nirvana and-"

Suddenly, Naruto tossed a Big Ball Rasengan at Nirvana, destroying it completely.

As soon as Erza saw Chiyoye, she immediately snarled in rage. She was never going to forgive Chiyoye for what she had done, even if they both lived for hundreds of years.

"I had a feeling you would try that." remarked Chiyoye, who now had a frown on her face. It appeared that Naruto had decided to stop what she was trying to do. Now she couldn't corrupt Fairy Tail to her own twisted purposes. It was rather annoying that he had once again decided to interfere with her schemes.

It was a shame really. It would be awfully satisfying to make Fairy Tail members kill each other, basically tearing Fairy Tail apart from the inside out. She wouldn't even need to do the job herself, really. She could sit back and watch the fun once she activated the spell.

But no matter. There were other artifacts that she could drain the magic from, such as the Tower Of Heaven lacrima she had drained earlier. Maybe she could find a similar artifact. She would still need to do the research, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Speaking of magical artifacts, it appeared that there was one that Naruto had overlooked.

Immediately, she picked up Brain's staff, also known as Klodoa.

"A staff with a skull on it...absolutely perfect." acknowledged Chiyoye.

However, she noted that the staff appeared to be animate. She might want to change that if it proved to be too much of a hassle. But she liked what she saw so far. It appeared stronger than her master's former staff, anyway.

For now, she wanted to play a game with the Fairy Tail mages, since they all appeared to be present.

"As much fun as it would be to kill you with my newfound power, I think I'll have my new subordinate toy you with you. He happens to have gotten a lot stronger with my supervision..." noted Chiyoye.

Immediately, she summoned the Death Knight.

"Yes, mistress?" asked the Death Knight.

"I want you to play with these mages for a few minutes...why not test your new powers for me?" asked the sorceress.

"New...powers?" inquired Makarov. What new powers did the knight have?

The Death Knight immediately demonstrated. He started by trapping them in cement blocks.

"I don't remember you draining Hoteye..." questioned Levy.

Apparently, Chiyoye had given him that ability herself.

"We're trapped!" bellowed Sakura.

"When I get out of this..." murmured Gajeel.

He then followed by sprouting wings and flying across the sky, and then pelting them with cobra venom.

Finally, he used illusions to terrify the squad out of their wits.

He kept at this for a while, until eventually Chiyoye decided it was time to head back home, which he acknowledged to.

It was time to head back to his mistress.

In the process, he left the Nirvana Stopping Squad to lick their wounds.

Sighing, they decided to go back home. Hopefully they would do better against the Death Knight in the future. At least Oracion Seis was officially dead. The other guilds would be very happy indeed.

_At Lucy's house..._

"It's so nice to get to relax after such a long mission..." remarked Lucy. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the teammates, Brain had been stopped.

Still, she was a bit worried about Chiyoye, even if she seemed to be Naruto's foe more than hers. Her archenemy appeared to be Kenichi Chikawa these days...though maybe she could also say the same for Takeshi. It wouldn't be unlike him to try to kill her while she was in the bath.

Part of her actually found it amusing to listen to him yell "I'm going to kill you!" over and over again. Perhaps it was simply Kurama living inside her body. He was rather bloodthirsty and it sounded like something he would say.

As it turned out, she and Shikamaru were in the bathtub once again.

"It sure is." nodded the shadow ninja.

"Got room for one more?" asked a voice.

Curious, Lucy and Shikamaru looked around the room...and screamed in horror.

There was Cana...and she was naked!

Kurama began to smile. It was his birthday apparently because Cana was in her birthday suit.

"Hello!" exclaimed Cana, her eyes closed and with a smile on her face.

Lucy and Shikamaru were slightly frightened by Cana's attire (or lack thereof).

"Holy mother of god!" screamed Lucy, her face as pale as a sheet. Was Cana even wearing clothes when she entered her house?

"My eyes are on fire!" exclaimed the equally terrified Shikamaru, clutching his eyes with his hands. This was worse than the time that he saw Choji in a bikini. At least Ino didn't seem to mind too much...though she wondered why he was wearing her swimsuit instead of his boxers.

**"I think I'm going to like hanging out with Cana..." **remarked Kurama. She should undress more often...maybe she should become a stripper like Sakura?

"Is something the matter?" asked the alcohol lover.

"We were wearing swimsuits!" screamed Lucy. Why didn't Cana realize that?

"I'm about to go blind!" bellowed the shadow ninja, covering his eyes. Was he going to have to get a seeing eye dog from the Inuzaka clan?

Immediately, Lucy showed Cana her strapless bikini.

"What? Oh." answered Cana.

"Now will you please put some clothes on before you get arrested?" asked Lucy. The police seemed to be everywhere these days.

**"I wouldn't mind being her cellmate." **stated Kurama.

"Alright. Dang, you look good in that bikini..." noted the alcohol drinker.

**"I'll say!" **exclaimed Kurama. If only Lucy would wear a swimsuit more often.

"Thanks. Now go get dressed!" demanded the blonde girl.

**"Oh man!" **bellowed the nine-tailed fox. Sadly for him, nothing lasted forever.

"Don't make me come over there." said Lucy.

**"How can you? I'm in your stomach!" **exclaimed Kurama.

"You make me feel like I'm pregnant..." noted the teenage girl.

**"But you're not eighteen yet..." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Not that it stops you from trying to flirt with me." retorted Lucy.

"You're such a pervert, Cana..." said Shikamaru.

"I sure am." nodded the card mage.

Immediately, Cana went to put on her swimsuit.

Shortly afterward, Lucy and Shikamaru sighed in relief.

"I don't understand Cana...she has no modesty whatsoever. And she never acts like a proper lady..." noted Lucy.

"I know. Personally she reminds me a bit of Temari..." acknowledged Shikamaru. Of course, she doubted that Temari would suddenly decide to take her clothes off all of a sudden.

Cana came back a few minutes later.

However, instead of wearing a swimsuit, she was in her underpants.

"I couldn't find a bikini anywhere..." stated Cana.

**"I may have hoarded them all to myself...as well as some of Lucy's panties." **noted Kurama.

"Kurama..." scowled Lucy.

Shikamaru began to laugh hysterically.

"Very funny..." answered Cana as she joined them in the bathtub. It was nice to have such a refreshing, nice bath. She was starting to wish that she could live in Lucy's apartment.

Perhaps she should consult Lucy's landlady.

_Around thirty minutes later..._

After taking her bath along with Shikamaru and Cana, Lucy returned to Fairy Tail. Currently, the mages and ninja that had been sent on the mission to take down Oracion Seis (which was successful for the most part), were trying to recuperate from their mission.

Currently, Akamaru was taking a nap along with Kiba. Likewise, Shino was examining his bugs with a magnifying glass. They appeared to be fine for the most part, thank goodness...though a few of them appeared to be missing a leg or two.

Happy was as happy as ever, Kimimaro was knitting his bones, Naruto was eating ramen, Erza was trying to flirt with him, Cana was (fortunately for the sake of her sanity) not naked, Shikamaru was sleeping, Choji was eating, Hinata and Natsu were eating fire, Gray was taking his shirt off in front of Juvia, Juvia was squealing like a fangirl, Sakura and Gajeel were fighting again (and had broken several windows, much to Makarov's chagrin), Neji was eating lightning from a blender, Levy was reading a book, and of course she was surveying her surroundings. Makarov was currently writing down on his notebook.

Suddenly, a bird came by carrying a package.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy decided to open it.

Inside was a letter. It was rather shocking to her.

"Wha-what?" bellowed Lucy.

_Dear Lucy Heartfilia,_

_We regret to inform you that your father Jude Heartfilia is no longer with you. He hung himself last week...according to the suicide note he wrote, he felt that you deserved a better father than he was, and that he regretted everything he ever did in life. That, and they cancelled his favorite TV Show, Super Monkeys With Ridiculously Huge Chainsaws._

_He also wanted to let you know that he loved you, and that you now have access to his estate. Since you are his daughter, you get to inherit it all. We hope that is a consolation for your loss...though we did note that you seemed happy in your apartment considering that you refused to come back to him...and stripped down in front of him when he persisted._

_Sincerely,_

_Heartfilia Estate_

"I don't believe it..." stated Lucy.

"What's the matter?" asked Naruto.

"My father is dead." answered the teenage girl, a tear descending down her face.

This was so...sudden. She would have thought that her father would live longer...though admittedly her mother had already died when she was young.

Now both of her parents were dead. In other words she was an orphan just like Naruto. A teenage orphan.

"He is?" inquired the blonde Uzumaki. He felt rather sympathetic all of a sudden.

"I'm afraid so. Apparently he died last night..." noted the blonde girl. Though admittedly she did have her issues with her father (especially with him being greedy and embezzling money, though she never bothered telling that to the authorities), she never wanted him dead at all.

Now he was gone and there was nothing that she could do about it. Maybe she should have been a bit nicer to him. But there was no use living in the past.

"I'm sorry...I never got to know my father to be honest. They did tell me that he was the Fourth Hokage though..." answered Naruto.

"That's nice..." noted Lucy.

"Wait...if I'm your interdimensional partner, does this mean I'm responsible for this?" asked the chunin.

"How so?" inquired the teenage girl.

"Well, we both seem to acquired each other's traits...we both share the love of ramen for example..." noted Naruto.

"It's probably just a coincidence...in case you don't know, my mother was dead long before I used that interdimensional portal..." acknowledged Lucy. Her dear, sweet departed mother.

"Oh yeah..." answered the chunin. How could he have possibly forgotten that?

"I think I'm going to lay down for a while...I think I'm going to need some time to grieve..." noted Lucy.

"Let me know if you need anything!" exclaimed Naruto.

_Meanwhile..._

Though admittedly he did enjoy taking on weak clans and destroying them, Kenichi decided that he would take a break from that for a change. He felt that Lucy Heartfilia had been a thorn in his side for far too long at this point.

So, he decided to take direct action against her. He was going to hunt her down.

But to simply kill her would not be enough for him. He wanted to show her just how weak she was before him. Since weak ninja made him sick, that seemed rather appropriate.

"Are we going somewhere, Sensei Kenichi?" inquired Akiko as he boarded his dragon.

"Yes, we're going to Konohagakure..." answered Kenichi.

"Konohagakure? I don't ever recall it being full of weak ninja..." stated Gorou. This was a rather interesting change in pace after all the work that they had been doing lately.

"It's not...at least, not yet. There's just one person that I want to dispose of there..." explained the man.

"You mean the blonde?" inquired Akiko. She was surprised that she could last against Kenichi this long.

"Yes, the blonde." nodded Kenichi.

Together, he, Akiko, and Gorou set out to Konohagakure. From there, it would be a simple matter of finding Lucy Heartfilia and making her suffer.

They just needed an opportunity so that they wouldn't have to worry about Lucy getting reinforcements. He decided it would be best if it was just between him and her...and perhaps a few of her friends.

"I'm going to make her wish that she never met me..." thought Kenichi to himself. After all the heroes that he had killed for their efforts in trying to bring him to justice, why should he stop with her?

He was going to let Lucy know just how much he hated her.

_Unfortunately, it appears that Chiyoye is growing stronger still. Not only that, but Kenichi has some business that he would like to take care of. Can you guess what that is?_

_Well, I think this is the end of Part III. Part IV is going to start with the Jonin Exams arc. Heh heh. Mind you, things aren't going to be as light and soft as they were before. The story is getting darker as it progresses in case you haven't noticed. But since I like adding comedy who knows?_

_And yes, Itachi and Kisame will show up in that arc. I figured it would make sense if they showed up first, in case I didn't already tell you. Maybe I did and I forgot. Oh well._

_Goodbye now._


	64. Chapter 64: Drunken Fist

_In this chapter, the Jonin Exams are going to begin...that's right, Naruto and Lucy are going to get become jonin. But of course there are inevitably going to be obstacles in their path...like Kenichi and the Akatsuki for instance...of course, the former is going for Lucy and the latter are going for Naruto. Have you figured that out already?_

_And in case you don't know this...this is Part IV. Mind you, I think that the fanfic is going to be a bit darker from now on. Just saying. The fanfic probably isn't going to be as funny anymore...but of course there still will be some funny moments such as in this chapter. Just wanted to let you know._

**Chapter 64: Drunken Fist**

Orochimaru and Kabuto left the laboratory to begin their hunt for Naruto Uzumaki. Sometimes if you wanted a job right...you had to do it yourself. For example, Orochimaru knew that none of his followers would be able to handle assassinating the Third Hokage by themselves...he didn't become the Hokage for nothing.

And of course, this mission was no exception. He knew that Naruto was very powerful at this point. He was the apprentice of Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and he had (or at least he thought) he had the nine-tailed fox living inside him.

But on the way out, they noticed a fire out in the distance. Apparently something had happened to one of his laboratories. Something bad.

"Not again..." remarked Orochimaru. This handiwork was awfully familiar.

Sure enough, a Ota ninja leapt by to tell Orochimaru what happened. He figured he would want to know...though as it turned out, he was already aware what had happened recently.

"Orochimaru! Your laboratory out in the southeast has been destroyed!" screamed the Ota ninja. Sure enough, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack. It had happened so suddenly and so quickly...and it appeared that there was nothing that his comrades could do about it.

Kabuto noted that he might need to operate on his heart if he did end up suffering a heart attack due to the stress he was under. It was a good thing that he was a decent doctor...though admittedly he did tend to have a lot of patients as it was.

Unfortunately, it seemed that none of the scientists inside the laboratory were a match for the beast, even if they did happen to be rather experienced ninja. Their bodies were fairly unrecognizable, too.

"Is this the work of the Beast Of Otagakure?" asked Orochimaru.

The Ota ninja nodded.

Orochimaru sighed. This was the third time this month that this has happened. Something told him that the Beast Of Otogakure was not going to stop destroying his laboratories anytime soon. Personally he wondered if he had ever faced such a persistent enemy before in his life.

Apparently, the beast had also left a message telling him that he was next. It was written...in blood. Lots of it. Kabuto was actually starting to feel a bit nervous.

As Orochimaru and Kabuto left, Orochimaru cursed the Konoha ninja under his breath.

_Meanwhile..._

"Is it time for the Jonin Exams?" asked Shizune. She had forgotten to check her calendar.

"Yes, people have simply been dying for the opportunity to become jonin this year. I figured it was about time to give them what they want." acknowledged Tsunade. Hopefully people wouldn't get careless and get themselves killed. There had been a few casualties every now and then, though admittedly most of them typically knew what they were doing even if they didn't end up passing the exams.

"What's the challenge this year?" inquired Tsunade's apprentice.

"They're going to be climbing up a mountain...they have two weeks to get to the top...they also need four scrolls..." explained Tsunade. In this case, it was the Scroll of Fire, The Scroll of Water, the Scroll of Earth, and the Scroll of Air.

Originally, Tsunade was also going to include a Scroll of Lightning...but she figured that might make things too difficult for the jonin trying to complete the exam...though admittedly getting through the mountain wasn't that much harder than getting through the Forest Of Death. Many ninja were pretty experienced at mountain climbing, even if they weren't even chunin.

"I suppose I should start getting ready..." answered the Sannin.

"By the way, you won a few coins at gambling..." stated Shizune.

Tsunade frowned. That wasn't a good sign, was it?

Curious, she looked outside...and discovered that Takeshi had once again escaped.

She rolled her eyes. Well, that was a mild annoyance at worst. Takeshi wasn't a serious threat to Konoha...though admittedly he probably shouldn't be allowed to roam the streets.

_Meanwhile.._

As it turned out, Hinata and Natsu were currently relaxing in a sauna following their long mission to stop Oracion Seis. Both of them were wearing towels...Natsu was wearing one around his waist while Hinata was wearing one across her chest to her ankles.

"Thank you for letting me use your sauna...I appreciate it!" exclaimed Natsu.

"You're welcome, Natsu..." noted Hinata. Ever since she had gained access to fire abilities, she found that she enjoyed using the sauna a lot more. Heat was awfully good for her.

Of course, she wouldn't mind going for a swim in molten lava either. For some strange reason it didn't make her clothes melt. It was...weird.

Suddenly, they heard someone locking the door.

"Huh?" asked Natsu. He didn't even know that the sauna had a lock. Wasn't that...dangerous?

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi.

"Oh, brother." stated Hinata.

Immediately, Takeshi set the sauna to its absolutely maximum setting.

He then ran away laughing.

Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"He does realize that raising the temperature isn't going to kill us, right?" asked Natsu.

"Yeah...not only that, but we can just lie on the floor and the heat won't get to us..." noted Hinata.

"Not to mention that we could just bust down the door with our fists..." acknowledged the male dragonslayer.

"Yeah...he didn't think that things true. And I really think that he should lay low if he doesn't want to get caught again..." stated the female dragonslayer.

Suddenly, they heard what appeared to be high voltage, followed by Takeshi screaming.

"And it looks like Neji got him..." noted Hinata.

Neji shook his head. Takeshi really needed to give up his bloodthirsty ways...though so far his attempts on their lives had proven to be completely unsuccessful.

"You sure have gotten strong, Neji." acknowledged Tenten.

"I guess I have. I wonder where Rock Lee is..." answered Neji. He was hoping to practice with him because he heard that the Jonin Exams were coming up. He wanted to help his teammates become jonin...though admittedly he already was a jonin.

"Oh...he went to go visit Fairy Tail...he was a Harry Potter fan so he figured why not..." stated the teenage girl.

Shrugging, Neji decided to go wait for his return. For now, he decided to go get something to eat at a nearby restaurant.

As soon as he entered, he noticed that there was a teenage girl drinking alcohol...and lots of it. Several bottles were across the table.

"Glug glug glug glug..." murmured Cana. It made her feel so happy to drink alcoholic beverages, though admittedly she was starting to feel a bit woozy.

As it turned out, she had a similar idea to what Rock Lee had in mind. She wanted to try out Konoha's alcoholic beverages for a change.

"I like this stuff..." remarked the teenage girl.

Immediately, the bouncer began to worry about her. If she died of alcohol poisoning...well, it's going to be on his head.

Oddly enough, she didn't seem to be affected by the alcohol at all. It was really strange.

At that very moment, Neji decided to talk to her.

"You sure you should be drinking that much?" asked Neji.

"Relax, I'll be fine." answered Cana.

Somehow, Neji wasn't so sure if that was true.

Cana kept on guzzling...and guzzling.

Suddenly, Neji noticed something that was rather...peculiar.

Apparently, Cana was wearing leg weights.

"Why are you wearing those?" asked Neji.

"Well, after I used the interdimensional portal I realized that I was running a lot faster than normal...in fact I had a hard time walking...that's why I bought these..." answered Cana.

Neji raised an eyebrow. That sounded very familiar.

Suddenly, a rather drunken man approached her.

"Huh?" asked Cana.

"You are so freaking sexy! Why don't you be my baby!" exclaimed the drunk man as he gave her a hug.

"Watch yourself." demanded the teenage girl.

Immediately, she gave the man a light punch to restore him back to his senses...

...but she ended up making him crash straight through the wall.

"Did I just do that?" asked Cana.

This made Neji even more suspicious.

Curious, he decided to ask Cana some questions. He had a feeling who her interdimensional partner was.

"Cana...did you happen to see a martial artist use the interdimensional portal about the same time as you?" asked Neji.

"As a matter of fact, I did." nodded Cana.

"What did he look like?" inquired the lightning ninja.

"Well, he had bug eyes...he had black hair, and he was constantly praising his sensei..." acknowledged the teenage girl. It was if he was his father or something.

Neji's eyes widened in realization.

"Your interdimensional partner is Rock Lee!" exclaimed Neji.

"Rock who?" asked Cana.

"You're a martial artist now..." stated the lightning ninja.

"What? I suppose that makes sense..." noted the alcohol lover. That just might explain the leg weights. Of course, she would probably take them off in a fight, but it depended on the situation.

"Are you going to stop drinking now?" inquired Neji.

"Yeah...just let me finish this sake..." answered Cana.

Upon realizing what Cana was drinking, Neji's eyes widened in horror.

"No, Cana, no!" bellowed Neji.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Cana immediately drank the sake...and became unable to control herself.

Immediately, she began to lift bar stools and toss them across the room, breaking them in the process.

She then picked up the bartender and tossed him at the bouncer, causing him to well...bounce.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this!" exclaimed the bouncer.

"Is your health insurance going to pay you enough?" asked the bartender.

"I think so, yes!" answered the bouncy tavern employee.

"Good, because you're going to need it!" shouted the drink server.

Neji frantically leapt out of the tavern. He needed to dial 9-1-1.

"I'm queen of the world!" exclaimed Cana, beating her chest like a gorilla.

_Meanwhile..._

"I'm starting to feel worried about Neji all of a sudden..." stated Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata...do you want to go on a date?" inquired Natsu.

"Sure...but there might be a problem." answered the teenage girl.

"How come?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"My father's awfully picky on the people that I date..." noted the female dragonslayer.

"He is?" questioned Natsu.

"I'm afraid so. He's going to want you to go through some tests first..." acknowledged Hinata. If he didn't pass them, her father likely wouldn't let him go on a date with her.

It was rather depressing, really.

Fortunately, Natsu was not the one to give up that easily.

"Let's go visit him!" exclaimed Natsu.

_A few minutes later..._

"How may I help you?" asked Hiashi Hyuga.

"I'd like to be your daughter's boyfriend!" exclaimed Natsu.

"But you're a pyromaniac!" bellowed Hinata's father.

"I don't burn down houses...well, maybe once or twice. But it wasn't on purpose..." stated the male dragonslayer.

"If you insist...but I'm going to give you some tests first...you may already know the Hyuga traditions since you're interdimensional partners with my daughter..." acknowledged Hiashi.

"Fine..." nodded Natsu.

A few minutes later, Hiashi Hyuga beckoned Natsu for his first test. He directed him towards a room.

Inside the room was Hinata and...Hinata?

"Is there a particular reason you brought me here, father?" asked the Hinata on the right.

"It's time for your first test! You need to figure out which one is the real Hinata..." stated Hiashi.

"How do I do that?" asked Natsu.

"Your choice, but if you guess incorrectly...you fail!" exclaimed the man.

Natsu gulped. It appeared that he was under pressure.

"You can do it!" exclaimed the Hinata on the right.

"Believe in yourself...I guess." answered the Hinata on the left.

Natsu began to think to himself how he was going to figure out which Hinata was who.

Suddenly, he sneezed some embers.

"Watch it!" bellowed Hiashi Hyuga.

Curious, this reminded him of something that Hinata had told him back when he was working with her in the Tower Of Heaven.

This gave him an idea.

Immediately, he set his right hand on fire.

"What are you doing?" inquired the head of the Hyuga household.

Slowly, he began to approach the two Hinatas.

Curious, Hiashi Hyuga wondered what was going on.

Suddenly, he noticed that the Hinata on the left was beginning to...sweat. Apparently this Hinata was nervous.

Natsu continued approaching and approaching the two.

Eventually, the Hinata on the left snapped, and reverted into the kunoichi she really was.

"Aah! I'm out of here!" bellowed the fake Hinata.

Immediately, she ran out of the room.

"What exactly just happened?" asked Hiashi Hyuga.

Hinata wondered for a second about that herself. However, she quickly came up with the answer.

"Oh, I get it! You're so clever, Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata.

"He is?" inquired the father.

"He remembered that I happen to be fireproof...so he used it to spot the impostor..." stated the teenage girl.

"Oh..." answered Hiashi Hyuga.

"So does he pass?" inquired Hinata.

"Yes...but he still has more tests to go!" exclaimed the head of the Hyuga household.

"What's next?" asked Natsu.

_A few minutes later..._

"Why did you call me, uncle?" inquired Neji.

"For your next task you need to fight my nephew Neji..." stated Hiashi.

"Are you sure about this? He's pretty strong..." noted Hinata. She knew that from experience.

Immediately, Natsu stepped in the ring with Neji.

Sure enough, both of them began to battle each other with their Gentle Fist.

Unfortunately, Neji began to seal off Natsu's chakra points...eventually, he made him collapse on the floor.

"Oh no! Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata. It looks like history had a strange way of repeating itself. Natsu wasn't Naruto Uzumaki, it seemed.

"I'll be alright...I think..." answered Natsu.

"That didn't turn out so well for him, did it?" inquired Hiashi.

"Well, you never said that he needed to win.." stated Hinata.

"What? Oh." answered the head of the Hyuga household. Perhaps that had slipped his mind. Well, it was off to the next test.

For Natsu's next test, he had to use his Byakugan to find his car keys.

"Your car keys?" asked Natsu.

"I've been looking for them all day..." answered Hiashi.

"Don't you have the Byakugan too, father?" inquired Hinata.

"Yes...but I figured that I would use that as a test..." stated the man.

"Found them!" exclaimed Natsu.

"What? But you didn't even use your Byakugan..." pointed out Hiashi.

Natsu tapped on his nose.

"Oh..." acknowledged the Hyuga household member. Natsu had a decent sense of smell like Hinata's teammate Kiba.

Well, it appeared that Natsu had managed to pass three tests...but he still had two more tests to go.

For his fourth test, Natsu had to dress up like a gentleman in order to impress him.

Fortunately, he was actually willing to help him through that.

Natsu came back a few minutes later wearing a suit.

"Wow! You look awesome, Natsu!" exclaimed Hinata.

And for Natsu's last test...he had to roll a boulder up a steep hill. A rather big boulder too.

"You sure this isn't a bit extreme, father?" asked the teenage girl. If the boulder fell down, chances are Natsu might end up hurting himself.

"Done!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Never mind then." answered Hinata. Natsu was awfully strong...then again, so was she. She could punch through Gajeel's steel armor.

"Can I be Hinata's boyfriend now?" asked the male dragonslayer.

"I said I would consider it..." stated Hiashi.

Suddenly, the boulder began to roll back down the hill...and it was heading straight towards Hinata.

Natsu gasped in shock.

"Hinata, look out!" exclaimed Natsu.

Quickly, he pushed Hinata out of the way.

However, he ended up being hit by the boulder himself. What a sacrifice.

"Natsu!" screamed Hinata.

He was unconscious.

"Oh no..." thought Hiashi. Perhaps Hinata was right about this challenge being a bit extreme.

Suddenly, Hinata pushed the boulder off of Natsu using her superhuman strength.

She then began to put fireballs in Natsu's mouth in order to heal him.

"C'mon, c'mon!" exclaimed Hinata. She sure hoped that Natsu would be alright...though she got the feeling that Natsu was rather durable.

This apparently did the trick, because Natsu suddenly woke up from his forced slumber. Fortunately, it appeared that being hit by that boulder hadn't put him in a coma...though it did give him a concussion for a few seconds.

"Why are there two of you?" inquired the male dragonslayer.

Hinata shook Natsu's head.

"Never mind..." answered the male dragonslayer.

"Are you alright, Natsu?" asked Hinata.

He nodded.

"That was an interesting nap..." noted Natsu.

Hinata immediately began to hug Natsu tightly. She had been worried about him...though he seemed fine other than a bruise that was on his forehead.

Sure enough, her father noticed what had happened. He put his hand on his head, pondering what to do.

"I...don't see how I can deny your request after that." answered Hiashi. Clearly those two were rather close...and they would inevitably disobey him if he refused to honor it anyway.

"Really? You mean it?" asked the excited Hinata.

"Woohoo!" cheered Natsu.

"Mm-hmm...just try not to get too careless. I may be aloof sometimes...but I do care about my daughter's wellbeing." answered Hiashi.

Natsu nodded.

"And you might want to stay away from the tavern...there's a crisis going on there lately...Neji already had to dial 911..." noted the man.

"Yikes..." answered Hinata.

Shrugging, Natsu and Hinata decided to go look for a restaurant...or they could simply continue relaxing in the sauna. It seemed doubtful that Takeshi could kill them using it.

_Meanwhile..._

Fortunately for Wendy, Makarov had shown her where she could find her adoptive mother, Grandeeney.

However, getting there wasn't that easy. She was currently residing on the top of a mountain.

But of course, since it was awfully windy...well, it wasn't too bad for her.

Immediately, she entered the cave that Makarov had shown her.

"Hello?" asked Wendy.

Curious, she began to look around.

Suddenly, she noticed Grandeeney.

"There you are!" exclaimed the wind dragonslayer.

Grandeeney was rather surprised to see her daughter again, to say the very least.

"Wendy, is that you?" asked the wind dragon.

"Yes, it's me." confirmed Wendy. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure..." answered Grandeeney.

"Why did you suddenly walk out on me? I've been looking all over for you!" exclaimed Wendy.

"Well, I'm sorry about that..." apologized the wind dragon. "I've just been really busy lately..." Fairy Tail's sworn enemy Chiyoye Headstone had grown in power after all.

"That's unfortunate." nodded Wendy.

"Do you need help with anything? I suppose I have some free time now..." noted Grandeeney. Personally it felt rather good to finally get to spend time with her foster daughter again.

"Well, you never bothered teaching me offensive wind spells..." acknowledged the wind dragonslayer.

"Oh, yes...how could I have forgotten about that?" inquired the enormous dragon.

"It's been a bit of a pain..." stated the blue-haired girl.

"I suppose it has..." nodded the female dragon. Unfortunately, teaching Wendy offensive magic was something that had completely slipped her mind...though admittedly Wendy's healing magic was still very decent. She just might be interested in becoming a doctor when she grew up.

In fact, she had apparently been kidnapped by Oracion Seis for that very purpose...though apparently she had managed to escape along with a friend...and taken down a member of Oracion Seis in the process.

It was rather...impressive, to say the very least. She wondered how she had managed to pull it off. Oracion Seis was one of the most powerful dark guilds in recent history...though she wondered how long they would last against the likes of Zeref. He had power over life and death itself...something that they did not have.

Anyways...she had heard that Oracion Seis was gone. Hopefully with that particular dark guild gone the world would be a better place to live...but there was a problem. Chiyoye and her new minion had managed to acquire the abilities of the guild.

It was bad enough that she had gotten power from the Tower Of Heaven as it was. Now she had gotten power from Oracion Seis too, it seemed. But at least she didn't manage to drain Nirvana...otherwise one might consider her to be unstoppable.

And to think that she had already gotten power from four powerful ninjas as well...she just kept on getting stronger, apparently.

"Is there anything in particular you want me to teach you?" asked Grandeeney.

"Let me think..." answered Wendy. Surely there had to be something that she was interested in.

"Why not the Sky Dragon's Claw?" asked the wind dragonslayer.

Grandeeney nodded.

Immediately, she produced wind from her feet...then beckoned Wendy to try doing the same.

Wendy nodded...but much to her foster mother's surprise, she managed to pull it off almost immediately. Grandeeney did not recall her foster daughter to be this fast at learning before.

"Why don't you try doing the same with your fingertips?" asked Grandeeney.

Once again, Wendy managed to pull it off almost instantly. It was very surprising.

"Anything else?" inquired the wind dragon.

"Just the sky dragon's wing attack..." noted Wendy.

Grandeeney nodded. Though it took a bit longer for her to learn a more powerful technique like that, she still managed to accomplish it quickly.

"I don't recall you being such a fast learner..." questioned the wind dragon.

"Really? Huh...maybe it's the interdimensional magic kicking in..." answered Wendy.

"You became an interdimensional partner too?" inquired Grandeeney. She heard that it had happened between Natsu and Hinata...but she was still a bit surprised that it had happened to Wendy as well.

"Speaking of which, maybe I should go visit him..." noted the wind dragonslayer. Personally he thought that he was rather cute.

"You might want to bring him as well...he's likely inherited your wind dragonslayer magic..." acknowledged the wind dragon.

"He sure has." nodded Wendy.

Immediately, Wendy climbed back down the mountain in order to go look for him.

After heading back to Fairy Tail, Wendy entered the interdimensional portal to look for him.

Sure enough, he was currently hanging out with his master Naruto.

"Hi, Konohamaru!" exclaimed Wendy.

As soon as Konohamaru saw Wendy, he began to blush.

"Hi, Wendy!" bellowed Konohamaru.

"How are you doing?" inquired the blue-haired girl.

"Pretty good...my uncle let me have my grandfather's summoning contract...now I can use it to summon monkeys..." acknowledged the Sarutobi clan member.

"Sounds more fun than a barrel full of monkeys...or maybe AS fun..." noted Wendy.

"Yeah...unfortunately, the monkeys don't seem interested in listening to me...maybe I need to work on that so that they'll follow my commands." suggested Konohamaru.

"That's a problem." nodded the female dragonslayer.

Immediately, Konohamaru summoned a monkey to demonstrate.

"I want a banana!" exclaimed the monkey.

"But I don't have a banana..." answered Konohamaru.

Immediately, the monkey threw a tantrum, causing Konohamaru to sigh.

"Oh dear." remarked Wendy.

"Maybe you'll have better luck since you have access to my abilities..." noted the boy.

"Maybe I will..." nodded the girl.

Immediately, Wendy decided to summon a monkey of his own.

In her case, it was a monkey with a pacifier and a diaper.

"Aww! How cute!" exclaimed Wendy.

"You want to see if he will listen?" asked Konohamaru.

Wendy shrugged.

"Er, latch onto his face and shake his head back and forth?" inquired Wendy.

The monkey nodded, and began to shake Konohamaru's head back and forth.

"Aargh! Get off me, you face hugger!" demanded Konohamaru.

Immediately, Wendy instructed the monkey to let go of him.

"Huh. I didn't think that would work..." noted the female dragonslayer.

"Darn it! Now you're making me jealous!" complained the male dragonslayer.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Wendy.

"It's fine..." answered Konohamaru.

"So...how's life as a wind dragonslayer?" asked the blue-haired girl.

"Pretty good, actually..." stated the preteen boy.

_A few hours ago..._

_After using the potty, Konohamaru was washing his hands..._

_...when suddenly the Sorority showed up._

_"What the-" exclaimed the boy._

_"Hahahaha! Now we have you where we want you!" bellowed Momoo. This was absolutely perfect._

_"How so?" asked Konohamaru._

_"This is the one place where your little girlfriend can't protect you!" exclaimed the bully of a boy._

_"Oh yeah..." answered the preteen boy._

_"Have fun having your head dunked in the toilet!" bellowed Momoo._

_Immediately, Momoo began to laugh. He was feeling particularly sadistic today...especially after the humilation that Wendy had given him earlier._

_Suddenly, Konohamaru blew their clothes off with his Wind Dragon's Roar._

_"No! Not again!" exclaimed the ill-behaved boy._

_Immediately, he and his gang ran out of the bathroom in their underwear..._

_...and ended up being busted by a jonin for streaking._

_"You're coming with me!" bellowed the jonin._

_"Noooooo!" screamed Momoo._

_"Karma at its finest!" thought the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi._

"Serves them right for bullying me..." remarked Konohamaru. It was time for them to learn that their actions were going to have negative consequences. It just wasn't right to bully other people.

"Yeah..." answered Wendy.

"Um, you might want to cut your little playdate short..." warned Naruto. He appeared worried about something all of a sudden.

"Huh?" asked the female dragonslayer.

"There's an incredibly drunk girl coming this way...and she's destroying everything in sight!" bellowed the former jinchuriki.

Gasping in shock, Wendy and Konohamaru fled for the hills.

_Meanwhile..._

Rock Lee had to admit, visiting the world of magic was rather interesting...though nobody else in the guild seemed to be a martial artist. Maybe he wasn't looking hard enough?

He noticed that someone appeared to be selling alcoholic beverages...but he was a bit worried he might activate his drunken fist.

And yet, drinking the alcohol was so tempting...

Sighing, he decided to drink a sip of the booze, since they were offering free samples.

Oddly enough, he didn't end up becoming drunk this time. It was rather weird.

Curious, he couldn't help but decide to look at his abdomen.

Immediately, he went to the bathroom so that he could take his shirt off. If any of his many fangirls were in there with him, they would probably be squealing.

As it turned out, there was now a mark on his abdomen.

Apparently, the same thing that had happened to his comrade Neji had now happened to him...though he wasn't sure if he had obtained special powers from it.

"Gosh..." thought Rock Lee. Perhaps his sensei would want to know about this.

Suddenly, he noticed that for some strange reason, he now appeared to have a deck of playing cards. Perhaps he should play poker later?

Perhaps he should go out on a mission with his teammates so that he could examine this further. Something told him that he might be able to weaponize the cards. They looked like they would prick his finger if he touched them.

But before that, he wanted to drink some more booze...he didn't seem to become drunk so easily anymore.

Still, he ought to be careful...he knew what happened whenever he got intoxicated. Besides, the last time that had happened, he found himself in his underwear in a roadside ditch. He had no idea what happened...but his fangirls wouldn't leave him alone during the incident.

So, he decided to drink in moderation...as difficult as that was for him now. Might Guy had taught him to show restraint...which made sense considering that his gates could be harmful if he used them for too long. To be fair, they weren't as dangerous to him now that he had been training for two and a half years.

Personally he wondered how many types of alcoholic beverages that they had on sale...

...he wanted to try them all.

_Elsewhere..._

"So, are you starting the Jonin Exams?" asked Lucy. She had heard the news and wanted to participate. It would be rather interesting getting to go on on B and A-Rank missions.

"Yes, we are...I do believe that you just might be ready to become a jonin." noted Tsunade.

"That's good to hear..." acknowledged the teenage girl. Sure, being a chunin was nice...but she figured that she wouldn't stop there. She just didn't know when to throw in the towel, it seemed.

"Mind you, things are going to be different than with the Chunin Exams...though I will admit that you did pass with flying colors..." answered the Sannin.

"I'm still not sure why so many members of my rogues gallery showed up..." questioned Lucy. It was rather bewildering. At least she managed to come out on top regardless.

"That is something that I'm not sure about either..." stated the Fifth Hokage. "But since you fought so well against them, I decided to let you become chunin. Mind you, you just might end up facing stronger opponents in the Jonin Exams...they can be rather unpredictable sometimes." noted Tsunade.

Lucy nodded. You never knew what was going to happen in the exams. Hopefully she didn't end up getting herself killed...though admittedly she was normally a rather careful person.

"In fact, the chunin exams we had back when the Third Hokage was still alive proved to be to be rather eventful...nobody ever expected that Orochimaru would invade..." noted Tsunade. Orochimaru always had a tendency to sneak up on people. She knew from experience.

"What a terrible tragedy that was..." nodded Lucy.

"Yes, it certainly was. Everyone and their mother attended the Third Hokage's funeral...and it was from the only funeral that we had either. Orochimaru killed so many of us..." acknowledged the Sannin. Personally she wished that Orochimaru would simply drop dead one day...even if they used to be friends. Well, that was in the past now.

"I sure hope that nothing like that happens again..." answered the blonde...though she got the impression that another attack on Konoha may ultimately happen. War was all over Konoha's history books.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Tsunade. Every time she won money at gambling, she made sure to increase her defenses. So far things had been relatively uneventful since that fateful attack, though admittedly Lucy and her friends had encountered several psychopaths, especially Takeshi.

"So, where do I sign up?" asked Lucy.

Tsunade handed Lucy a piece of paper so that she could do just that. She didn't want to exclude her from the Jonin Exams. Personally she felt that passing the exams wouldn't be too hard for her considering that was pretty good at tests.

"Mind you, your friends plan on being in that exam as well...and only six of you are actually going to get to become jonin..." warned Tsunade.

"Yeah...I understand that." nodded the teenage girl.

At that very moment, Naruto stepped in the office.

"Can I join the jonin exams too, Grandma Tsunade?" asked the chunin.

"Yes, you can, Naruto. Just don't do anything foolish..." warned Tsunade.

Naruto nodded, and signed his name on the paper. Oddly enough, he also wrote down "Believe it!".

"Why did you write down "believe it"?" questioned Tsunade.

"I suppose it's become a bit of a verbal tic for me...is there a problem?" inquired Naruto.

"Not really, no. I was just feeling curious. Do you believe that you can become a jonin?" inquired the Sannin.

"Of course I do!" bellowed the chunin.

"Then I suppose writing that down makes sense." nodded Tsunade. What other catchphrases did Naruto have?

Immediately, Naruto left Tsunade's office, happy to have the opportunity to become a jonin. He wondered how far he would make it in the exams.

"I believe that I can become a jonin too...I've gotten so much stronger lately..." acknowledged Lucy. Part of her was glad that she was a jinchuriki...though admittedly Kurama wouldn't leave her alone sometimes. At least now she could successfully flirt with somebody...though the only person she wanted to flirt with now was Shikamaru. She was so happy to have a boyfriend...even if he was a total slacker.

Sure enough, more people appeared to be entering the office as well. Tsunade wondered if she should have Shizune help people sign up. She wasn't exactly sure how many people were going to compete in the exams this year. She hadn't gotten a precise estimate...though admittedly there likely wouldn't be as many people competing as there were in the Chunin Exams...since there weren't as many chunin as there were genin.

Immediately, Lucy decided to leave the office as well. She wondered who was going to be competing this year. Were any more of her friends going to be participating?

Curious, she decided to ask Shikamaru if he was going to be participating.

"Are you going to be in the exams?" asked Lucy. It seemed fairly likely.

"I believe so, yes...though personally I don't really like working to become a jonin..." noted Shikamaru.

"Of course you don't." giggled the teenage girl.

"It's too bad that I can't become a jonin through napping...that's what I excel at..." acknowledged the shadow ninja.

"It sure is." giggled Lucy once again. Something told her that if Shikamaru ever married her that she would be the bread winner of the family...though she didn't really mind.

Personally, she was a bit worried that she would have to face off against Shikamaru during the exams since it was hard fighting her friends...but she would try not to hurt him too much.

_Meanwhile..._

"It feels strange going back to Konoha after so long..." acknowledged Itachi.

"I'm looking forward to it...I bet killing Konoha ninja will be fun!" exclaimed Kisame.

"Do remember that they used to be friends..." warned the senior.

"Didn't you defect from Konoha?" questioned the junior.

"It was out of...pragmatism." stated the Uchiha clan member.

"If you say so." answered the combat lover. Much like Itachi, Kisame had also killed members of his countrymen. It had made him feel rather depressed. But it wasn't like he had a choice.

To be honest, Itachi was starting to miss his brother Sasuke. He heard that Orochimaru was going to make him his vessel...and he didn't have a method to reverse it. Once he was Orochimaru's puppet, there was nothing that he could do. If only Sasuke hadn't decided to side with him so that he could take down his own brother. But he had made his choice and so had he.

Perhaps it would be best if he tried to talk him out of it before it was too late. But as it was, he was busy trying to hunt down Naruto, and he didn't want to let Pain down.

If he was lucky, he still might have enough time to try to talk Sasuke out of it...even if technically they were enemies now. He and Sasuke were the only members left of the clan at this point. He had been rather thorough at wiping out his clan, to say the very least.

Well, other than Sasuke, there was another Uchiha clan member that he happened to know...but he decided not to tell the other Akatsuki members about it since he knew that Deidara happened to hate Sharingan users since his encounter with him. He still wasn't quite sure why Deidara happened to hate him so much. Was it something that he said? Apparently he didn't think that his Sharingan was artistic or something, even though he never recalled using his Sharingan for art.

Of course, he realized that since he an outlaw, he would no doubt be facing Konoha ninja, who would want to arrest him for committing genocide against his own clan.

But he was ready to handle them. Still, it might be best to try to lay low so that he didn't attract too much attention. You might be surprised how many allies Konoha possessed.

Curious, he noticed that there was a poster saying that the jonin exams were going to begin soon.

Perhaps that would be a good opportunity to strike...

_Oh dear...Cana really needs to control her drinking, doesn't she? You can probably guess why I picked Cana to be Rock Lee's interdimensional partner. Heh heh. I hope I don't need to explain the joke._

_In the next chapter, well, I suppose we'll get down to business. You want the exams to begin, right? I suppose I won't be dallying forever...though I did hope that you liked Natsu's attempts to earn Hinata's father's approval. Thankfully, he succeeded in that mission._


	65. Chapter 65: Trivia Time

_In this chapter, there's going to be a trivia challenge...and yes, it's part of the Jonin Exams. Let's just say that it's a calm before the storm considering who's going to show up in the following chapters...and you should know how dangerous they are._

_In case you don't remember, Kenichi (and his two lieutenants/apprentices, Akiko and Gorou), Itachi and Kisame are all going to show up during this arc..though they're not necessarily going to be facing off against the same opponents. You already know who they're after, right? Kenichi is looking for revenge...and Itachi and Kisame are looking for a jinchuriki...though I doubt the latter are going to capture Naruto once they find out he's not the jinchuriki. _

_You think they'll find out who the real jinchuriki is? Because they sure as heck won't be able to extract a tailed beast from Naruto. An Akatsuki ritual would be a big fat waste of time, to say the very least._

_Just for the record, I decided to give Kenichi two apprentices because I figured simply having him be a stand-alone villain would be a bit boring...and yes, I do like making villainous OCs. Maybe it's my hobby. I hope you don't mind it too much...I'm up for suggestions._

_But before they show up I think I'll start with something more lighthearted...wouldn't you say? You'll probably notice that there will be a lot of characters in this chapter. I wanted to be creative when I was writing this fanfic._

**Chapter 65: Trivia Time**

After everyone finished signing up for the Jonin Exams, it was only a matter of time before they began...which of course they did. It occurred surprisingly quickly. Apparently Lady Tsunade did not want to keep anyone waiting...especially since she could always use some more jonin to help defend Konoha.

Inevitably, Asuma, Kurenai, Might Guy and Kakashi all wanted their students to be competing...though at this point their students might be able to become senseis themselves and start training genin of their own. Perhaps they were even going to become stronger than them. Sometimes they surpassed their pupils like that. In fact, Kakashi was starting to worry that Naruto was going to become better than him. It felt so weird.

"Do you think your students will do well in the exams, Asuma?" asked Kurenai.

For some strange reason, her boyfriend's name sounds like "Awesome"...which was exactly what she thought about him. How ironic.

She was hoping that Hinata that would do well in the exams at least. She was the strongest out of all her students. Perhaps she could even hold her own against her. Her plant techniques weren't as effective against a fire user, for obvious reasons. She got the feeling that they would be effective against people like Zabuza and Kisame though...even though the latter could probably drain her chakra before she could use it.

In other news, she heard that she had been reinstated as the heiress of the Hyuga clan. Kurenai found this to be rather satisfying. She had the feeling that with the right training Hinata could become fit to be a ninja. And apparently, she was right. Of course, it helped that she had gained Natsu's abilities...meaning that she was a lot stronger than before.

But on the other hand, she had to worry about Hinata deciding to become an arsonist and using her abilities to burn down buildings...like the local orphanage. She certainly seemed to love fire. But considering that Hinata was typically peaceful maybe she was just paranoid.

That chakra absorption ability was quite a problem. How were they ever going to get around it? Asuma's apprentice Choji had once gone up against a ninja that could absorb chakra and came out the victor at one point...but Kisame was clearly a lot stronger.

"I hope...I bet ryo on Shikamaru..." stated Asuma. Surely he would be able to get past the first part of the exam at least since he was so smart. Of course, so was his girlfriend Lucy. Apparently, blondes weren't as dumb as people thought they were. Who would have thought that she could beat him in shogi? Not even he could do it...and he was much older than Shikamaru was.

Of course, he didn't play shogi as much as Shikamaru did. Maybe he should consider it playing a bit more whenever he wasn't out on missions.

"You did? How's that working out for you? I know that someone once tried to get Gaara to throw a match with Sasuke so that they would win a bet...it didn't end too well for them..." acknowledged the jonin kunoichi. There was a lot of blood to clean, to say the very least.

"I know..." nodded the Sarutobi jonin. At least Gaara wasn't a bloodthirsty monster anymore. Naruto had made sure of that. He was awesome at getting people to redeem themselves, to say the very least. He wished that he had that particular talent. Normally he just set evildoers on fire...which was similar to Kurenai's apprentice and her boyfriend now that he thought of it.

Who would have thought that Hinata would end up obtaining power over fire?

Oh wait, that was right...Hinata lived in the land of fire. How could he forget that?

Funny coincidence, wasn't it?

"I wonder where Rock Lee has hopped off too..." questioned Might Guy. He seemed to have disappeared recently. He sure hoped that he didn't get kidnapped by his crazy fangirls.

"I think he went to drink some alcohol..." answered Kakashi.

"Alcohol?!" screamed Might Guy. He knew what happened whenever Rock Lee got intoxicated...he still had a lot of bills that he needed to pay off.

"Oddly enough his liver seems a lot stronger than before..." questioned the Sharingan wielding jonin. However, he had the feeling that drinking sake would still get him drunk.

Sure enough, their students appeared to be arriving to where the exams were taking place. Lucy had decided to wear her ninja outfit for the occasion...though she had decided to dye hers pink. Pink was kind of her color.

"I wonder what the first part of the exam is going to be like..." questioned Hinata.

"It's probably going to be a secret test of character..." acknowledged Shino. That seemed to make sense.

"I think Akamaru and I are ready for it!" exclaimed Kiba.

Akamaru nodded.

Immediately, each of them entered the office where the exams were taking place.

However, they noticed that there didn't appear to be no papers this time. Instead, there appeared to be buzzers.

Suddenly, Shizune showed up.

"Where are the papers?" inquired Ino.

"We're not doing a written exam this time...instead, we're going to be playing a game of trivia..." stated Shizune.

"A game of trivia?" questioned Lucy.

"It's based on the events that have taken place in Ninja Tail so far...whoops! I just broke the fourth wall!" exclaimed Tsunade's apprentice.

"Try to be more careful. You're going to make the universe explode..." warned Sakura.

"Yes, yes, I know. Now who would like to answer the first question?" inquired Shizune.

"I suppose I will..." nodded the teenage girl.

"Alright then...when Lucy used the interdimensional portal for the first time...who was the first ninja criminal that she ever faced?" asked the kunoichi.

Sakura shrugged. She wasn't quite sure of that one...though admittedly she was there when Lucy ended up in the world of ninja and away from home.

"Alright then...anyone else want to chime in?" inquired Shizune.

Lucy chimed in.

"Lucy, do you know the answer? Oh wait...of course you do." answered the kunoichi.

"Takeshi!" exclaimed Lucy. Oddly enough, she seemed worried when she said that.

"Very good!" bellowed Shizune. For that, Lucy got one point.

"Takeshi!" shouted the kunoichi.

"You already said t-"

Suddenly, Takeshi burst through the window.

"I'm going to kill all of you!" bellowed Takeshi.

Immediately, he pulled out a gun and started to shoot at each of the chunin attending the exams. They were forced to duck underneath the desks so that they wouldn't get shot.

"Hahahaha!" laughed the psychopath.

"Security!" shouted Shizune.

Suddenly, Asuma and Kurenai seized Takeshi by the arms.

"I hate going back to prison! It makes me want to kill you!" screamed Takeshi.

"How did he escape this time?" asked Asuma.

"I heard that he crawled through a sewer pipe..." answered Kurenai. It was awfully gross.

"That explains why he smells so bad..." stated the Sarutobi jonin.

"I don't see why he didn't use the clean one..." questioned the kunoichi as she dragged Takeshi away.

"Are there any other psychopaths that want to interrupt the exams?" inquired Shizune.

Suddenly, the crickets began to chirp...even though it was in the middle of the day.

"I guess not." answered the kunoichi.

Immediately, the chunin crawled from underneath the desks. It appeared that they were currently safe to continue the exam...though it had been a pretty big surprise that Takeshi had shown up, to say the very least. Well, maybe not too shocking.

"Why does Takeshi keep showing up out of nowhere?" thought Lucy. Did he have a grudge against her or something? One could say that he was her archenemy...at least if it weren't for Kenichi. How she hated that man.

"Don't short-circuit anyone's hand buzzer now...you'll get busted for cheating..." warned Shizune.

Gajeel suddenly began to whistle.

"Alright...now for my second question...who beat Naruto and Happy to a bloody pulp?" inquired the kunoichi.

Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes, Naruto?" asked Shizune.

"It was Gajeel...he made me cry like a baby..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, a tear began to leave his eye.

Gajeel began to snicker, causing Hinata to glare at him. She remembered well what Gajeel did to poor Naruto.

'What?" asked Gajeel.

"Correct. Naruto, you earn a point." stated the kunoichi.

"Woohoo!" cheered the chunin.

"Congratulations Naruto...and I hope that Gajeel doesn't do that again in the future." stated Erza.

"Time for our next question...who is Naruto's girlfriend?" inquired Shizune.

"I am!" bellowed Erza.

"Correct...you earn a point." answered Shizune.

"That was an easy one..." noted the knight.

"Alright then...time for a harder question...in Chapter 20, why was Naruto worried that Sakura was going to kill him?" questioned Shizune.

"Hmm..." thought Sakura. Why exactly was Naruto worried again?

Erza chimed in again.

"Twice in a row, huh? What's your answer?" asked Shizune.

"He was worried that Sakura was going to kill him because he ended up seeing her in her underwear..." answered Erza.

Sakura began to blush.

"Correct...can anyone answer why she was in her underwear in the first place?" inquired Tsunade's apprentice.

Sakura reluctantly chimed in.

"Yes, Sakura?" asked Shizune.

"I was in my underwear...because I became a stripper..." stated Sakura.

Immediately, Gajeel began to laugh hysterically.

In retaliation, Sakura slapped him in the face.

Gajeel slapped her back.

Sakura and Gajeel continued slapping each other back and forth. It was getting intense.

"Break it up, you two...I wouldn't want to have to kick you out of the exams. You're not supposed to fight each other until the second part..." pointed out Shizune.

"Fine..." answered Sakura. She supposed that Shizune had a point.

"Now for the next question...can you name someone that used to be part of Phantom Lord?" asked Shizune. There were currently two mages in the room that matched that description.

"Who used to be part of Phantom Lord again?" inquired Hinata. She thought that she might know who it was...and that she had faced them before. But just who was it?

Gajeel chimed in. That question was rather obvious to him.

"Yes?" inquired the kunoichi.

"I used to be part of Phantom Lord..." stated Gajeel.

"Correct! Let's review now, shall we?" said Shizune.

"Alright." answered Lucy. She wanted to know who was in the lead.

"So far, Erza has scored two points, Naruto has scored one point, Lucy has scored one point, Sakura has scored one point, and Gajeel has scored one point. Of course, that means that Erza has first place...and everyone else I mentioned is tied for second place. Mind you, depending on how well you do in this part of the exams determines the advantages you get during the second part..." noted the kunoichi.

"Really? I think that we might want to pick up the pace..." acknowledged Shikamaru. It was only a matter of time before the first part of the exams ended.

Choji and Ino nodded. This just might determine whether they got to be jonin or not. It would be best to try to answer the questions as soon as possible...though admittedly they might lose points if they answered incorrectly.

"Now then, let's continue. Name a blonde whose experienced with summoning jutsu..." stated Shizune.

Choji chimed in. He thought that he just might have the answer.

"Yes, Choji?" asked the kunoichi.

"Is it Ino?" inquired Choji.

"No, it is not. Good guess though." answered the jonin. "Anyone else?"

Lucy chimed in.

"Yes, Lucy?" asked Shizune.

"I think you're referring to me." answered Lucy.

"Yes, I am. You earn a point!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Lucy raised her fist in the air.

Choji raised his hand.

"Yes?" questioned the senbon tosser.

"Do you lose points when we answer questions wrong? Because I just did..." stated the Akimichi clan member. Perhaps he should be more careful about answering questions.

"Good question. No, you do not...however, the question does usually end up getting passed to someone else...so try to answer the questions correctly." stated Shizune.

Choji let out a sigh of relief...though he was still a bit worried about how many questions he was going to answer incorrectly.

"Now for another question...name an apprentice of Tsunade that isn't Sakura..." said the kunoichi.

Sakura chimed in.

"Yes?" asked Shizune.

"It's you, isn't it." answered Sakura.

"Correct! Of course you would know that one..." acknowledged the jonin.

"Of course I would." nodded the pink-haired girl.

"I wonder if Tsunade has any questions she would want to ask you.." answered Shizune.

"Well, I did take my clothes off in front of some nuns..." answered Sakura.

"Oh dear..." remarked the jonin. That had been rather unfortunate for them, wasn't it?

"Curse this stripping habit..." murmured the kunoichi. On the plus side, she did seem to be getting more popular lately. It was a shame that Sasuke wasn't her love interest anymore...she got the feeling that Sasuke would enjoy watching her take her clothes off.

"Right...what should I ask for the next question?" inquired Shizune. Should it be something Fairy Tail related? Or should it be ninja related? She wasn't sure.

"Let me think...I've got it!" exclaimed the jonin.

"How old is Tsunade?" inquired Shizune.

Sakura chimed in.

"Yes?" asked Shizune. Now that she thought of it, Sakura should probably know this one.

"54!" exclaimed Sakura. Tsunade was a lot older than she looked...to say the very least. Jiraiya was very happy about it...though Tsunade wondered why she used that jutsu whenever he was around.

"Correct!" bellowed the kunoichi. Tsunade was in fact 54...and was around the same age as Orochimaru and Jiraiya, her two comrades...well, one of them was still her comrade.

At that very moment, Tsunade burst in. She looked rather angry about something.

Sure enough, Shizune began to worry. She knew what happened to people that did not get on Tsunade's good side. The Jiraiya-shaped hole in her office came to mind.

"Lady Tsunade!" exclaimed Shizune. She was rather surprised that she of all people would show up.

"What have I told you about telling people my age?" asked Tsunade. She was very sensitive about that. Why did Shizune think that she used a jutsu to make herself younger?

"Sorry, Lady Tsunade..." apologized the kunoichi.

"And while you're at you better not reveal questions Jiraiya might ask about me...I heard that he likes spying on people..." noted Tsunade.

Curious, Naruto began to hear rustling in the bushes. Was there someone there?

For a moment he thought that he had seen a streak of silver hair inside one of them...but when he looked again, he didn't see it anymore.

He began to wonder if he should try investigating those bushes.

"What is up with Pervy Sage today?" thought the chunin.

"Is there any questions you would be willing to tell about yourself?" inquired Shizune. She didn't want to offend Tsunade anymore...she once headbutted Jiraiya into a coma. She could be next.

Tsunade thought about this for a moment. She then whispered in Shizune's ear.

"How is Tsunade so sexy?" inquired Shizune.

Sakura chimed in.

"Yes, Sakura?" asked the kunoichi.

"She just is?" inquired Sakura.

"Correct!" exclaimed Shizune.

Tsunade shrugged. She wasn't quits sure of that question herself. Maybe it had to do to the fact that she wasn't exactly flat-chested? Perhaps she should consult Jiraiya on the matter...if she didn't end up pulverizing him.

Naruto began to giggle a bit. He also began to hear giggling coming from the bushes.

"Pervy sage? Is that you?" asked Naruto.

Strangely, there was now silence.

"Hmm..." thought the chunin. He got the feeling that pervy sage was hiding somewhere.

"Now for the next question...who becomes extremely dangerous whenever they drink alcohol?" inquired Shizune.

Cana chimed in.

"Wait, are you a chunin?" asked the kunoichi.

"I showed Tsunade my new abilities...she was impressed enough to make me a chunin...that, and I offered her some alcoholic beverages..." explained the alcohol lover.

"Did you now?" inquired Shizune.

"Yes...she managed to flirt with Jiraiya to get him to stop stalking me...I suppose I might as well return the favor." noted the Sannin. She was still a bit curious as to how strong Cana was herself.

Naruto wondered if Jiraiya was still stalking Tsunade even after that.

"Right then...when you asked that question, were you referring to me?" asked Cana.

"No, I was not. Anyone else?" inquired Shizune.

"Actually, she has Rock Lee's abilities, so she does become dangerous when she gets drunk...we had to bring seven different jonin to bring her back under control..." noted Tsunade.

Cana rubbed her hand behind her head.

"That must be dreadful..." stated Rock Lee. Personally he was starting to see why his two comrades got worried about him sometimes. Of course, it also helped that Gaara had crippled him for life once. His sand abilities were deadly.

"Yep..." nodded Cana. It was a good thing that alcohol did not make her drunk easily. However, she got the feeling that she could become intoxicated if she ended up drinking sake.

She needed to be more careful from now on. Something told her that she might end up getting sued for property damage. She doubted that the Konoha tavern would ever let her in back in the building again.

It was a shame really. She thought that their alcohol was absolutely delicious.

"Alright, time for the next question. Which of us is able to control lightning? Anyone?" inquired Shizune.

Neji chimed in. He definitely knew the answer to that one.

"Yes?" asked the kunoichi.

"That's me." answered Neji. Thanks to becoming Laxus's interdimensional partner, he was also able to control lightning. However, it appeared that it would still take some time before he was as strong as he was. It was a bit odd considering that Hinata was roughly equal to Natsu but he figured that he couldn't have everything.

Perhaps he just needed to train a bit more. Besides, he was starting to get the hang of controlling lightning. He would probably do well against earth ninja, since as he knew earth ninja were weak against lightning ninja...though this did not stop Deidara from taking them on apparently.

"Correct!" bellowed Shizune. Perhaps she should ask questions about people other than the ones in the room. But she figured that none of them would mind the extra points.

"Let me think..." murmured the jonin.

Tsunade decided to leave Shizune to her own devices. She seemed to be behaving herself now...though she was starting to wonder what exactly was her problem.

"What question should I ask next..." stated Shizune.

Eventually, she got an idea.

"I know! When Lucy encountered Takeshi for the second time, what were she and Shikamaru doing?" inquired the jonin.

Ino quickly buzzed in.

"Yes?" asked the jonin.

"Making out?" inquired Ino.

"Very funny..." answered Lucy. Ino simply wouldn't leave Lucy alone about that, it seemed.

"Wrong! They were not a couple back then! They were still getting to know each other! Anyone else?" asked Shizune.

Shikamaru buzzed in. He had a feeling that he knew the answer to that particular question since he happened to be there at the time...though he supposed he could be wrong like Ino was.

Would she ever leave him alone about him being Lucy's boyfriend?

"Yes, Shikamaru?" inquired the jonin.

"I think I was playing shogi with her." answered the shadow ninja. His memory was a bit fuzzy considering that it had happened a long time ago. But to his knowledge, he had been unable to find someone else to play with.

"Correct!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Suddenly, Takeshi showed up again. This time, he burst through the roof. Why he didn't use the door, Shizune wasn't quite sure about.

"What the-" bellowed Shizune, gasping in shock. Didn't Asuma and Kurenai arrest him?

"Hmm...maybe we need to stop mentioning his name." questioned Lucy. It appeared that saying his name got Takeshi's attention.

"I'm going to kill you! And this time I mean it!" exclaimed Takeshi, a wicked smile on his face.

"You already tried to kill us while we were in the sauna..." pointed out Hinata.

"Will you just leave us alone?" asked Natsu.

"Never!" bellowed Takeshi.

Immediately, Takeshi turned to Lucy...and pulled out a kunai. A kunai that was covered with blood. What had he been up to lately? Had he been stabbing kittens? Happy wasn't going to be too happy about that.

"I'm going to stab you!" exclaimed the psychopath.

"I'd like to see you try." answered the kunoichi as she pulled out a whip.

Immediately, Takeshi pulled out a dagger...but Lucy kicked him in the shin.

"My shin! My precious shin!" bellowed Takeshi, jumping up and down on one foot.

"Lucy punch!" exclaimed Lucy, punching Takeshi in the face.

"Oh my aching head..." remarked Takeshi.

Suddenly, Asuma hit Takeshi as well. Apparently, he had heard the commotion.

"Sorry, he slipped away from us while we weren't paying attention..." stated Asuma.

At this point, Takeshi was out cold.

"What exactly is his problem?" inquired Lucy. She wasn't quite sure why Takeshi was such a psycho. Did his father abuse him as a child?

Once again, Asuma dragged Takeshi away.

"I suppose we might as well review now..." noted Shizune.

The jonin-in-the-makings nodded. How many points did they all have?

"Let's see now...Shikamaru, you have a point. Cana, you have a point as well...though the correct answer wasn't what I was expecting. Apparently there are two correct answers for that one...one of which I was not aware of." answered the jonin.

Cana nodded. Perhaps she should have told her that she had gained Rock Lee's abilities before she had gone in. Of course, she hadn't obtained those abilities until recently...though she had shown them off to Tsunade beforehand.

"Who else has a point? Ah yes. Sakura has scored another point, I believe. Now she has two..." noted Shizune. Since Sakura was a very smart kunoichi, that wasn't much of a surprise. Tsunade had raised her well, it seemed.

Sakura smiled. She appeared to be doing well so far...which could very well possibly mean that she would do well in the second part of the exam as well.

"Neji, you've also scored a point..." noted Shizune.

Neji faintly smiled. Hopefully the advantages they got during the second part of the exam would apply to his teammates as well.

"Right then...what else should I ask you? I know! Who is Setsuna's apprentice? I'll give you a hint...she's capable of using lightning jutsu...and for some strange reason she somewhat resembles a boy." asked the kunoichi.

Gray raised his hand. Oddly enough, he seemed worried about something.

"Yes?" inquired Shizune.

"Chihiro!" bellowed Gray.

"Correct! You score a point!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Chihiro!" shouted the ice mage.

"What? Is she here too?" inquired Shizune. First Takeshi, and now this. Personally she wondered if Setsuna wasn't far behind either considering that the duo always seemed to be together.

Sure enough, there appeared to be a storm brewing outside...which of course indicated her presence. It might be best to bring an umbrella...and hope that they don't get struck by lightning.

"Yep...she's definitely here..." acknowledged Lucy. Where was a wind ninja when you needed one? Well, other than Setsuna herself.

"One of us is going to have to handle her...but who?" asked Naruto.

"Did you say that she used lightning jutsu?" inquired Neji. That gave him an idea.

"Yes, I did. Why do you ask?" asked Shizune.

"Then I think I should handle her..." answered the Hyuga prodigy. Something told him that her lightning jutsu wasn't going to be so effective against him.

"Why would you want to...oh wait, that's right." stated Hinata. He was a lightning dragonslayer now.

"Be careful out there, Neji!" warned Tenten. She didn't want Neji to get hurt now. What if he got pierced by a giant arrow or something?

"I will." nodded Neji. He didn't want to throw his life away simply because he had gotten careless. That would be kind of...embarrassing.

Immediately, Neji left to go deal with Chihiro, who was currently looking for loot.

"What valuables do they have in Konoha?" inquired Chihiro.

Suddenly, Neji approached her.

"Oh great. I was under the impression that since the jonin were supervising the jonin exams I'd have the city to myself...but apparently I thought wrong." noted Setsuna's apprentice.

Neji immediately got into a fighting stance.

Immediately, Chihiro hit Neji with lightning...

...but much to her surprise, this did not hurt Neji. At all.

"What the-" exclaimed Chihiro.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" asked Neji.

"Yes, it was!" bellowed Setsuna's apprentice. Why didn't that harm him?

"Well, maybe this will." stated the Hyuga prodigy.

Immediately, Neji let out a Lightning Dragon's Roar.

Quickly, Chihiro was sent flying.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Chihiro. That really hurt.

Neji then followed by sealing off each and every one of Chihiro's chakra points before she could react, causing her to pass out.

"This worked surprisingly well..." noted Neji.

He then brought Chihiro back towards Tsunade's slave camp...despite knowing that she was bound to escape again sooner or later. What was up with the guards?

He then returned back to where the ninja were taking the first part of the exam.

"You alright, Neji?" asked Tenten.

"Yeah...taking care of her wasn't a problem...I managed to master a dragon's roar or something along those lines..." questioned Neji.

"It comes with being a dragon slayer." nodded Hinata. She had a similar technique herself, though hers was more...fiery.

"Wait, aren't you already a jonin?" inquired Rock Lee.

"Well, my teammates aren't..." noted Neji.

"True..." nodded Tenten. She supposed that made sense.

"For your efforts in stopping Chihiro...I'm going to give you three points!" exclaimed Shizune.

"You didn't do that when I took out Takeshi..." answered Lucy.

"Chihiro was a bigger threat..." explained the jonin.

"I suppose..." nodded the blonde kunoichi. Still, she was a bit disappointed. Now Neji was ahead of her. Maybe if she was lucky another psychopath would show up and she would gain the opportunity to score major points.

Maybe she just needed to wait for Shizune to say a psychopath's name. As such, she decided to listen in.

"Let's see now...I'm thinking of a pirate captain who has a really bloody beard...do you know who he is?" asked Shizune. She seemed to recall Lucy, Natsu, Kiba, and Shino facing off against him once.

"It's Captain Bloodbeard...and I think he's right outside the door..." stated Lucy.

"Yarr!" bellowed Captain Bloodbeard.

Shizune sweatdropped. How did she keep summoning all these psychos?

Immediately, Lucy went to take care of Captain Bloodbeard. Oddly enough, she didn't see any members of his crew with him.

"Yarr! You again?" asked Captain Bloodbeard.

"Yep." nodded Lucy as she hurled a Rasengan at Captain Bloodbeard.

It him in the face, and he was knocked out cold.

"Alright then..." stated the teenage girl as she returned to the classroom. Personally she was under the impression that he would be harder to beat. Perhaps he had forgotten to level grind as of late.

"Congratulations, Lucy! You've earned three points!" bellowed Shizune. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more interruptions...though inevitably there probably would be.

"Yes!" cheered the blonde.

"Good job, Lucy." stated Shikamaru. It appeared that Lucy was going to do well in the second part of the exams. Answering trivia questions appeared to be her thing.

"Let me think of another question..." said Shizune. What hadn't she asked yet? She had asked several questions already...but there had to be something else that she could ask.

"I know! Who is Captain Bloodbeard's first mate? He has power over fire..." inquired the jonin. It was similar to Hinata and Natsu now that she thought of it.

Hinata sweatdropped.

"You do realize that now you mentioned him he's going to show up now right? And his name is Pazu..." answered the fire dragonslayer.

"Correct...I've got stop saying the names of Konoha's criminals..." noted Shizune. At this rate they were going to start returning from the dead.

Sure enough, the room appeared to be getting hotter.

Immediately, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for Pazu. Hopefully he wasn't causing too much trouble.

Thankfully, due to his agoraphobia, he was not. He was deciding whether he should enter the building...or if he shouldn't.

"What should I do? What should I do?" questioned Pazu.

Quickly, Hinata exited the building and went to confront Pazu.

"I wish Chihiro was here..." thought the pirate.

"That's too bad..." noted Hinata.

Immediately, she got ready to fight Pazu.

Caught by surprise, Pazu quickly pulled out his sword.

"That sword wouldn't be made out of steel, would it?" asked Hinata.

"Yes, it is. Why do you ask?" inquired the first mate.

Hinata set the sword on fire, causing it to melt.

"Nooooo!" bellowed Pazu.

Immediately, he ran away crying.

Hinata shrugged as she went back to where the students were.

"Well, that's all the time that we have for today." stated the jonin. "It's time for you to head off to Mt. Doom..."

"Mt. Doom?" asked Naruto. He heard all sorts of nasty rumors about that place. Apparently that was where Doctor Doom lived...as well as his Legion Of Evil. They were plotting unspeakable evil as they...well, spoke.

Oh wait...he wasn't living inside a comic book. Maybe he got that particular mountain confused with something else.

"As you can well imagine...that mountain is extremely dangerous. In fact, it makes the Forest Of Death look like the Forest Of Life..." noted Shizune.

Hinata and Shikamaru gulped.

"It's filled with all sorts of vicious creatures...creatures that come out at night and eat babies...I'm starting to sound like Anko, aren't I?" inquired the kunoichi.

Naruto and Lucy nodded nervously.

"Well, she'll be the proctor of that part of the exam..." answered Shizune.

Hinata and Natsu fainted.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, this is the place?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, this is it!" exclaimed Anko.

Sure enough, there was a rather scary-looking mountain up ahead. On the summit appeared to be a tower similar to the one in the Forest Of Death.

Also, there appeared to be Balrogs encircling it.

From the looks of it, it was going to be a very long climb. It reminded them a bit of Mt. Everest. How exactly did mountains get so big?

"I guess we better get going..." noted Erza.

"Before you do that, you're going to need some scrolls..." stated Anko.

"What? Oh, right..." stated the knight in shining armor.

Personally Naruto wondered which scroll was he going to get. It could be any scroll, really...though knowing his affinity he was probably going to get a Wind Scroll.

"But before we do anything, Shizune's going to let me know how well you did during the first part of the exam...hopefully you did well because you're going to get an advantage during the second part because of it..." noted the jonin.

Immediately, Shizune handed Anko the papers detailing how well each of them did in the exams.

"Interesting...Lucy, it appears that you've managed to score four points...you are definitely not a dumb blonde..." noted Anko.

"Lousy stereotypes..." murmured Lucy and Ino.

"As such, you get access to all four scrolls...so you won't need to worry about going on the offensive..." stated the jonin.

Immediately, she handed Lucy three more scrolls including with her wind scroll.

"Woohoo!" cheered Lucy. This would give her a big advantage in the challenge...assuming that some wise guy didn't come along and try to take them all.

"In addition, you also get the map of Mt. Doom...it should make climbing to the top of the mountain a lot easier..." acknowledged Orochimaru's former apprentice.

"This mountain sure is awfully big..." noted Lucy.

"Try not to slip and fall to your death, will you?" inquired Anko.

Lucy nodded, whimpering as she did so. Anko was as frightening as ever.

Likewise, everyone else got an advantage during the challenge depending on how they did. It was a bit random though.

"Just for the record, we're going to be doing things a bit differently than in the Chunin Exams..." explained the jonin.

"How so?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, since you don't have a team, I'm going to partner you with someone random...well, mainly that which I find amusing..." noted Anko. "Lucy, you're going to be working with Shikamaru...and that ninja over there."

Sure enough, there was a skinny ninja nearby with short black hair wearing a chunin uniform nearby. He looked to be rather nervous...though of course everyone other than Anko was feeling slightly nervous. Apparently he would be working with them. By the looks of it, he was about sixteen years old.

Lucy immediately snuggled up to Shikamaru, happy to be working with him.

"Who are you?" inquired Shikamaru.

"My name is Shuban..." stated Shuban.

"Nice to meet you, Shuban..." said Lucy.

"I hope that I can do well in the jonin exams...it took me six tries to pass the chunin exams..." noted the chunin.

"How sad..." remarked the blonde girl.

"If we're not working with Shikamaru...then who are we working with?" asked Choji.

"Choji and Ino...you're working with Shino...because for some strange reason your names are awfully similar..." stated the jonin.

"Shino kind of freaks me out..." complained Ino.

"I wish he were my student!" exclaimed Anko.

Shino and Choji sweatdropped.

"Why are you sweating? Is it hot out here today?" asked Shino.

"I think Ino is hot..." stated Choji.

"No Shino?" asked Hinata.

"Who are we working with then?" inquired Kiba.

"You're working with Natsu...I know how much you two love each other...and I'd love to watch you burn things!" stated Anko.

Hinata sighed. It appeared that Anko thought that they are pyromaniacs simply because they were pyrokinetic.

"Rock Lee, you shall be working with Cana and Neji..." said the proctor.

Rock Lee thought it was appropriate to be working with his interdimensional partner.

"Juvia, you shall be working with Gray and Tenten." stated Anko.

"Yes!" exclaimed Juvia.

Tenten shrugged. She wasn't sure how she felt about working with two people that were mages instead of ninja.

"Sakura, you shall be working with Gajeel and Sai..." said the Jonin Exam proctor.

"Alright." nodded Sakura.

"Who else..." thought Anko.

_Meanwhile..._

Kenichi parked his dragon right outside the mountain. For a moment, it seemed that nobody was aware of his presence.

Well, except for the two jonin that had noticed him.

"Halt! What do you think you're d-"

Kenichi turned his arm into a cannon...and then fired a destructive blast of chakra at the two jonin.

Immediately, they let out a scream as they were vaporized. All that was left of them was their headbands.

Kenichi then smirked. They should have known that the world had no place for weak ninja, especially those who haven't even become ninja yet.

Despite this, it appeared that nobody else had heard the commotion.

"You sure don't mess around, do you, Sensei Kenichi?" asked Akiko.

"No, I do not." answered Kenichi.

Gorou immediately picked up Lucy's scent.

"I think we'll be able to find her shortly..." noted Gorou.

Kenichi smiled. He was going to find very shortly...and he had the perfect opportunity to enact her revenge on her. None of the teams had their sensei going to the mountain with them, so it was perfect.

Of course, Lucy was inevitably going to have two teammates with her...but he didn't think that was a big deal. In fact, it just might be a good thing.

She was going to suffer...badly. She had eluded him for far too long...and he had gotten tired of relying on his clones to do his bidding for him.

"It is time to teach her the foolishness of her resistance..." remarked Kenichi. It was simply no use against him.

_I hope you liked this chapter...because in this chapter, Kenichi is going to show up again...and you know how bad he is. I'm afraid the next chapter is going to be depressing...you've been warned. But you probably already knew that one anyway. The next chapter after that for the record isn't going to be so depressing...though it will still be action-oriented. Of course, since I might drone on, maybe Itachi and Kisame won't face off against Naruto in Chapter 67. Sorry if you don't want to wait._

_ This is the Akatsuki we're talking about after all. And yes, they're going to officially be characters in the fanfic from now on. That's what you want, right? I know at least one reviewer wanted them to show up...basically their wish is my command. Heh heh._

_Have a nice day!_


	66. Chapter 66: Weak And Powerless

_In this chapter, Kenichi is going to do something horrible...as usual. Were you expecting anything less? Lucy and Shikamaru are in mortal peril. Will they make it out of this chapter alive? We can only hope. Then again I am the author so I think I would know that already...though sometimes I do make things up as I go along._

_One thing's for certain, this chapter is going to be depressing. But were you expecting anything else considering who we're featuring this time?_

_Also, in this chapter I'm going to include three OCs. Let me know if you want them to return. Or do you think I've made enough OCs as it was? I'm starting to lose count myself to be honest. A dozen maybe? Let me know if you think I should tone down all the OCs..._

_Hinata, Natsu, and Kiba are going to encounter these OCs...unfortunately, they just so happen to want their Fire scroll. That's life in the Jonin Exams for you. It's survival of the fittest!_

_Will they be able to defend their scroll and not let it fall into another ninja's hands?_

**Chapter 66: Weak And Powerless**

As Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, and Natsu headed towards the summit, they were being followed by three different ninja. Incidentally, they happened to have three scrolls already as opposed to the single scroll that they had. So far, their tactic of impersonating other ninja appeared to be effective. But as it was, they needed one more if they wanted to become jonin...or at least a chance to. Sometimes there were more ninja that finished the second part of the exams than expected, as the Chunin Exams that Hinata and Kiba had participated in (and failed, unfortunately) would indicate.

Because Anko thought it would be funny...she decided to give Hinata, Natsu, and Kiba a Fire Scroll. Since Hinata had scored three points by taking down Pazu (well, technically, he had decided to run away when he realized that he was outclassed, unlike Chihiro who had fought Neji to the very end), Anko had decided to show them a shortcut through the mountain.

They were rather happy about this, as this meant they would save a lot of time climbing up the mountain and by extension make passing their exams easier. Climbing mountains could be rather dangerous, especially a mountain that went by a name of Mt. Doom.

However, these ninjas also knew where the shortcut was...one of them had climbed up the mountain before despite not actually being a resident of Konoha.

Specifically, it was their leader. Unfortunately, he failed the Jonin Exams back then, regardless of the fact that he did fairly well during the first part during the exams that more often that not involved a secret test of character. He just couldn't make it to the summit in time with all four scrolls. Sometimes that happened...perhaps he just wasn't lucky enough. To be fair, he had decided to do so solo instead of bringing his teammates with him. Some ninja liked to do that.

Well, he wasn't going to do that this time.

Each of these ninja were wearing face masks...one of them was a kunoichi and the other two were male. It seemed to be ninja tradition to pair ninja teams this way. They were also wearing headbands indicating that they were from the Land Of Water, and had blue ninja uniforms accordingly. One of them had blonde hair, the kunoichi had pink hair, and their leader had blue hair. Basically they were a bit similar to a certain other team of ninja...at least before one of them defected.

Why were they not taking the Jonin Exams in the Land Of Water, you ask? Well, the Jonin Exams there had been postponed as Mei Terumi had caught a cold. They didn't want to wait too long...so they decided to leap on over to Konoha and participate in the exams there. They were certain at this point that they were going to get to become jonin.

Speaking of which, Mei Terumi wanted them to give her a box of tissues. Where would they get some on such short notice?

Speaking of the three ninja, they had decided that they should be their next target. They quickly realized that they had the Fire Scroll that they needed...since they already had the Water, Earth, and Air Scrolls. They were excited with anticipation.

Incidentally, they had decided to have each of them hold onto one scroll in case they ended up being separated rather than have one hold all three scrolls.

It seemed safer that way.

Fortunately, they had come up with a strategy that had been effective for them so far. They would impersonate another ninja, ask them nicely if they could hold onto their scroll for safekeeping, then use the camouflage jutsu to retreat with the scroll and deliver it to their teammates.

As such, they decided why not try to do it again. They just needed to send someone to do the job.

In this case, they decided to send the blonde ninja...who went by the name of Bubbul...

Quickly, he attempted to impersonate Natsu.

"You think this will be convincing?" asked Bubbul.

His teammates nodded.

Immediately, he went after his potential victims.

At that very moment, Natsu needed to use the restroom.

"Can I have some privacy? I need to use the potty..." noted Natsu.

Hinata and Kiba nodded, though they told Natsu that he should be back before too long.

Immediately, Natsu went to look for somewhere to use the john.

He came back a few seconds later...or did he? For some strange reason something seemed rather off about him. Hinata couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Fortunately, she had an idea on how to check to see whether Natsu was real or not.

Hinata tossed a fireball at the person who was seemingly Natsu. This seemed like a good way to check who was who.

He immediately leapt out of the way to avoid it.

"Hey! Watch it!" exclaimed "Natsu".

Realizing that this ninja was clearly an impostor, Hinata grabbed onto the disguised ninja, causing him to revert back to his regular form.

"Alright! You got me!" bellowed the disguised ninja. He thought that his disguise was foolproof...but apparently he had thought wrong. This wasn't

Immediately, he handed her the scroll that he had. It was a Water Scroll, which she found to be ironic. Water naturally suppressed her fire abilities, though it didn't stop her or Natsu from trying to hit her opponents with Gentle Fist.

"Alright!" exclaimed Hinata.

The real Natsu showed up shortly afterward.

"Hey, Hinata..." stated the male dragonslayer.

"Hey there, Natsu...someone tried to steal your identity..." answered Hinata.

"Wha-what?!" exclaimed Natsu. Who would want to steal his super coolness? There was only one of him!

"Fortunately he wasn't fireproof like you are..." noted the teenage girl.

"Heh heh, yeah." nodded Hinata.

"Let's keep going to the summit!" exclaimed Kiba.

"Easy for you to say. You can just fly there!" bellowed Natsu.

"I know..." nodded the dog lover. He most likely wouldn't be using an airplane anytime soon...or a boat.

A few minutes later, Akamaru needed to use the restroom.

"I need to go now..." stated Akamaru.

"First Natsu, and now this...mind you, someone might try to steal your identity.." acknowledged Hinata.

Akamaru nodded. That was certainly a possibility. They needed to be careful.

Sure enough, another ninja attempted to do just that. Her name was Aqua.

"I'm back!" exclaimed Aqua.

Immediately, Natsu tossed Aqua into the air.

She crashed into the ground in a heap.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Hinata, taking away her Earth Scroll.

"How'd you know it was me?" asked Aqua as she reverted back to her regular state.

"Well, you didn't seem to have Akamaru with you..." answered Hinata.

The real Kiba showed up a few minutes later.

"Just one more to go and we'll be on our way..." stated the female dragonslayer.

Aqua slunk off without saying a word. First they had lost their Water Scroll, and now this! Now all that was left was their Air Scroll.

Getting desperate, Kazuma decided to enter the fray himself. He would try to impersonate Hinata.

Sure enough, he decided to do just that while Hinata went to get some ice cream. For some strange reason they had an ice cream parlor up there.

However, Natsu knew how to see through his deception.

"Why don't you use your Byakugan?" asked Natsu.

"What are you talking about?" inquired Kazuma. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what the Byakugan was, giving away his true identity.

Natsu punched Kazuma in the face, causing him to revert back to his original form.

"Darn it! Well, we might as well climb back down the mountain now..." noted Kazuma.

"I'm sure you'll pass the jonin exams eventually." stated Natsu.

"If you say so..." answered the teenage boy as he climbed back down the mountain without his teammates.

Shortly afterwards, they reached the summit.

"Woohoo!" cheered Hinata.

From the looks of it, they had made it to the top first. They should be very proud of themselves. Of course, they still would probably have to deal with the inevitable survival of the fittest challenge where they randomly paired off other ninja against each other.

If that happened, they wondered who their opponents were going to be. It could be anyone, really.

_A few feet below..._

Lucy and Shikamaru headed towards the summit, wanting to complete the exams as fast as possible. They were both looking forward to becoming jonin. Asuma Sarutobi would most likely be proud considering that he was a jonin himself. Maybe they could go out on missions together. Konoha would most likely appreciate it if they did A-Rank Missions for them. Those missions really racked in the dough.

Fortunately, they had already climbed up a mountain during the Fairy Tail race, and had ended up scoring first place. Of course, Shikamaru hadn't actually climbed over the mountain at all. He was the luckiest ninja ever.

Climbing up the mountain was hard work, but they had managed to pull it off regardless. It would probably be a good time to take a breath.

However, they found that Kenichi and his apprentices were waiting for them close to the summit.

Sure enough, they appeared to be rather excited to have found Lucy.

"Kill the spare!" bellowed Kenichi.

Gorou lunged towards Shuban, clawing him through the heart, much to his horror.

Shuban fell on the floor, dead.

"No!" exclaimed Shikamaru, shocked at the death of his teammate.

"You!" exclaimed Lucy. What was Kenichi doing here? She was feeling quite terrified, to say the very least. What was he doing in the Jonin Exams? Did he suddenly decide to invade Konoha?

Shikamaru began to sweat horribly. Unfortunately, it appeared that it was already too late for them to run. If they did that, Kenichi would probably simply hunt them down...and they did not have a flying dragon mount.

"Hello again, Lucy. You simply will not stay dead...I'm here to rectify that." stated Kenichi. This time, he was not pulling any punches. He was going to deal with her himself.

_Meanwhile..._

Tsunade pulled the lever on the lottery machine, still spending as much ryo as always. It was a good thing that she was capable of performing S-Class Missions...otherwise she would probably be bankrupt now.

Suddenly, money came out of the lottery machine, causing her to feel a bit worried. Something bad was going to happen.

She pulled the lever, and she won money again, much to her horror.

It happened every time she pulled the lever. Eventually, she had earned a million ryo and had hit the jackpot.

"Oh no...oh no...oh no..." stated Tsunade. This was very bad indeed.

Tsunade was worried. Clearly someone she knew was in danger, but which one?

There had to be an answer somewhere.

Suddenly, a key fell out of the lottery machine.

"A key? What's this doing h-"

Out of nowhere, it hit her who she should be protecting.

"Lucy Heartfilia!" screamed Tsunade.

Granted, considering that she was at Mt. Doom she probably was fighting off against other ninja...but judging from how much money she had earned this was more than a duel between another scroll holder. Someone was deliberately trying to assassinate her...which was against the rules of the second part of the jonin exam.

She had decided to make that a rule after Gaara made a habit of killing his enemies during the chunin exams. It was simply too gruesome...Kankuro and Temari had several barf bags to go through.

She had to send assistance immediately. Someone other than the contestants in the Jonin Exams were after her. And it was probably an assassination mission too.

Immediately, she began to write a message to send to Jiraiya. Hopefully he would receive it in time. She got the feeling that Lucy Heartfilia desperately needed her help.

What exactly was going on?

And yet, part of her already knew the answer.

_Back at Mt. Doom..._

Akiko pulled out her paintbrush, ready to face off against her enemies. Her master would be very happy if she managed to pull it off.

"Why do I always have to face off against girls?" questioned Shikamaru. Of course, he did have a girlfriend now...and she was stronger than he was. Go figure.

Akiko immediately drew a picture of a demon to attack Shikamaru. A rather scary looking demon, in fact. It happened to have some fearsome looking fangs...and of course two horns on its head. It just so happened to be made from yellow paint.

"Let's reduce you to ashes, shall we?" inquired Akiko. She was enjoying this...Shikamaru wasn't.

Immediately, he breathed out fire...though the demon in question was made out of paint, the fire was exactly as hot as the actual thing.

Apparently, Akiko didn't have much limit as to what she could do with her drawings...though they were probably vulnerable to ink considering that they were made of paint.

Frantically, Shikamaru attempted to avoid being burned.

Unfortunately, Akiko had decided not to stop with one drawing. She still happened to have a lot of paint buckets. She kept a supply of it with her at all times to make sure that she didn't run out of ammunition.

Immediately, she began to draw a picture of a stone golem...which seemed appropriate considering where she was. She made it using green paint this time.

Quickly, the stone golem began to roll boulders towards Shikamaru and Lucy. Fortunately, it was a rather slow golem...though it certainly looked like it could withstand a lot of punishment. Lucy's Rasengan was only enough to send it backwards a few feet. She was going to need to put more power into it.

The golem began to roll boulders towards Lucy and Shikamaru, forcing them to try to avoid it.

Akiko simply snickered. She hadn't even used up a single bucket of paint and already Lucy and Shikamaru were running for their lives. Hopefully her sensei would be proud of her. He seemed to have some pretty high standards.

And to make matters worse, Gorou had decided to step in as well. Lucy found herself being bitten on the cheek.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"Did his parents throw him out in the wilderness?" **questioned Kurama.

"I suppose they did..." answered the teenage girl. He seemed awfully...feral. He even appeared to regularly eat human flesh judging from what she had seen earlier. It was very disgusting.

Still, sometimes people resorted to desperate measures in order to survive...such as cutting off their limbs.

Suddenly, Gorou transformed his face into that of a crocodile's...much to their shock. Oddly enough, even in that particular state he still happened to have hair on his head. It was weird. Since when did reptiles have hair or fur?

Of course, Lucy knew that a crocodile's bites were very deadly...if Gorou bit her in that state, she would be lucky if she made it out alive.

Eventually, Kenichi decided to enter the fray himself. Why let his minions do all the work for him? That was not his style.

"Playtime's over." stated Kenichi.

Before Lucy and Shikamaru could react, he knocked them both out cold.

_A few minutes later..._

Lucy woke up after being knocked out, wondering what exactly was going on. She got the feeling that she was in danger and so was Shikamaru.

Curious, she noticed that her arms and legs had been chained. It appeared that she had been captured by her enemies. Why exactly did they want her alive, though? She was under the impression that she would probably be dead by now.

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy. What was the meaning of this? She struggled a bit, but the chains would not budge so easily. They appeared to be infused with chakra...unfortunately, she did not have the Byakugan so she could not use the Gentle Fist to break them.

Also, for some strange reason, the chains in question appeared to be made of paint...apparently, Akiko had designed them herself. How was she going to get out of this?

Immediately, Kenichi noticed that she had regained consciousness after the beating that she had received from him.

"Perfect! You're awake! Now we can begin..." bellowed Kenichi.

"Kenichi? What do you want?" asked Lucy.

Lucy noted that Kenichi had a wide smile on his face...and she began to worry. This could not be anything good. She was under the impression that Kenichi would have killed her by now. Why exactly was he letting her live? She doubted that it was out of mercy.

"Oh, it's rather simple. You see, you happen to think that you can stop me, don't you? You'd be surprised how many have already tried that." inquired the evil ninja.

"Part of me does. Though I suppose I'm not strong enough..." acknowledged the blonde. She still had her work cut out for her if she wanted to be as strong as Jiraiya the Toad Sage...though she might in fact have surpassed Kakashi.

"That's right. You're not strong enough. In fact, you're completely and utterly powerless before me. I'm going to demonstrate that to you now." answered Kenichi.

"What?!" exclaimed Lucy. All of a sudden, she was feeling quite frightened. What exactly did Kenichi want from her?

Immediately, Kenichi pointed to Shikamaru, who was chained up exactly like she was. Apparently Kenichi wanted him alive too. This worried her somewhat. Something told her that Kenichi wanted to toy with them.

"Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy.

Suddenly, Shikamaru woke up as well upon hearing his name.

Quickly, he realized that he had been captured...though he wasn't quite sure how.

"Lucy, what is going on?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Let's get started, shall we?" asked Kenichi.

Suddenly, Kenichi punched Shikamaru in the face as hard as he could, causing him to scream. It had left behind quite a nasty bruise.

"Shikamaru!" exclaimed the ninja.

"You're going to get to watch me torture your little friend to death...and there's nothing that you can do to stop me...all you can do is watch like the pathetic little insect you are." answered Kenichi.

Immediately, Kenichi punched Shikamaru in the stomach, followed by him biting his cheek.

Upon realizing what Kenichi was planning to do, Lucy reacted in shock.

"You...you monster!" bellowed Lucy. "How can you do such a thing?"

"He is weak...he must suffer the consequences for it." stated the man.

Lucy snarled at Kenichi. How dare he do such a terrible thing to her boyfriend!

Kurama was snarling as well. He had seen vicious warlords in the past, but Kenichi just might be the most vicious warlord of them all. He didn't care about anyone but himself.

"You know...my clan always had such high expectations from me...they always demanded that I go out and perform missions for my clan...they simply would not let up..." noted the last member of the Chikawa clan.

"That doesn't excuse what you did to them!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Of course it does...why should I take orders from my clan if they are so pathetic?" asked Kenichi.

Lucy glared at Kenichi in silence.

Curious, she noticed that his apprentices seemed a bit disturbed when he mentioned that he was going to torture Shikamaru that long...though they decided not to try to stop him. Apparently, they were a bit wary of him after they had heard him say that.

Immediately, Kenichi began to claw Shikamaru's arm, causing him to screech.

"Shikamaru!" exclaimed the blonde.

He then began to claw Shikamaru's leg as well. Blood was starting to leak out.

Kenichi simply smirked.

"I'll never forgive you for this, Kenichi!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Why would I ever seek forgiveness from such inferior beings to myself?" asked Kenichi. Personally he thought that Shikamaru deserved it.

Curious, she noticed that Akiko and Gorou appeared to be looking away. Apparently, they found this to be...disturbing.

Kenichi tossed Shikamaru against a tree, wounding him greater still. He simply would not let up.

He proceeded to twist both of Shikamaru's arms, causing Shikamaru to scream even louder. In fact, his screams were starting to echo throughout the mountain.

"You know, perhaps I should heal him now. I would like to prolong his torment a bit longer..." noted the man.

At that very moment, Lucy was consumed with rage once again. This time, four tails sprouted out from her body.

"You inhuman bastard!" bellowed Lucy.

Kenichi seemed slightly surprised at the occurrence. Of course, he knew at some level that Lucy had powers like this.

Suddenly, she broke free from the chains restraining her, much to Akiko's surprise.

"It appears that my chains weren't as durable as I thought..." noted Akiko. They seemed to be rather able restraints before...but apparently, there was a first time for everything.

**"Kill him! Kill him!" **screamed Kurama. At this point, he wanted Kenichi completely and utterly dead. He deserved to die for his horrific actions, no doubt about it.

Curious, Akiko noticed that she now appeared to have claws on her hands. They looked rather...sharp. They resembled that of a fox.

"Ah, you're drawing power from Kurama, it seems..." noted Kenichi.

"Prepare to die!" screamed Lucy. At this point she was absolutely relishing the thought of killing Kenichi, especially after what he had done to Shikamaru. And to think that he had forced Lucy to sit back watch the whole thing too. She was starting to wonder if she should really make the death swift and painless.

"Prepare to die? I'm not planning on dying for a long time...dying is a human weakness." answered the man. He still had much more work to do, especially with people like Lucy around trying to save the weak from him.

He assured himself that nobody would be able to save his victims from his wrath. He was going to do his job whether they liked it or not.

"You should be!" bellowed the teenage girl, lunging towards Kenichi.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Kenichi was too agile for her, even in her state. She needed more speed if she wanted to defeat him.

Frustrated, Kurama continued to pump his chakra through Lucy's body, still wanting to kill Kenichi and make him suffer.

This time, yet another tail sprouted from Lucy's body.

In the process, her shoes ripped, and claws sprouted from her feet.

"She's starting to remind me of myself..." noted Gorou.

This time, Lucy fired an enormous Rasengan at Kenichi. Though he managed to absorb it, it did keep him distracted.

Lucy tossed a kunai at Kenichi, which he avoided.

"You think a kunai is going to do me in? I'm basically a walking weapon factory..." answered Kenichi. He wasn't quite sure just how many weapons he had himself. All he knew is that he hardly even needed kunai...though admittedly his were sharper than most kunai that other ninja had.

However, his apprentices were a bit worried. How many transformations did Lucy have? She appeared to be transforming quite rapidly and suddenly.

"She keeps getting stronger..." thought Kenichi. At this rate, she was going to sprout another tail as well. And then she would have six.

Suddenly, Jiraiya showed up, much to Lucy's surprise.

"Jiraiya?" asked Lucy.

Quickly, she was brought back to her senses.

**"What's he doing here?" **inquired Kurama.

Immediately, he began to glare at Kenichi.

"Jiraiya?!" exclaimed Kenichi. What was he doing here? He never thought that one of the Sannin would show up to defend Lucy. Of course, both of the Sannin happened to be in Konoha for the time being.

"Nobody hurts my apprentice!" bellowed Jiraiya. It was a good thing that Tsunade had notified him that Lucy was in danger when she did. Who would have thought that Kenichi would try to infiltrate the Jonin Exams?

Of course, Orochimaru had already done the same with the Chunin Exams...so perhaps it wasn't too big of a shock.

Quickly, he prepared to fight Kenichi. Though admittedly it was possible that he couldn't put an end to his brutal rampage right then and here...he could at least save Lucy Heartfilia from this madman.

And to make matters worse for the traitor to his clan, he did not show up alone. Tsunade had sent reinforcements for Jiraiya.

As it turned out, Kurenai, Asuma, and Might Guy had shown up as well.

Immediately, Kurenai fired a blossom shower at Akiko and Gorou, knocking them backwards.

This was then followed by Might Guy giving Gorou a swift kick to the knee, and Asuma setting Akiko's hat on fire. Quickly, she stomped on it to put it out.

"Ergh!" exclaimed Gorou.

"How did they manage to find us?" asked Akiko. Apparently, Mt. Doom was closer to Konoha than they thought. Perhaps they should have tried to perform a more discreet operation.

Oddly enough, Gorou had not smelled their presence. Apparently, they had shown up too quickly for that. Either that or they had managed to use a camouflage jutsu.

Might Guy proceeded to karate chop Gorou, forcing him to try to parry the blows by transforming his arms into that of a bear's.

At that very moment, Lucy calmed down, causing her to revert back to her regular state.

"I'm so glad that you came to help me..." stated Lucy. She was worried about her and Shikamaru...though it was rather unfortunate that they couldn't save the third ninja that had gone with them.

Sighing, Kenichi decided to retreat for the time being. He had not been expecting reinforcements to show up...and he was simply not in the mood to fight them all.

Immediately, he summoned his fire dragon. He quickly beckoned Akiko and Gorou so that they could escape as well.

Together, they flew around from the mountain.

"Should we pursue them?" asked Kurenai.

"It might be too dangerous..." answered Asuma. Besides, none of them had a way to take to the skies like Kenichi did. If they pursued him, he would most likely have the advantage.

And besides, he was not alone. He happened to have two apprentices with him. He wondered where Kenichi had managed to find such powerful helpers. Fortunately, they were not as strong as he was...though they were definitely dangerous even to jonin like them.

_A few minutes later..._

Lucy was crying. This had been a horrible experience for her. On the plus side, she had managed to unlock a fair bit of Kurama's potential.

"Is Shikamaru going to be alright?" asked Lucy. Kenichi had given him quite a beating.

It was rather unfortunate that he had gotten away...but at least she managed to be safe.

"Yes. We've made sure of that...since you've already gone through enough as it is we've decided to allow you to become jonin...you almost managed to reach the summit, anyhow..." noted Tsunade.

"Not only that, but you seem stronger than ever..." acknowledged Shizune.

Lucy faintly smiled. That was certainly the case now that she had more of Kurama's power flowing through her body. Hopefully she would be more prepared if she ever encountered Kenichi and his disciples again. She was upset about the third ninja that had gone with them. He was dead now. He would never get to become a jonin, that was for certain.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to try to attend his funeral. People were probably going to miss him. She knew she would...though admittedly she had only known him for a few days.

As Kenichi retreated, he began to wonder if Lucy was not as vulnerable to him as it seemed. The nine-tailed fox was awfully powerful. If only he could find a way to extract the fox so that he could weaponize it.

However, he got the feeling that Kurama would not be interested in helping him.

Altternatively, he began to wonder if he should deal with Jiraiya instead before he did anything else...he seemed like a bigger threat to him than Lucy was. He had lost count on how many of his toad summons he had.

Just how long had been visited the Land Of The Toads? It was as if he was their deity...though he figured their deity would probably be a toad himself.

Perhaps he should do so later. For now, he was going to try a different tactic to dispose of his foes. Maybe that way they wouldn't gang up on him this time.

This time, he was going to use his resurrection technique. It came with being a wielder of the Rinnegan. Of course, he didn't typically use it to bring back the dead...considering the fact that he typically wanted his many victims to remain deceased.

But this time, he was going to make an exception. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to be summoning weak ninja. The ninja he was going to be summoning were feared throughout the Land Of Water.

Immediately, he used his Rinnegan to bring back two ninja back from the world of dead.

These ninja were Zabuza and Haku...

Curious, they began to examine their surroundings...and wondered what was going on. Oddly, it appears that they had mysteriously been restored to life. Up until now, they didn't even believe it was possible.

"Where are we, Zabuza?" asked Haku.

"I'm not sure..." answered Zabuza. Investigating his surroundings, he noted that he did not seem to be in the afterlife anymore. Personally he was a bit surprised that he had ended up in heaven instead of hell...perhaps the man in the sky had decided to take pity on him.

Suddenly, a voice brought them back to their senses.

"Perfect! My resurrection jutsu worked...mind you, it does cost me some of my chakra every time I use it...so I suppose I won't be able to use it that often..." noted Kenichi.

Zabuza and Haku gasped in shock. Zabuza was well-aware of Kenichi and his wrongdoings...and he knew that he made him look like a saint even back when he murdered several people at his Chunin Exams.

To his credit, they had annoyed him quite a bit before the big day. They thought that he would never able to become a chunin, and they were surprised that he was even a genin.

"Right then...now that I've resurrected you...you're going to be working with me." stated the dragon rider.

"Why should we?" asked Zabuza.

"Well, I'll be paying you..." answered Kenichi. He knew that Zabuza was fairly fond of money.

Immediately, Kenichi handed them a generous supply of ryo. He had in fact stolen it from one of the victims he had slain in the past. Though he still thought that they were weak, he did admit that they were rather loaded.

"What do you want us to do?" inquired the water ninja. Somehow, he got the feeling that Kenichi had sinister motives when he had decided to bring him back from the dead.

"Oh, it's rather simple. I seem to recall you participating in assassination missions...in fact, the one that got you killed involved you going after a bridge builder...apparently your supervisor decided that you were taking too long..." noted Kenichi.

Personally, Zabuza hated Gato with every fiber of his being. No wonder he decided to kill him. Of course, it also helped that he wanted to defend himself and Gato wouldn't stop stepping on Haku's face. Haku was basically his adopted son after all.

Of course, he was starting to wonder if he was going to hate Kenichi even more. At least Gato was decent enough not to commit genocide against the Land Of Waves...which he had apparently done from what he had heard from the angels in heaven.

"So, I decided to ask you to hunt down a certain ninja...a ninja by the name of Lucy Heartfilia. I've heard all about how she's trying to make the world a better place for those who are weak...it sickens me." stated Kenichi.

Zabuza was well-aware that Kenichi believed that only strong ninja should only exist in the world...and that he had slain countless people that had not been up to his standards. It made him frightened just thinking about it. It seemed that no ninja was truly safe from him...not even a veteran ninja like himself.

Since he didn't approve of Kenichi's actions, he shook his head.

"What's this? It appears that you do not wish to cooperate with me...I can't say I approve that...apparently, you need some persuasion..." answered Kenichi.

Immediately, he began to twist Zabuza's arm, causing him to scream in pain.

Haku gasped in shock.

"Zabuza!" exclaimed Haku.

Kenichi continued to twist. If he kept it up, Zabuza's arm just might come off. It wasn't far from becoming broken as it was.

"Just for the record, I can make your life a living hell...unless you want to suffer pain, I suggest you listen to me..." answered the last member of the Chikawa clan.

Likewise, he began to punch and kick Haku.

"Do you understand me?" asked Kenichi.

"But I'm a pacifist..." pointed out Haku. He had never killed anyone in his life...excluding his father. But even then that had been self-defense. His father was a terrible person.

"Not anymore, you're not!" exclaimed the man, stepping on his face.

"Yes, Kenichi..." answered the ice ninja. It appeared that they didn't have a choice...though they were willing to experience the afterlife once again, neither of them were looking forward to being tortured by Kenichi. And he appeared to have many torture methods at his disposal, too.

Reluctantly, they went to hunt down Lucy.

"Are you sure you can hold them off?" asked Akiko.

"Knowing Lucy, she'll probably be able to handle them...but it doesn't really matter...if they fail, I can simply resurrect more ninja to do my bidding..." answered Kenichi.

Akiko shrugged. She supposed that made sense. That resurrection ability was apparently going to come in handy, though she never imagined Kenichi to be the type of person that would want to bring back the dead.

"Now go!" exclaimed the man. He didn't want to waste any time.

Immediately, Zabuza and Haku went to hunt down Lucy and follow the bidding of their new master. At least he hadn't requested them to hunt down Naruto or Kakashi. That would have been rather painful for them after everything they went through in the last minutes of their lives.

He was looking forward to having her head on a platter, to say the very least. Never had he met a foe that was so obnoxious to him. Why was she proving to be so hard to kill?

But perhaps when he had disposed of her she would dispose of Jiraiya next. It sickened him that people like Jiraiya existed in the world...he was going to make him pay.

_At the summit of Mt. Doom..._

"Yes! We managed to make it to the top with all four scrolls!" exclaimed Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto put in all four scrolls in their designated slots, and the door opened.

Quickly, he stepped inside along with Erza Scarlet.

"We sure did well, didn't we?" asked Erza.

"Yeah...too bad the ninja that went with us fell and broke his neck...he'll be in the hospital for a month..." noted Naruto. Fortunately, it appeared that they were not going to be penalized for that.

"How sad." remarked the knight.

Little did they know that at that very moment, Itachi and Kisame were spying on them.

"Should we attack now?" asked Kisame.

"In a moment..." answered Itachi.

Kisame smiled. This was going to be quite satisfying. He couldn't wait to fight Naruto again after not getting to see him in so long. Hopefully Jiraiya would not interfere this time. Jiraiya was rather annoying.

On the other hand, he was hoping that Naruto would put up a better fight than before. His sword had devoured his chakra so easily. But at least it had gotten a good meal.

For some strange reason, Itachi got the feeling that he shouldn't be going after Naruto and not someone else. But he wasn't quite sure what that reason was.

Perhaps he should trust his instinct...but for now, he decided it would be best to listen to Pain. He didn't want to disobey him and get him angry. Rumor has it that there was more than one of him...as odd as that sounded.

Why exactly did people say that?

As soon as Itachi realized that the coast was clear, he and Kisame decided to step in.

Naruto gasped in shock.

"You!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Miss me?" asked Itachi.

_So...what do you think of Kenichi now? I doubt that you would think highly of him considering that he's one of the two main villains. But fortunately he decided to retreat for the time being as he was not expecting anyone else to come help Lucy...nor was he really expecting her to draw so much power from Kurama._

_On the plus side, at least Konoha jonin showed up once they realized that he was around. It was a good thing that Tsunade had sent jonin t_


	67. Chapter 67: The Akatsuki

_In this battle, we're going to feature the first battle in the fanfic involving the Akatsuki...of course, they are going to be Itachi and Kisame...since they were the Akatsuki members that appeared first. This is kind of going to set the tone for Part IV...which is naturally going to be Akatsuki-focused._

_And yes, Naruto and Erza will be facing them...fortunately, they happen to have abilities that they can use to counter Itachi and Kisame's...but don't expect this battle to be over with a heartbeat...though I will admit it's not going to be as serious as the upcoming Akatsuki battles. The story is getting darker as you can probably tell by the previous chapter...though I will admit that this chapter will have some funny moments irregardless. That's just how I roll._

_Afterwards, I think I'll spoof the events of the Kazekage Rescue Arc. That seemed like the best course of action. Of course, I think I'll spoof the Edolas Arc after that before anything else. I happen to have a lot of ideas for that one._

**Chapter 67: The Akatsuki**

"Itachi? Kisame? What are you two doing here?" asked Naruto. It felt odd seeing them again like this. He was starting to feel scared. He knew of their intentions to kidnap him and bring him to their evil leader. Why exactly did they want all the tailed beasts in the world?

"What else? We're here for your nine-tailed fox...you should know that already." answered Itachi. Did he think that they were there to give him a hug?

"Um, about that..." answered the jonin-in-the-making.

Kisame cut him off before he had a chance to explain why they shouldn't be after him.

"If you're not going to come along quietly...we're going to have to use force. Not that we mind..." noted Kisame. He was starting to itch for a fight. He hadn't gotten into a duel with another ninja ever since they had gone on the mission to travel to Konoha...though admittedly his partner didn't seem to mind too much. He was rather stoic.

"I'm not exactly looking forward to that. You're a psycho." stated Naruto. Apparently someone didn't listen to their mother while they were growing up.

"Alright then...I didn't want to have to do this...but you've given me no choice." said Itachi. It was time for Naruto's torment to begin...since he simply refused to cooperate. Maybe he would be more agreeable if he used his genjutsu.

Immediately, Itachi used his Tsukuyomi on Naruto. Unfortunately, it did not occur to him that making eye contact with Itachi wasn't such a good idea. Now it was too late to change that. Perhaps Kakashi should have warned him.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself in a strange world where for some strange reason everything was red and black.

Also, he was sitting on a couch in front of a TV. It was rather odd considering that he did notice anything of the sort when he entered the building.

"What's going on here?" asked Naruto. For some strange reason he did not like where this was headed. Itachi was clearly using some sort of genjutsu against him.

But how did he get out of this?

Shortly afterward, a controller appeared in his hand.

"Huh?" inquired the chunin. Why was Itachi making him play video games?

Curious, he decided to look at the TV...and he screamed in horror.

As it turned out, he was being forced to play Superman 64.

"Noooooooo!" screamed Naruto. Not this game! Why couldn't Itachi be making him read the comic books?

To put it simply, he was forced to go on a bunch of missions where all he did was travel through rings...that certainly would have gotten boring after a while as it was...but to make matters worse the controls were absolutely horrible. He could hardly control Superman for the life of him. Not only that, but he kept getting Superman stuck against walls. It was if they were made of superglue or something.

"Why couldn't they play test this game?" asked the unfortunate soul. If only executive meddling hadn't kicked in.

Suddenly, Superman plunged into a vat of kryptonite due to a glitch...and he died gruesomely!

"Noooo! Superman! Why are the controls in this game so awful?" asked Naruto.

Immediately, "Lex Wins" showed up on the screen.

"Lex always wins in this game...Superman's a big fat loser..." noted the chunin.

Shortly afterward, Erza snapped him back to his senses.

"Naruto? Are you alright?" asked Erza, shaking Naruto back and forth.

Naruto was returned back to reality.

"Thank goodness for that, Erza...he made me play Superman 64 for an hour!" exclaimed the chunin. That was the worst ten seconds of his life.

Erza gasped in shock. That was the worst game ever!

"I can make you watch the Garbage Pail Kids Movie next..now are you coming with us or not?" asked Itachi. Who in their right mind would even make such a movie?

"Not the Garbage Pail Kids movie!" bellowed Naruto. He would be vomiting for hours!

"I'm not going to let you hurt Naruto!" exclaimed Erza, brandishing her swords.

"What's this? It seems that Naruto has a girlfriend now..." noted Kisame.

"Yeah, I do. She's so sexy it must hurt..." answered Naruto.

"I feel fine...though I do have a zit on my face." stated the knight.

"Aww..." complained the chunin.

"I'm jealous..." frowned the sadistic swordsman.

"Well, I suppose it's only fair to let you face us two on two...besides, my partner always does enjoy a challenge..." noted Itachi.

"I sure do!" exclaimed Kisame. Hopefully Naruto wouldn't be a complete pushover like he was before. He would be so bored if he managed to accomplish the mission without a single scratch.

Immediately, Erza lunged towards Itachi.

In retaliation, Itachi attempted to use his Tsukuyomi on her...

...but for some strange reason, it had no effect. Erza was not affected by the genjutsu at all. Her mind seemed as intact as ever.

"Why isn't this working?" asked Itachi.

"What's the matter?" inquired Kisame.

"It's my Tsukuyomi! It's not working on her!" bellowed the Uchiha prodigy.

"What? It's not?" questioned the water ninja.

Erza wondered why that was the case. It seemed to work just fine on Naruto judging from the torment that he went through.

Suddenly, it occurred to her why she would be immune to it.

Apparently, she still had the magic from her artificial eye, even if it had popped out once she gained access to the abilities bestowed upon the Uchiha bloodline. Making eye contact with Itachi was not going to hurt her as she was immune to his Tsukuyomi.

Naturally, this gave her an advantage against Itachi, though he would probably put up a good fight regardless. She faintly smiled.

Likewise, Itachi realized that he just may have a problem. He hadn't encountered a ninja who was immune to his Tsukuyomi before...at least through eye contact, anyhow. That threw one of his greatest strengths right out the window.

"This just doesn't make any sense..." thought Itachi. If only he had time to research his opponent so that he could get answers.

Apparently, he was going to have to rely on different tactics if he wanted to win. Fortunately, genjutsu was not the only thing that he was talented at. Otherwise he might not have gotten into the Akatsuki in the first place.

Realizing that she had an advantage against Itachi, Erza decided who her opponent would be.

"I'll take on the one with the Sharingan...you take on the one with the bigger sword!" exclaimed Erza.

"You mean Kisame? Alright...you seem to stand a better chance against Itachi than I do..." noted Naruto.

"You want to fight me? I'll cut your legs off! Of course, I was going to fight you anyway..." bellowed Kisame, pulling out his sword.

"But people will call me a dwarf..." complained Naruto. He was shorter than his girlfriend as it was.

"I don't think you'll be Happy..." remarked the blue swordsman.

"Very funny...of course I won't be Happy!" exclaimed the chunin. He'd probably be Grumpy.

Wait, was he referring to the Exceed or the dwarf? He was assuming the latter.

Immediately, he got ready to fight. He decided to start off by summoning several clones to attack Kisame.

However, he simply slashed them all away with his ridiculously huge sword.

"I wish my whip was that big..." complained Naruto as he began to whip Kisame.

Unfortunately, he was too fast.

In retaliation, Kisame trapped Naruto in a water prison.

"I don't want to be a bubble boy!" bellowed Naruto, trying to break out.

"Too bad!" exclaimed Kisame.

Fortunately, he knew from previous experience what to do when trapped inside what was basically a giant bubble. He wasn't exactly looking forward to being kidnapped again.

Immediately, he used the Body Replacement Technique, causing a log to appear in his place.

"You're clever...but you're just postponing the inevitable. My sword is awfully hungry today..." stated Kisame.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered Kisame's natural ability to drain chakra. He was starting to feel weak.

"Uh-oh..." thought the chunin.

Perhaps it would be best if he tried to end this fight quickly.

This time, he began to attach paper bombs to his clones.

They grabbed onto Kisame and attempted to explode.

But unfortunately he simply created a water clone.

Naruto began to pant.

"Are you starting to feel the drain yet?" asked Kisame.

"Yes, I am." nodded Naruto.

Naruto attempted to summon Gamabunta...but he didn't have enough chakra left. Kisame snickered upon the failed summon attempt.

He tossed a Rasengan instead, but Kisame avoided it.

His sword let out a loud burp, satisfied at its meal.

Naruto sighed. It appeared that he was now out of chakra. What was he going to do? Pull out a white flag and start bowing down to Kisame, yelling "I am not worthy! I am not worthy!?"

Kisame was very satisfied with the turn of events, to say the very least. Pain had been hoping to capture the nine-tails jinchuriki for quite some time.

"You're coming with me! But I think I'll chop off your arm first...I'd like to punch you with me..." answered Kisame.

"Would it hurt you not to try to mutilate me?" asked Naruto.

"It'll hurt you a lot more than it'll hurt me!" exclaimed the watery member of the Akatsuki.

Naruto sighed.

Suddenly, he remembered something...Kisame's sword may be able to drain chakra...but that didn't mean that it could drain magic.

Immediately, he pulled out his summoner keys to help him take on Kisame. Hopefully this would work.

In this case, he decided to summon Aquarius. She seemed appropriate for the occasion.

"Hey, Aquarius! Can you help me take on this horrible man?" asked Naruto.

"He looks creepy..." remarked Aquarius.

"Yeah...he wants to chop off my limbs..." stated the chunin.

"Sheesh..." murmured the summon spirit as she agreed to help Naruto defeat Kisame.

"I don't get it...I thought I drained all your chakra...this doesn't make any sense!" bellowed Kisame.

"Who says I'm using chakra?" asked Naruto.

Kisame scratched his head. This was really confusing. Perhaps he should tell Pain about this. Naruto's new abilities since their previous encounter were a bit...unusual.

Meanwhile, Itachi was starting to feel confused as well. How exactly was Erza resisting his genjutsu whenever she made eye contact with him? It was rather bewildering.

Suddenly, Erza did something that shocked him even more.

Immediately, she activated the Sharingan.

Itachi gasped in shock. He thought that he had wiped out the Uchiha Clan a long time ago. Was there a survivor that he had overlooked? He was under the impression that he had been rather thorough.

And yet, here he was, facing a Sharingan user that was not his brother.

"What is going on here?" asked Itachi.

Shocked that Erza was capable of using the Sharingan like his brother was, Itachi narrowly avoided a sword strike to the neck.

"This day keeps on getting weirder and weirder..." questioned the defector.

In retaliation, Itachi pulled out his own sword and got into a swordfight with Erza. Unfortunately for him, Erza appeared to be rather experienced in the matter.

And to make matters worse for him, she was now wearing her Heart Kreuz Armor, meaning his sword would probably bounce off of it.

Itachi had to admit...he was facing a much more difficult opponent than usual. Naruto had chosen an effective bodyguard, it seems. Apparently two and a half years worse of training with Jiraiya had worked wonders.

Since Tsukiyomi didn't do a thing to Erza, Itachi decided to try using Amaterasu instead.

Suddenly, Erza found herself on fire, causing her to scream.

"Will this work?" thought Itachi.

However, Erza activated her Flame Empress Armor in retaliation, causing the flames to disperse.

Itachi gasped in shock. First the Tsukuyomi proved to be ineffective, and now this? Then again the flames did burn fairly slowly regardless of how hot they were.

Curious, Erza noticed that Itachi's eyes were starting to bleed. Perhaps using that particular jutsu had side effects.

"You do realize that your eyes are bleeding, right?" asked Erza.

"Yes...sometimes that happens whenever I use Amaterasu..." noted Itachi.

"Maybe you should wash your eyes..." questioned the knight.

"Maybe I should..." agreed the Uchiha clan destroyer.

"You remind me of Sasuke Uchiha..." remarked the Sharingan wielder.

"That's because I'm his brother..." answered Itachi.

"Really? That explains the resemblance..." noted Erza. Itachi and Sasuke did in fact somewhat resemble each other...though admittedly Itachi was about five years older.

"Yes...he got angry at me for wiping out my clan...though I do have to question his decision to ally with Orochimaru." answered Itachi.

Immediately, Itachi began to shiver.

"Yeah...me too..." nodded Erza. Orochimaru sounded like a real psycho...though she hadn't really met the guy before. That was probably a good thing.

"You wouldn't happen to be interested in joining Orochimaru, now would you?" asked Itachi.

"Not really, no." answered the knight. Orochimaru was a mortal enemy of Konoha, that was for certain.

"Good..." stated Itachi.

Suddenly, he stabbed directly through Erza's chest.

"Nothing personal, but I have a mission to complete. And just between you and me, you should have worn an armor that doesn't expose so much skin..." said the man.

"Ugh..." murmured Erza. She did admit that Itachi had a point. Was wearing this armor impractical? Perhaps she should work on defense a bit more.

But as it turned out, it was only an illusion. In other words, he hadn't actually stabbed Erza at all. The real Erza was heading straight towards him.

Once again, Itachi had to leap out of the way so that he didn't end up getting stabbed. He did not want to become a shish kebab.

"Ah, you used a genjutsu against me. Very clever..." stated Itachi. Apparently Erza had the Sharingan for some time, even if he had never met her before.

"I'm getting the hang of using my new eyes..." acknowledged the knight.

"Congratulations...but are you a member of the Uchiha clan? I have not seen a kunoichi quite like yourself..." noted the man.

"Sort of...I apparently have Uchiha DNA in my veins...but I'm not actually a Uchiha member." answered Erza. She had the Sharingan because Sasuke decided to use the same portal as she did almost simultaneously. Unfortunately, it had given Sasuke an advantage during his fight against Naruto.

"How odd..." questioned Itachi. Strangely, Erza did not appear to be drained by using the Sharingan despite not technically being a member of the Uchiha clan, unlike Kakashi. These eyes had apparently not been transplanted.

Since Itachi did not appear to be interested in using fire techniques for the time being, Erza decided to requip into her hakama outfit for added speed and strength. At this point she was a bit of a glass cannon...but she felt that it might be worth the risk.

However, Itachi was quick to comment on it.

"What happened to your shoes? Why are they missing?" asked Itachi.

"I felt like going shoeless?" inquired Erza.

"You're tracking mud all over the carpet!" complained the Konoha missing-nin.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" apologized the knight.

Itachi sent crows after Erza, but Erza simply slashed right through them, leaving feathers and blood in her wake.

Suddenly, her sarashi unraveled, leaving her topless.

Itachi gasped in shock upon seeing Erza unintentionally expose herself.

"Is something the matter?" asked Erza. For some strange reason it felt like something was missing.

"Your top came off!" bellowed Itachi.

"What? Oh dear." remarked the knight. Perhaps she should wear her strapless bra underneath her sarashi...but part of her liked going commando.

"For the love of god, put it back on!" screamed the missing-nin. His eyes felt blurry whenever he used his Tsukuyomi as it was, though admittedly he wasn't going to be using it for this battle.

"Alright..." answered Erza.

Immediately, Erza requiped into her Seductress Armor.

"How do I look?" asked the knight.

"Hey! Don't flirt with anyone except for me!" bellowed Naruto.

Erza sweatdropped.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Erza as she put her Flame Empress Armor back on.

"Why is my girlfriend so unfaithful?" thought Naruto. Was he not sexy without his shirt on anymore?

Speaking of which...

Suddenly, Kisame slashed Naruto's shirt off with his sword.

"Sheesh...the Akatsuki are doing this to me now..." noted Naruto. Apparently they wanted in on the running gag too.

"Fancy being a model?" questioned Kisame.

A few seconds later, his eyes widened, and he gasped in shock.

"The jinchuriki mark...where is it?" asked Kisame.

"About that...I tried to tell you about this before...but I'm not a jinchuriki anymore..." answered Naruto.

"What?!" exclaimed the swordsman of the mist.

Itachi was rather surprised as well.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" asked Itachi.

"Um, sure..." nodded Erza.

Immediately, Itachi and Kisame contacted Pain using their rings.

"Yes, what is it now?" asked Pain.

"This has proven to be the craziest mission ever..." stated Itachi.

Pain raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" asked Pain.

"My opponent could summon without chakra, his partner had the Sharingan despite the Uchiha clan being extinct...and strangest of all, Naruto didn't even have the nine-tailed fox inside him!" exclaimed Kisame.

"Really? Are you telling the truth?" inquired the leader of the Akatsuki.

"Yes, we are!" bellowed Kisame.

"Have we ever lied to you before?" asked Itachi.

"No, you have not. I would advise you to withdraw...besides, Naruto just might be expecting company..." noted Pain.

Itachi and Kisame nodded. Apparently, this mission was a failure...albeit only due to unforeseen circumstances. What was the world coming to?

Immediately, Itachi and Kisame retreated.

At that very moment, Jiraiya came in.

"Are you alright?" asked Jiraiya. He had a feeling in his gut that Naruto was in danger. Of course, Lucy had been in peril not too long ago.

"We got attacked by the Akatsuki...but yes, we're fine..." answered Naruto.

"It's a good thing that I was there to protect him..." noted Erza. Otherwise things may very well have been a lot worse. Of course, she almost always was there to protect Naruto.

"Which ones were they?" questioned Jiraiya. Were they members of the Akatsuki that he had not seen before?

"Itachi and Kisame..." explained the blonde.

"Itachi and Kisame...why am I not surprised..." answered the Sannin. It seemed only a matter of time before those two struck again. They seemed to know the leaf village better than the other members of the Akatsuki.

"I had to admit...I did surprisingly well...he couldn't drain my magic like he could drain my chakra..." noted Naruto.

Jiraiya nodded. That did make a lot of sense.

"Wait, why were they after you? I thought you didn't have the nine-tailed fox living inside you anymore...which admittedly makes your training with me kind of redundant, doesn't it?" questioned Jiraiya.

"To be fair, I am up for fighting the Akatsuki and stopping their evil plans..." said the chunin. He and Lucy were like brother and sister...which they were in a sense.

"Does Tsunade know about this?" asked Erza.

"I just sent her a message." answered Jiraiya.

A slug showed up a few minutes later. It was surprisingly fast despite being...well, a slug.

"What's this?" asked the toad sage.

Apparently, due to the fact that Naruto and Erza had hold their own against two members of the Akatsuki, she was making them both jonin.

"Woohoo!" cheered Naruto.

Also, she told Naruto that he needed to put a shirt on.

"But I'm too sexy for it..." complained the chunin. His fangirls would love him if he kept his shirt on.

Erza made Naruto put on a shirt anyway.

Naruto sighed. He supposed that people would start to complain after a while.

However, he got angry as soon as he realized what it said on the shirt.

"This shirt says that I'm a homosexual...that is not true and you know it!" bellowed Naruto. Why would he be her girlfriend if he was homosexual?

Erza snickered.

"I was only joking..." stated Erza as she changed Naruto's shirt again.

"This shirt says that I love Erza...well, that's certainly true..." noted the blonde jonin.

"It sure is..." nodded Erza.

_About an hour later..._

"So, did we all reach the summit with our scrolls?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, we did." nodded Hinata.

"We rock!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Wait, where's Shikamaru? I was expecting him to show up..." stated Choji. He was rather dismayed that he didn't get to be on his team now that he thought of it.

Still, he got to be on the same team as his girlfriend, so at least that was something.

"Me too..." nodded Ino.

"I hope that he's alright..." said Kiba. Who else would have lead them during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission? Too bad that mission turned out to be a failure. If only Sasuke wasn't so obsessed with getting revenge on his brother.

Of course, he didn't know what it was like to have his entire clan wiped out. Imagine all the dead animals and people.

Suddenly, they noticed something else.

"I was expecting Naruto to be here..." questioned Sakura. He had better not have done something stupid.

Her eyes widened when suddenly she noticed torn fabric on the floor...fabric that resembled that of his shirt.

"What's going on?" asked the pink-haired girl.

At that very moment, Iruka stepped in.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid that we're going to have to postpone the preliminaries for the last part of the exam...there's been some security breaches as of late. Fortunately, in the latter case, nobody was seriously hurt. But in the former case, one of them was. His name was Shikamaru Nara." stated Iruka.

Choji and Ino gasped in shock.

"Rest assured, the medical ninja have successfully managed to cure him. But until we can be sure that nobody else will invade the exams...we're going to spend a week increasing security. But on the lighter side of things...you get to train until then...however brief the training session may be..." noted the man.

Gajeel stomped in frustration. He wanted to become a jonin now!

This was so unfair.

Sakura began to pout. But she supposed that Tsunade had a point. What if Naruto and Lucy ended up being killed? They were two of her friends...

Immediately, everyone began to climb back down the summit. On the plus side, the preliminaries were going to take place right outside, so they didn't need to climb back up the mountain again.

That was a relief.

_Meanwhile in the Fifth Hokage's Office..._

After realizing that Lucy was in danger of being captured by the Akatsuki due to being a jinchuriki, she decided to invite her to her office in order to consult her on the matter. She might as well warn her so that she didn't get caught off guard in the event that she had an encounter with the Akatsuki like Naruto did.

"You called me, Tsunade?" asked Lucy. She was still feeling upset about what had happened when she had encountered Kenichi. She wondered if she was really weak and if she could protect her comrades.

Jiraiya had ensured her that was the case. She might even surpass him someday...or at least, that was what he thought.

"I'm afraid I have something grim to tell you..." stated the Sannin.

"What is it?" asked Lucy.

"Lucy, you're in danger. People are hunting you down..." stated Tsunade.

"Tell me something that I don't know." answered Lucy.

"Yes, I am aware that Kenichi wants your head...but it's not just him. The Akatsuki want your nine-tailed fox..." stated Tsunade.

**"Not them again..." **stated Kurama. He was not looking forward to being trapped inside a giant statue so that he could merge back into the ten-tailed beast.

"The Akatsuki? Who are they? And why do they want my fox?" inquired Lucy. They sounded dangerous.

"The Akatsuki are a group of evil men, and for some strange reason one woman, that wish to capture each of the tailed beasts. They're considered to be the most dangerous criminal organization in the world. As as it would turn out, you happen to have the nine-tailed fox." stated Tsunade.

"So...they're going to try to capture me?" asked the blonde. She was starting to worry. Could she really fight against such dangerous criminals? They were all S-Class.

"Yes, they are. Unfortunately they will continue to hunt you down until they get their hands on the fox living inside you. Believe me, it's already happened before. So far they've managed to capture the five tails and the seven tails and seal it inside their giant statue. If they manage to gain access to all nine of the tailed beasts...then Kaguya help us all..." said the Sannin.

Fortunately, they were not expecting someone not related to the Fourth Hokage to be a jinchuriki. Usually they were related to prominent figures in the ninja community. Lucy was definitely an exception...though one could say that she was related to Naruto.

"That does present a problem..." answered Lucy. It was a good thing that Jiraiya had taught her such valuable techniques.

"Fortunately, since they went after Naruto instead of you, they do not seem to be aware that you're a jinchuriki now. But this is only a temporary reprieve. It seems inevitable that they'll find out you're the jinchuriki now sooner or later..." noted Tsunade. The Akatsuki had eyes and ears everywhere.

Lucy wondered if it was in their best interest to wear shirts that bore her midriff whenever the Akatsuki were on the prowl.

"You might wish to head back to Fairy Tail for the time being...they are not aware that two different worlds exist..." noted Tsunade. Hopefully they would not succeed in their mission. She was not looking forward to being their slave.

Unfortunately, they did not happen to know much about the Akatsuki...other than two of their members, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

After all, Itachi had originated from their village and was a member of the Uchiha clan...which sadly were no longer with them due to his bloodlust.

Perhaps it would be best if they consulted other villages on the matter to see what they could learn about the Akatsuki. They might be able to give them more information about other Akatsuki members that they had not even heard of.

But since Akatsuki members originated from all across the world, that might be a difficult task. Which members had managed to capture the five tails and the seven tails, anyway? She wasn't sure on the matter.

At that very moment, Shikamaru stepped into the office. He had gone to check on Lucy after that horrible encounter with Kenichi and his two flunkies.

"Can I step in?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yes...I'm warning Lucy about the Akatsuki..." stated Tsunade. She needed to know about them sooner or later now that she was one of the seven current jinchuriki.

"The Akatsuki? Ah yes...I suppose they would be interested in going after her. They are such a drag..." remarked the ninja. At last they were more merciful than Kenichi was.

"Yes, they are..." nodded Lucy. It was a good thing that she had not encountered yet, though that may very well change in the future.

Fortunately, it appeared that Konoha's healers had managed to heal his injuries, which admittedly had been fairly severe. Nonetheless, he appeared to be walking with a limp after that grisly incident. Apparently he was going to have that for a while.

Perhaps it would be best if he took a break from going on missions.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, Lucy...I promise..." stated Shikamaru. That was what couples were for.

"Thanks..." answered Lucy. It was a good thing that Tsunade had managed to heal him...she wasn't sure what she would do if Shikamaru had been crippled for life. Kenichi had clearly made him suffer quite a bit. And it was all because he hated Lucy Heartfilia.

One of these days she was going to kill him...she promised herself that, as impossible of a task as that would seem.

Sometimes it disturbed her how sadistic some ninja could be. Orochimaru certainly was proof that...though to her credit she had sometimes wondered what it was like to be able to use every jutsu there was. There clearly were a lot of different jutsus out there...and by extension kekkei genkai.

"I wonder what they're up to now..." stated Lucy. No doubt they were going to be hunting down jinchuriki just like her. But which jinchuriki were they going after next? From what Tsunade had told her there were seven jinchuriki still out there.

Wait, wasn't Gaara a jinchuriki too? She might not be the only person she knew that the Akatsuki would be interested in hunting.

Hopefully he was aware of the danger.

_Meanwhile..._

Itachi and Kisame entered the Akatsuki hideout, feeling dejected. Their mission had been a total failure...and it was all because they had picked out the wrong target. Naruto had been one step ahead of them, it seemed.

It was rather unfortunate that Naruto no longer had the nine-tailed fox inside him as they thought...but sometimes things simply didn't go according to plan. This mission was one of these moments.

"This has been a rather interesting turn in events..." noted Pain as he met with the other members of the Akatsuki. It all seemed rather bizarre.

"How did Naruto manage to transfer his nine-tailed fox to someone else without dying? It just doesn't make sense..." questioned Kisame. Every time they extracted a tailed beast from a ninja, they always ended up six feet under. Why not now?

"He's a member of the Uzumaki Clan. They have survived things like that before. Just look at his mother..." noted Itachi.

"I met his mother once...she was so sexy..." remarked Tobi. No wonder she got married to the Fourth Hokage.

Konan rolled her eyes.

"Too bad she's dead." retorted Kakuzu.

"Awww..." complained Tobi. He was hoping that she was a widow so that he could hit on her.

"Believe me, Naruto Uzumaki and I have more in common that either of us would probably admit. But for the time being we shall have to postpone capturing the nine-tailed fox until we can find out who the jinchuriki is." stated Pain.

Zetsu noted that he might need to do some spy work. The real jinchuriki had to be around Konoha somewhere. Personally he wondered what a jinchuriki tasted like.

"But I was looking forward to it!" exclaimed Kisame. Chopping off Naruto's legs would have been so enjoyable. It would have been priceless to watch him scream at the top of his lungs like a little girl once he realized that he only had two limbs left.

Speaking of which, he got the feeling that for some strange reason the jinchuriki of Kurama was female. He wondered why exactly. Perhaps if he found who the real jinchuriki was he could start calling them vixen.

"I know you were looking forward to capturing the nine-tails jinchuriki, and for that I am deeply sorry. But as it stands we won't be able to capture the nine-tailed fox until we figure out who he has transferred it to. We may be able to interrogate him...but with the close proximity of his allies it is rather infeasible. However, that does not necessarily mean we shall postpone our hunts for the tailed beasts completely. I have set my sights on the one-tailed beast, and I believe that we will be able to capture it next. Sasori just so happens to have come up with a plan...however, he will need Deidara's help for this mission." said Pain.

"Perfect! I get to blow things up!" bellowed Deidara. That was what he did best.

"Yes, you do, Deidara...I know full well that you enjoy art...though I will admit your art in question tends to be rather gruesome..." noted the leader of the Akatsuki.

"I keep telling them that my art is special and they never listen to me...they had to suffer for it..." noted the bomber.

"I suppose I can sympathize. You shall be hunting down Gaara, who as you may know is the Fifth Kazekage..." stated Pain. He had in fact been appointed to the title rather recently.

"I've heard of him...apparently he managed to obtain that particular title at a rather young age...he's quite the prodigy, isn't he?" inquired Kakuzu.

"Yes, he is. As such, I suggest that Deidara and Sasori proceed with caution." noted the leader of the Akatsuki.

Fortunately for Sasori, he had managed to implant sleeper agents in Sunagakure. From there, it would be a simple of matter of having Deidara swoop in and snag Gaara.

Of course, there was the problem of him and his powerful sand abilities. Would Deidara be able to handle him by himself? Just how much sand did he have?

"That's it for tonight's meeting. Dismissed." stated Pain.

Immediately, Kisame and Itachi left the hideout while the lantern projections all disappeared.

"Hopefully Sasori and Deidara will have more luck than we did..." noted Itachi.

Kisame nodded. He didn't want to have to waste time on pointless missions again...though admittedly he did enjoy fighting Naruto. What new abilities did he have since his training with Jiraiya?

_Meanwhile..._

Gaara sat at his office, ready to handle the many matters involving his new position.

Suddenly, he felt a chill go down his spine.

"What's the matter?" asked Kankuro. He didn't like it whenever Gaara was upset, being his older brother and all. He was under the impression that Gaara would be happy to get the opportunity to protect his homeland.

Of course, he did note that the paperwork he had to sign might get stressful after a while...though admittedly he didn't seem to complain about it.

"My instinct tells me that I'm going to be in a horrible situation soon..." answered Gaara.

"What?" inquired Temari. What made him say that?

"I think that someone might be hunting me down..." questioned the sand ninja.

"Really? I hope nobody's planning to assassinate you..." noted Kankuro.

"I know...I think I'm going to take a walk..." stated the sand ninja. Perhaps there was nothing that he could about the Akatsuki...since he heard a rumor that they typically traveled in pairs, he would probably be outnumbered two to one if they decided to fight him.

Immediately, he began his stroll through the sands. Personally, he wondered if he should simply give himself up to the Akatsuki so that his village didn't get hurt as collateral damage. Perhaps it would be futile to try to fight them.

Suddenly, he noticed that there was a portal in the sands similar to the one that they had in Konohagakure.

However, it appeared to be orange unlike the one that they had at Konohagakure.

"Huh?" asked Gaara.

Curious, he seemed to recall writing down a paper that allowed them to create a portal in Sunagakure like the one they had in Konohagakure. They figured it would be easier for ninja to travel that way...Sunaga and Konoha were a distance away from each other, to say the very least.

At that very moment, Gajeel Redfox stepped out of it.

As it turned out, he wanted a break from the leaf village after several leaves had blown on his face. It was rather annoying.

"Waiting for the preliminaries sucks..." remarked Gajeel. It was all because they wanted to increase their security in case people like Itachi and Kisame showed up, since the Akatsuki were clearly on the move again. He thought that he could have dealt with them by himself and that they were losers...as wrong as he was on the matter.

Suddenly, he bumped into Gaara.

"Watch where you're going!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, he picked up Gaara and tossed him through the portal.

Snickering in satisfaction, Gajeel then made his way to Sunagakure.

Little did he know that he was going to have a lot of trouble sleeping the following night.

At that very moment, Gaara stepped out of the portal.

He felt rather...strange.

Shrugging, he decided to return back home. Maybe if was lucky he would be able to hold off the Akatsuki. Maybe they weren't coming and he was just being paranoid.

For some strange reason, he now felt like sleeping...even though sleeping for too long inevitably awakened Shukaku.

Scratching his head, Gaara headed back to his office. He had work to do.

_Well, it appeared that Naruto's battle with Kisame went a lot better than it did the first time he encountered him. Unfortunately for Kisame, he isn't able to drain magic like he is capable of draining chakra._

_Likewise, Itachi's Tsukuyomi didn't work on Erza thanks to her artificial eye ability, which you may already be aware of. She also happens to have the Sharingan herself...so Itachi's not the only one that can use illusions to his advantage. Sasuke might be jealous of Erza now..._

_Basically they were both forced to improvise...even if they did manage to put up a decent fight regardless. Naruto and Erza got really lucky, to say the very least._

_But as it was, they had to cut the fight short because as it turned out, Naruto turned out not to have what they wanted. Unfortunately for them, the Akatsuki are not yet aware that Lucy has Kurama inside her body now. They're going to have to change their plans._

_Unfortunately, it appears that Itachi and Kisame aren't the only ones that are hunting jinchuriki...Sasori and Deidara are also on the move. And you probably know who they're after._

_Hopefully you didn't find them to be too OOC. I know that you thought it was funny when I put Naruto in crazy situations...like the time he ended up being captured by Phantom Lord. Remember that? Then again it was a long time ago. Back during Part I in fact...I'm not quite sure how many parts this fanfic is going to have to be honest. I was thinking about five of them...but with my tendency to drone on maybe I'll change that._


	68. Chapter 68: Sand And Steel

_In this chapter, Gaara is going to have to defend himself from a would-be assassin...but in the process he's going to demonstrate powers that he did not have before. Can you guess what they are? Let's just say that Hinata and Konohamaru could relate to him._

_Likewise, something similar is going to happen with Gajeel. And he's going to have a heck of a time when he goes to sleep. Ha ha ha ha. You know what he is now, right?_

_I'll give you a hint...in a sense, he's just like Lucy now. A more evil version of Lucy._

**Chapter 68: Sand And Steel**

Gaara decided to walk back to Sunagakure, ready to resume the duties of being the Fifth Kazekage. People were counting on him to do his job. If not, the entire Land Of Wind could be at risk.

Of course, he had his siblings helping him with the matter...but he didn't want them to do everything. They may be his older siblings...but that doesn't mean that he couldn't be as responsible as they were. He was technically a teenager after all.

Suddenly, several bandits jumped out of the sand. Judging from all the weapons they had, they meant business.

Personally he wondered how long that they had been hiding in the sand. Could they even breathe down there? They didn't LOOK like they had been deprived from oxygen.

However, he did note they seemed unhappy about having to dust themselves off.

"I've got sand in my underwear!" complained a bandit.

"Sorry to hear that..." sympathized Gaara. That has in fact had happened to him sometimes...albeit mainly in his youth when he was still learning to control the sand.

Nonetheless, they seemed happy to have cornered Gaara.

"Gotcha! We have you surrounded! There's no escape for you! Why don't you make this easy, why don't you?" bellowed one of them.

"Oh brother..." murmured Gaara. It appeared that he had been caught in some sort of crazy ambush. Why didn't he bring his bodyguards with him, such as his siblings for instance?

Oh wait. The sand WAS his bodyguard. He was surrounded by it since he lived in a desert.

Of course, he did have to worry about getting water from other nations due to the lack of it in the Sand Village...but since he was a good diplomat that wasn't such an issue for him. Alternatively he could simply hire some ninja from the Land Of Water if they were up for it.

Curious, he noticed that they just so happened to have a leader. Apparently, this was a rather coordinated attack. But why exactly did they want him? And did they want him alive...or dead?

Perhaps he should ask those questions to said leader.

Again, he wondered if it really was best for him to wander alone. But he figured that he was going to be attacked regardless of what he did, anyhow. He had a feeling on his gut.

And yet, he was expecting a stronger opponent than this.

Their leader happened to be Kerai.

"Get him!" bellowed Kerai, pointing towards his direction.

Quickly, the bandits began to shoot at Gaara using their bow and arrow They wanted to get this over with quickly.

Much to his surprise, he found himself covered in a steel coating that he used to protect his skin, making the arrows rather harmless.

They scratched their heads. What exactly was happening here? Were their bow and arrows simply not strong enough? They were under the impression that they were good marksmen.

Kerai raised an eyebrow. Setsuna had not told him about this when she sent him to try ransoming Gaara. Just how much information had she withheld?

This was then followed by Gaara shooting kunai out of his fingertips, forcing the bandits to scatter.

"This is very odd..." noted Gaara. What exactly was happening here?

Shrugging, he decided to keep shooting at the bandits. They were rather bewildered by what was going on. Setsuna had not informed them of Gaara having control over steel.

One of them tossed a kunai at him, but he missed by a few feet. It fell on the sand instead.

For some strange reason, he felt the urge to try eating it. Personally he wondered why he want to eat something so...sharp...but he decided to do it anyway.

Oddly enough, he found it to be rather delicious. In fact, it made him feel stronger.

As soon as the bandit saw him eating the kunai, he ran away in fear. What kind of freak was Gaara?

"Get back here, you coward!" demanded Kerai.

They pulled out paper bombs...but he simply pulled out a steel shield to protect himself.

He then used the sand to start trapping the bandits.

"Aaugh!" screamed the bandits as they were consumed by the sand.

"That should keep them busy..." thought Gaara. He was going to turn them in to the local authorities later. They wouldn't be happy that they had tried to kidnap their precious leader.

Kerai sighed. It looked like he was going to have to handle things himself. Why was it so hard to find good help these days?

Immediately, he produced an earth pillar to attack Gaara with.

However, he used his sand to take to the skies...and then used it to home on Kerai, forcing him to go on the defensive.

Kerai gasped in shock.

Quickly, he was forced to avoid the sand catching him. They looked like they could break his limbs if he ended up being caught.

In retaliation, he smashed the ground with his hammer and sent stalactites flying towards Gaara.

However, the sand quickly rebounded them harmlessly.

Oddly enough, Shukaku didn't appear to be protecting him this time. Was he asleep at the wheel?

He found it to be very peculiar.

Kerai created more pillars of earth, but the sand managed to block them every time. It was rather frustrating. He was going to have to try a different tactic.

Immediately, he sent a rock slide towards Gaara's sand barrier.

Oddly enough, it did manage to pierce it.

But as it turned out, there was an iron barrier beneath. Gaara had decided to create a secondary barrier just in case. It worked rather well.

Gaara continued to direct sand towards Kerai.

Getting desperate, Kerai decided to use his ultimate jutsu...one that he did not have during his battle with Kiba and Akamaru.

Immediately, he summoned a monolith...which summoned a laser that shot towards Gaara.

It was a devastating attack, but Gaara's sand and iron just managed to pull through. Gaara did have to admit that he might have been a goner if it weren't for his strange new powers, however.

Unsurprisingly, Gaara successfully managed to catch Kerai with the sand shortly afterwards.

"Aaugh!" screamed the bandit chief. Gaara's sand was like titanium.

He proceeded to use his sand to crush Kerai's internal organs.

He then returned the sand to the desert shortly afterwards.

Kerai screamed in pain and fell to the ground. He cursed his fate.

But as it was, he had been fatally wounded, and there was nothing that he could do about it. Perhaps he should have been more careful.

"All I wanted was to be the leader of a group of bandits...but Setsuna and Chihiro came along and ruined everything...but you know what the worst part of is? I ended up being killed working for them!" bellowed Kerai.

"Sorry to hear that..." stated Gaara. He wasn't sure how he would feel if someone suddenly took his position and made themselves the Sixth Kazekage.

That could potentially happen if he ended up being defeated by a duel. You defeat a ninja, you just might end up inheriting their position.

"I...hate...you..." murmured Kerai as he drew his final breath, not facing his death with dignity. Who would have thought that the Fifth Kazekage himself would do him in?

Gaara had to admit, his new powers were coming in awfully useful.

"Well, there goes that bandit chief. Perhaps the world will be a better place to live in now that he's gone..." noted the Fifth Kazekage.

_Meanwhile..._

Setsuna sat on her throne. Since people called her the Bandit Queen, she thought it would be appropriate if she sat on top of one.

At that very moment, a bandit came in. He appeared to have some rather drastic news judging from the panicked expression on his face.

"We have bad news, mistress..." stated a bandit.

"Yes?" asked Setsuna.

"Kerai...he's...dead..." answered the bandit.

"What?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"He got killed on the mission that you sent him on..." stated the man.

Setsuna sighed. Perhaps Gaara had been too much for him to chew. Kerai had been KIA.

"What should we do now?" asked the bandit.

"Just let me be for a few minutes..." stated Setsuna. She was feeling upset about this.

Immediately, the bandit went to do just that.

"It's a shame that I lost an asset of mine..." noted the kunoichi. She could have probably used Kerai for more missions later. Now she was going to have to try to make do without him.

What should she try next? She wondered if Chihiro would meet the same fate if she went on a solo mission...even if she did keep breaking out of jail. How did they all keep escaping from Tsunade's camp, anyway?

She decided it would be best to not question something that she liked.

_At Konohagakure..._

Gajeel was rather disappointed that he had to play the waiting game before he got to be jonin, especially since Lucy and Naruto already got to be jonin due to how well they did against their surprise opponents.

It was very disappointing.

Well, he might as well take advantage of the opportunity to train for a week. Surely he could make use of that...though he didn't think that he needed the training. He just wanted an excuse to beat someone else.

In this case, he decided to fight Rock Lee.

"Wanna fight?" asked Gajeel.

"Alright...but don't expect me to hold back!" exclaimed Rock Lee.

"Of course not..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Since Gajeel was feeling rather confident, he let Rock Lee go first.

Immediately, he tossed some playing cards at Gajeel.

However, much to his surprise, a sand barrier formed to block them.

The same happened whenever Rock Lee decided to karate chop him as well.

"This looks familiar..." stated Rock Lee.

Gajeel wondered what was going on himself...but he found it amusing that none of Rock Lee's attacks were working.

He decided to just stand there and let Rock Lee continue trying to attack, as futile as it was.

However, he kept hearing a voice telling him to go on the offensive. It sounded...rather bloodthirsty.

He didn't know where it was coming from.

But he decided to listen to it.

Immediately, he sent a tidal wave of sand towards Rock Lee, knocking him backwards.

"Aah!" screamed Rock Lee.

"This is too easy...I don't even have to move an inch..." stated Gajeel.

"Where did you get access to Gaara's sand?" inquired the martial artist.

"Gaara's sand?" questioned the iron dragonslayer.

All of a sudden, Rock Lee was worried that he was going to end up being crippled again. It was a legitimate concern considering he wasn't sure whether Gajeel was in control of the sand or not.

At this point, he decided to surrender.

"You're surrendering to me? What a baby..." stated Gajeel. He thought that his opponent would be...braver.

Immediately, Rock Lee leapt away.

"Hmph. That was a disappointment..." noted the iron dragonslayer.

Curious, he noticed that the sun was going down.

Shrugging, he decided to call it a day...even if he wanted to fight some more.

Immediately, he headed back to Fairy Tail.

_Back at Sunagakure..._

Gaara returned home. It felt odd having blood on his hands after he changing his ways from being a bloodthirsty serial killer.

However, now he had some questions to ask. He was going to consult his doctors.

Sure enough, they performed a checkup for him. He regularly had these since they wanted him to be in perfect health.

Fortunately, it appeared that he was.

But that was now why he was having a checkup.

As it turned out, they had noticed something strange.

"Your tailed beast appears to have vanished..." said one of the doctors.

Sure enough, he no longer had a jinchuriki mark on his back side.

"Where did it go?" inquired Gaara. Was he no longer a jinchuriki?

The doctors shrugged. They had no idea what had happened to it...or how Gaara had survived removing the one-tails. But they weren't going to question it since they were glad that he was still alive.

Curious, Gaara seemed to recall Lucy inheriting Naruto's nine-tailed fox when she used that interdimensional portal. Perhaps that was what had happened now. For all intents and purposes, he was no longer in possession of the one-tailed beast.

As such, he wouldn't be able to use its chakra to defend himself anymore. It was a bit unfortunate, really.

Hopefully people would at least not be so frightened of him now. He wanted to have good publicity so that the other nations would be willing to make alliances with him. He knew that he would be in trouble if the Land Of Fire attacked, since wind ninja were, you know, weak against fire ninja.

Fortunately, he was on good terms with them since he was no longer a bloodthirsty serial killer.

Immediately, he went to consult his teammates and siblings on the matter. They would want to know about him now lacking his tailed beast.

"Is something wrong, Gaara?" asked Temari.

"Well, a bandit chieftain tried to attack me...I had no choice but to neutralize him..." answered Gaara. Now he was lying dead in the sands. Who would be the first to discover his body?

"Are you alright?" inquired Kankuro. Sometimes he worried about his brother's safety. Important people like Gaara tended to be targets of assassination attempts.

Fortunately for him, Gaara appeared to be uninjured.

"Yes, I am, fortunately...however, I seem to have acquired new powers...at the cost of Shukaku..." stated the sand ninja.

"You lost Shukaku?" questioned Temari. How did that happen?

"I think it happened when I got shoved into an interdimensional portal..." stated Gaara.

"That makes sense." nodded Kankuro.

"As a trade off, I seem to have steel abilities now...that should help for defense...though it also appears to be useful for offense. Maybe I should use my sand for defense while I use my steel abilities for offense..." questioned the sand ninja. If he wished to, he could try doing it the other way around.

It probably would depend on his mood.

"What do you want to do now?" asked Temari.

"Oh, just something that I've wanted to do since I had the one-tail sealed inside me..." stated Gaara.

"And what is that?" inquired Kankuro.

Immediately, Gaara yawned and fell asleep on the floor.

"Ah, that makes sense!" exclaimed Temari. Since Gaara no longer had Shukaku inside his body, he no longer had to worry about being possessed if he fell asleep.

That was rather convenient, really. Now they wouldn't have to worry about having to wake him up whenever that happened. Sometimes it got tiring doing bodyguard duty.

Quickly, Kankuro took his younger brother to bed, where he was snoring.

Personally he wondered what he was dreaming about. It would probably feel a bit strange since the only dreams he had previously were daydreams.

_Meanwhile at Fairy Tail..._

At the Fairy Tail library, Levy was starting to feel rather nervous.

"Ever since Chiyoye drained Brain...the mana in this crystal ball turned pink..." stated Levy. Chiyoye had gotten stronger still after draining that guildmaster, no doubt about it.

Personally she was worried what would happen if she drained another guildmaster...since guild masters were powerful mages, draining them of magic would certainly provide Chiyoye with an advantage. The fewer guildmasters she managed to defeat, the better

In other news, she was starting to feel worried about Gajeel, though she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe he was being grumpy lately?

Hopefully he would be alright...though something did seem different about him.

Perhaps it would be best to investigate the matter.

But for now, she wanted to read her book. It was getting rather interesting.

"I wonder what's going to happen next..." stated Levy. She didn't quite know for sure. And quite frankly, she didn't know what Chiyoye was going to do next either. She was becoming a quite unpredictable opponent.

It made her feel paranoid not knowing when she was going to strike next. Perhaps that was her strategy...attack when her enemies least expected it.

Perhaps she should try that strategy sometime.

_In Gajeel's bedroom..._

Gajeel tossed and turned in his sleep. He was having a nightmare...and a rather strange nightmare at that.

For some strange reason, it was an awfully vivid dream. This dream in question involved him being in a desert.

"I haven't had a dream like this before..." thought Gajeel.

When he tried to touch the sand, he found that it felt just like real sand rather than something else.

"Where am I?" asked Gajeel. He was starting to feel scared...though he wasn't going to admit anytime soon. He would be deeply embarrassed if his guildmates thought that he was a yellow-bellied coward, especially Sakura.

Curious, he began to hear a tremor.

"Huh?" asked Gajeel.

For a moment, he wondered if he was simply hearing things. It seemed to be awfully loud, though.

Were there even earthquakes in a desert? He was kind of expecting a sandstorm instead.

Suddenly, Shukaku emerged from the sand, causing sand to spray everywhere.

"Whoa!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer. Fortunately, none of the sand got in his eyes.

When the sand dispersed, he discovered the one-tailed beast standing before him.

His eyes widened, and he promptly leapt backward in shock. What exactly was that thing? It looked...evil.

Immediately, the tanuki began to laugh wickedly. This was the opportunity that he was waiting for! Finally his host had fallen asleep.

Now he could take complete control and terrorize innocents once again! That was simply too good to be true!

However, he wondered why his host had suddenly thrown caution to the wind...though technically he WAS a resident of the Land Of Wind, so perhaps that wasn't too surprising.

He got his answer sooner or later.

**"Finally, I've been waiting so long for this. It's time for me to make you your puppet...reminds me of your brother, doesn't i-wait a minute, you're not Gaara!" **exclaimed Shukaku.

"Who do you think I am?" asked Gajeel.

**"Who in tarnation are you?" **inquired the one-tailed.

"Gajeel Redfox..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Shukaku was surprised that his target in question was not Gaara, but he decided that it didn't really matter so long as he could continue his massive rampage throughout the Land Of Wind.

**"I guess I'll just have to improvise, then! Shukaku's coming for you, Gajeel! I'm going to take control of your body! Nobody can save you now, not even Jesus himself!" **bellowed Shukaku.

"But I'm not a Christian..." pointed out Gajeel. He had never read the bible before in his life.

**"Never mind about the Jesus part then..." **stated the one-tailed beast.

Curious, he noticed that Shukaku was wearing a fedora on the top of his enormous head.

"Why are you wearing a fedora?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

**"Because fedoras are in these days...now are you going to start running or not?" **asked the one-tailed beast.

Gajeel nodded, and he began to ran away. He had never had a nightmare quite like this. What was it all about?

However, he only got a few feet before he found himself unable to move his legs.

"Huh?" asked Gajeel.

Curious, he decided to look down.

Immediately, he noticed that he was sinking in quicksand.

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"Oh snap!" bellowed the iron dragonslayer.

**"Now I've got you!" **exclaimed Shukaku. This was priceless.

Quickly, the quicksand began to consume him.

"Help!" screamed Gajeel, flailing his arms.

Shukaku laughed as the quicksand continued to suck Gajeel deeper.

However, a few seconds later, Gajeel found himself being jolted back into reality.

"Gajeel, wake up! Wake up!" bellowed Sakura.

Shukaku slapped his tail against the sand in frustration. He thought for a moment that he had Gajeel...but apparently he had thought wrong.

Gajeel woke up a few seconds later.

"If you keep falling asleep like that, they're going to kick you out of Fairy Tail..." stated Sakura. They needed their peace and quiet whenever they went to bed, and so did she.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" asked Gajeel.

"I came to check on you after your duel with Rock Lee...I wanted to make sure you were alright." answered the kunoichi.

"Well, I'm still in peak physical condition, thank you very much. I can't say the same about my mental state after what just happened..." stated Gajeel.

"That explains why you were tossing and turning in your sleep. What exactly happened to you?" inquired Sakura.

"I just had this really strange nightmare..." answered the iron dragonslayer. It was absolutely terrifying. And it felt so real too.

"Really? What was it like?" inquired the pink-haired girl.

"There was a giant tanuki in that dream...and I was in a desert...he seemed to want to possess my body...and for some strange reason he was wearing a fedora..." stated Gajeel.

"A fedora? I wonder why he would be wearing that...wait a second!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Wait for what?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"I think you might have the one-tailed beast living inside you..." answered the pink-haired girl.

"I have a what living inside me?" inquired Gajeel.

"Well, this already happened with Lucy and Naruto...it probably happened between you and Gaara..." stated Sakura.

"Who is he? Was he the guy I shoved into the interdimensional portal because he wouldn't get out of my way?" asked Gajeel.

"Apparently." nodded the kunoichi.

"So...what does that mean?" inquired the iron dragonslayer.

"It means that if you fall asleep for too long, Shukaku's going to possess your body...I don't think you want to happen." stated Sakura. Imagine all the blood that he would spill.

"He's going to possess my what?!" exclaimed Gajeel.

Now that he thought of it, Shukaku did mention something along those lines.

"Yep...I suggest that you try drinking caffeine...would you like some soda from the cafeteria?" said the pink-haired kunoichi.

**"One two...Shukaku's coming for you...three, four, better lock your door...five, six...better grab your crucifix...seven, eight...better stay up late...nine, ten..." **sang Shukaku.

"Stop making Nightmare On Elm Street references!" bellowed Gajeel. He had already seen that movie about seven different times. How did the sequels get so bad, anyway?

"If you want me I can try waking you up whenever you fall asleep...though I suppose I'm going to need my rest..." noted Sakura.

"You'd really do that for me?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"Of course I will! You're my boyfriend...even if you are a bad boy." answered the pink-haired girl.

Gajeel smiled. He knew that he could count on her, especially for a situation so drastic.

Still, he was a bit surprised that his life would change like this, even if it happened before.

"So, am I going to have to avoid sleeping for the rest of my life?" asked Gajeel.

"Well, if you manage to bond with your tailed beast, he probably won't try possessing your body...that's easier said than done, though." answered Sakura.

Gajeel sighed. He might as well since he was going to be awake 24/7.

Immediately, he prepared to have a chat with Shukaku.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy knocked on Shikamaru's door.

Unsurprisingly, Shikamaru answered it.

"Yes, Lucy?" asked Shikamaru.

Immediately, he began to yawn. It was getting rather late, to say the very least...and he napped during the daytime.

"Hey there, Shikamaru...I'm having trouble sleeping..." stated Lucy. She was feeling stressed.

"How come? Is this about Kenichi?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I'm feeling a bit worried about the Akatsuki...I can't sleep so soundly in my bed knowing that they're probably after me..." stated the blonde.

"Well, you have your guild and Konohagakure keeping you safe..." noted Shikamaru. That should help protect her from the Akatsuki.

"True...but from what I know about them the Akatsuki are all S-Class Criminals...that means that they're incredibly dangerous..." said Lucy. Shinobi would have a field day trying to assassinate them.

"True..." nodded the Nara clan member. He probably wouldn't want to encounter them in a dark alley...since that would make his shadow technique less effective.

Of course, he wouldn't want to encounter one in a well-lit alley either.

"Could I sleep with you tonight? It would make me feel a lot better..." answered Lucy. Shikamaru was such pleasant company.

Shikamaru nodded. He was having a hard time sleeping himself after his fateful encounter with Kenichi. He wondered if he was going to have nightmares about that fateful event, even if technically Konoha shinobi had shown up to save them both, his sensei included.

Immediately, Lucy and Shikamaru went to sleep in the same bed.

"By the way, Jiraiya's researching the Akatsuki...he says that he was doing so for Naruto so that the Akatsuki didn't get him...of course, he's most likely doing it for you now." stated Shikamaru. Naruto was lucky to be safe from them. He really had dodged a bullet...though unfortunately he couldn't say the same about his girlfriend.

"Really? Maybe I should ask him what he knows so far..." answered Lucy. That just might come in handy.

"Well, he knows about Itachi and Kisame...they were the ones that had attacked Naruto back when he was about 13 years old..." stated Shikamaru.

"Really?" asked the blonde. Naruto never seemed to catch a break these days.

"However, he's likely going to have ask other nations if he wants to learn more about the Akatsuki...did you know that they have members from all across the globe?" inquired the ninja.

"Yikes..." answered Lucy.

"Yeah...I wouldn't be surprised if they happened to have a ninja from the Land Of Earth...or a ninja from the Land Of Lightning..." noted Shikamaru.

"Me neither..." agreed the blonde.

"For the time being, they'll probably have Itachi and Kisame search for the nine-tails...but that's just an educated guess. They might eventually decide to send other members of the Akatsuki after you. That's why Jiraiya's still studying the Akatsuki..." stated the shadow ninja.

"I hope that his research goes well." nodded Lucy.

Both of them fell asleep. Hopefully things will start looking up for them.

_Meanwhile..._

Sasuke had to admit, it was rather quiet with Orochimaru and Kabuto being gone. They were off on a rather important mission.

Since Konoha had likely sent out a warrant for his arrest with him being a traitor and all, Orochimaru stated that it was best for him to stay in one of his laboratories for the time being.

He supposed that made sense.

Besides, he got the feeling that the Beast Of Otogakure was still wandering around. Who exactly was that ninja? And why did they want to kill Orochimaru and his followers?

He was rather curious on the matter.

Of course, that left him alone with Karin.

"Hey there, Sasuke!" exclaimed Karin.

"Hello, Karin." stated Sasuke.

"Guess what? We finally get some alone time together!" bellowed the bespectacled kunoichi, a big smile on her face.

"We sure do..." nodded the teenage boy.

"Isn't this great?" asked Kabuto's apprentice.

"For you, at least." noted Sasuke. Personally he didn't really mind being in solitude since he wasn't that social.

Karin began to smile.

"Did you dream about me being shirtless again?" asked Erza's interdimensional partner.

"As a matter of fact, I did!" bellowed Karin. She always dreamt about Sasuke.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" inquired Sasuke. He was starting to wonder if he wanted to know what Karin dreamt about in her sleep.

"Got any armors you want to show me?" asked the girl. She was so happy that Sasuke's armors exposed so much skin.

"Well, there's one that you might enjoy..." noted the Uchiha clan member.

"Show it to me!" exclaimed the girl.

Sasuke nodded.

Immediately, he put on his Seductor Armor...which was basically him in his underpants.

He then began to pose seductively for Karin.

Karin fainted.

"Karin, are you alright?" asked Sasuke. He was starting to worry about Karin and her unhealthy obsession with her.

To be fair, this wasn't the first time that a pretty girl had developed an obsession with him. Unfortunately, he had to leave behind Sakura when he went to join Orochimaru. Since he didn't want Sakura to become a missing-nin like he was...he decided to knock her out cold.

No doubt she was traumatized by that event...unfortunately.

At that very moment, a white-haired boy came in.

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke.

"My name is Suigetsu. I'm one of Orochimaru's test subjects...Karin likes experimenting on me...she's awfully sexy when she does it..." stated Suigetsu.

He had managed to escape due to the fact that neither Orochimaru and Kabuto were there to watch him...but since Karin was still there he had decided to hang out in the laboratory for the time being.

Of course, it would probably be in his best interest to leave before they came back.

"OK..." answered the teenage boy. That was awfully weird. Weren't Orochimaru's experiments rather...painful?

Perhaps Suigetsu was kinky.

"Why is she unconscious?" asked Suigetsu.

"I showed him my new Seductor armor..." stated Sasuke.

"Should I try to give her mouth-to-mouth?" inquired Orochimaru's test subject.

"But she might wake up while you're doing it..." pointed out Orochimaru's apprentice.

"What are the chances of that?" asked Suigetsu.

Immediately, Suigetsu attempted to resuscitate Karin.

But as Sasuke predicted, Karin woke up.

She promptly kicked Suigetsu right between the legs.

"YEOW!" exclaimed Suigetsu.

"Serves you right for being a pig..." murmured Karin.

"You think he'll spy on you in the shower next?" asked Sasuke.

"Can I look at you while you're in the shower?" inquired the girl.

"Alright, but I'll be showering in my underwear..." answered the dark knight. He didn't want to give Karin any ideas. Sometimes he worried about Karin. Had being subjected to the horrors of Orochimaru's laboratories drove Karin crazy?

That would explain a lot...

"Yay!" cheered Karin. This was the best day ever! Too bad Suigetsu was there to ruin it.

_Meanwhile..._

A few miles outside Konohagakure, Haku and Zabuza were trying to come up with a plan to perform a hit on Lucy.

"Why exactly does Kenichi want us to go after her?" questioned Haku.

"Apparently she happens to be an enemy of his...and a powerful enemy at that..." answered Zabuza.

"I see..." stated the ice ninja. Personally he was starting to hate Kenichi for forcing them to work with him. They simply did not have a say-so on the matter.

Part of Zabuza was wishing that Kenichi would die a cold and lonely death...and he had only known him personally for a few minutes.

Currently, they were trying to think of a plan to attack Lucy Heartfilia. When the opportunity presented itself, they would strike.

However, they worried what would happen if they took too long. Morals were as foreign to Kenichi as respect for ninjas that were not as strong as he was. They got the feeling that Kenichi would cause them personal harm if they failed the mission.

He appeared to be fairly experienced with torture methods.

It had felt just like yesterday when he and Haku were still in the afterlife up in the clouds...

Wait...it was just yesterday when they were up in the clouds. Kenichi had only resurrected them recently.

Who would have thought that they would end up working for such a bloodthirsty maniac?

Well, there was nothing that they could do about it. They had to assassinate Lucy whether they liked it or not.

_Elsewhere..._

Naruto and Erza headed towards the Konoha interdimensional portal. Erza had agreed to let Naruto stay at her place for the night.

"You sure have an awfully nice house, Erza..." stated the cloning ninja.

"Thank you, Naruto." answered Erza. Doing all those S-Rank Missions really put jewels in her purse. Of course, she would probably be willing to do missions for Fairy Tail even if she didn't get paid. They were her friends and family, after all. Why should she leave the guild now?

Of course, it helped that her landlady was surprisingly generous...more generous than Lucy's was, anyway.

"I'm glad that we managed to handle Itachi and Kisame so well..." nodded Naruto. Things could have definitely gone a lot worse.

"Yeah...of course, they did leave us be once they realized that you weren't their target..." questioned Erza.

"Yep...it feels so odd losing something that I've had my entire life...still, I'm glad that I don't have to listen to Kurama threatening to kill me. I am worried about Lucy's safety though." answered the blonde jonin.

"I know...we're just going to have to try to protect her every way we can...fortunately, they don't seem to be aware that she's the nine-tails jinchuriki now..." stated the knight.

"I also heard that she got attacked by Kenichi...that must have been horrifying..." said Naruto.

"It seems Kenichi considers Lucy to be an enemy of his..." nodded Erza. Just how high on his hit list was she?

"We're going to have to try to protect her from him too..." spoke the jonin.

Erza concurred in agreement. Fortunately, it appeared that she was fairly adept at fighting the Akatsuki...or at least one of their members, anyhow. She might have gotten rather lucky with fighting Itachi.

What other crazy abilities did they have? She was rather curious.

_Meanwhile..._

Outside Sunagakure, Deidara and Sasori were getting ready to capture the Fifth Kazekage and extract his one-tailed beast as part of their leader's plan. Personally Deidara wished that he lived somewhere where there was more water. He was getting awfully thirsty.

Fortunately for Sasori, since he was a puppet, he did not need to drink water. Deidara was feeling rather jealous.

"So, this is the sand village...I've always wondered what your former home is like..." questioned the clay artist. Why exactly did Sasori decide to leave, anyway? Did he not find it to be interesting enough for him?

Deidara remembered that he had decided to leave because he felt that his village did not appreciate his art. Apparently, they thought that art should be long-lasting, just like his partner Sasori. He wondered if Sasori would fit in there better than he did.

"Do you know why our leader chose us for this mission?" inquired Sasori from within his Hiruko puppet.

"Why did he?" inquired the clay ninja.

"First of all, in case you've forgotten...I just so happen to be a Sunagakure ninja...in other news...I happen to know this land better than any of the other members of the Akatsuki..." noted Sasori. He had been living there for years, up until he decided to leave the village to pursue immortality.

"You see, this isn't the first time I've gone after a Kazekage...believe it or not, I successfully managed to assassinate the Third Kazekage..." answered the puppet master.

"You did? I'm actually impressed!" exclaimed Deidara. He hadn't faced off against an opponent that powerful before...though considering who he was going after that was probably going to change soon.

"Yes...it was not an easy task...he had bodyguards surrounding him at all times...but I managed to prevail regardless. They still have no idea to this day what exactly happened to him..." answered Sasori.

"I heard that they had to appoint a Fourth Kazekage since they couldn't find him anywhere..." stated the bomber. It must have been quite a search. Suna ninja all over the Land Of Wind were surely involved in it.

"Yes, they did. They still have no idea that I'm responsible for his disappearance, either. I managed to make a puppet out of him..." stated the puppet master. For his efforts, he managed to gain access to his Iron Sand abilities.

However, he would have to be careful not to enter close-range combat while he was wielding it. It would take a while to repair it if it ever got destroyed during a duel.

"If only I could have made him into clay..." said Deidara. That would have been a pretty interesting sculpture. He could even sell it to Sunagakure and they would be none the wiser.

However, Sasori didn't seem to approve of such an idea, as he obviously preferred puppets over clay.

"Who do you think you are? Art Clokey?" inquired Sasori.

"Very funny, Sasori." answered the clay sculptor. Next he was going to start calling him Gumby.

"He figured that I would be ideal for capturing the Fifth Kazekage as a result...unless you wish to fight him." stated Sasori.

"Of course I do! I'll get him with my bombs!" exclaimed Deidara. Detonation was one of his greatest hobbies. Let's just say that he enjoyed his job as a terrorist bomber before joining the Akatsuki.

"Right...just remember...we need him alive." pointed out the man in a scorpion puppet. If he died, then so would his one-tailed beast.

"Relax! I'm not that careless..." said the clay ninja. Of course, he hadn't actually gone up against a jinchuriki before.

"Well, before you start playing with your food before you eat it...you should know I'm not exactly fond of waiting..." pointed out the puppeteer ninja.

"Of course not..." nodded Deidara. He found that to be ironic considering how long-lasting Sasori's puppets were. Of course, he liked to fight defensively despite the fact that his clay typically only lasted a few seconds.

However, as soon as they approached the village, they were quickly spotted.

"Halt! Who goes there!" exclaimed a voice.

As it turned out, they had been spotted by a sand ninja. No doubt he was going to tell the Fifth Kazekage that they had intruders.

Fortunately, they were wearing their bamboo hats, so he would not recognize their faces. However, he would clearly be able to tell that they were members of the Akatsuki. All of them wore the same cloak. In fact, Sasori had outfitted his Hiruko puppet with the same thing.

Deidara reached into his bags of clay and prepared his clay bombs so that the sand ninja didn't sound an alarm, but Sasori stopped him.

"That's one of my sleeper agents..." answered the puppeteer. Wouldn't want to blow him up now. He was much too valuable for that.

"Oh, right...didn't our boss mention that?" questioned Deidara.

"Yes, he did." nodded Sasori.

Immediately, he whispered the secret passcode in Yura's ear.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Right then...you'll want to get inside the village, won't you?" inquired Yura.

Sasori and Deidara nodded. That was exactly what they wanted.

"Alright then..." stated the ninja.

Immediately, he opened the gates to the village so that Sasori and Deidara could get inside.

After Sasori bowed to Yura out of respect, he and Deidara then entered the village. It was time to begin the next stage of the plan. Sasori had more than one sleeper agent on his side.

He was going to meet with the next one, shortly.

_Well, it looks like Kerai is now six feet under. It looks like Setsuna is going to have to make do without him from now on...unless she can find another bandit chieftain._

_In the next chapter, Deidara's going to face off against Gaara...but of course he's not the person he's looking for anymore._


	69. Chapter 69: Bombs Away

_In this chapter, Gaara's going to face off against Deidara...of course, since he doesn't have his tailed beast...well, I think you're going to see where I'm going with this._

_Unfortunately for Kankuro, he's going to get himself poisoned trying to save Gaara. Fortunately, someone's going to save him. What's that? You think you know who it is?_

_It just might not be who you're expecting._

**Chapter 69: Bombs Away**

After meeting with Mukade, he proceeded to cut the power throughout Sunagakure, giving Deidara and Sasori an advantage.

Sure enough, Kankuro was about to turn off the lights so that Gaara could sleep better...when suddenly the power went off on its own.

"Well, that was rather convenient...but what exactly is going on?" asked Kankuro. He hadn't recalled Sunagakure having a major blackout before.

He decided to leave the room and talk to Temari on the matter.

In the process, he ended up bumping into her.

"Hey!" exclaimed Temari. Why didn't her brother watch where he was going?

"Sorry..." apologized Kankuro. It was hard to see without the light. Sometimes he simply took things for granted.

Sure enough, she was as confused on the matter as he was.

"What's going on? Who cut off the power?" inquired the puppet ninja. At least they didn't have to pay their electricity bills. They could get awfully expensive sometimes. The Land Of Lightning had it easy.

"I'm going to investigate...mind you, I don't exactly like this...it feels like this is some sort of ambush or something..." answered Temari.

Suddenly, they heard explosions outside.

"What's going on?" questioned Kankuro. He was feeling awfully worried now.

At that very moment, Gaara woke up from his nap.

"Darn it! Can't I finally get some slumber now that I no longer have my tailed beast?" inquired Gaara. Part of him was actually missing Shukaku to be honest. It simply wasn't the same...though admittedly Shukaku did sometimes tempt him into doing some rather bloodthirsty things...such as using his sand abilities to strangle Kankuro or Temari because they wouldn't get him ice cream.

To their credit, they did say that ice cream would likely melt out in the desert...unless of course, they went out in the desert at night.

Immediately, he went outside to investigate.

As soon as he did so, he noticed a fairly young man who for some strange reason appeared to be riding a clay bird.

He quickly realized that something was up, as this sort of bird was not normally native to the Land Of Wind. Clearly this was not a sand ninja.

Perhaps it was a rock ninja? He did appear to be using earth jutsu.

Sure enough, it was Deidara, planting clay explosives and killing his guards. Clearly his village was under attack. Was it something that he said to another village?

For some strange reason, one of his soldiers let out a Wilhelm scream. Why did people always scream like that?

"It looks like I'm going to have to take care of this..." stated Gaara, yawning. After all, it was his job to protect his village whenever he was in danger...though he did note that he might end up dying in the process. It had already happened to the Third Hokage.

But it didn't really matter. He was willing to sacrifice his life for his village, just as the Third Hokage was.

Quickly, he sent sand after Deidara.

Unsurprisingly, he went on the defensive to try to avoid it.

He sent clay bombs at the sand, but it kept on coming.

"Not bad, not bad at all. You really are the Fifth Kazekage..." noted Deidara.

"I inherited it from my father, thank you very much..." answered Gaara, sending more sand after Deidara.

Deidara sent some grasshopper bombs to deal with Gaara.

Quickly, they began to hop directly towards him.

However, he simply hurled some kunai from his fingers at them, causing them both to explode.

Deidara raised an eyebrow. He was expecting another sand-related technique...not one involving him shooting kunai from his fingertips.

What kind of ninja could do that, anyway?

Experimenting, Deidara decided to create some more bombs. This time, he was creating clay birds...similar to the one that he was riding, only smaller.

Fortunately for Deidara, it did not take him long to create small explosives. He simply needed to chew on some clay for a bit using the supplies that he had in his bags.

But of course, Gaara simply used sand to protect himself from the explosions when they flew towards him.

Deciding to be more sneaky, Deidara decided to create centipede and snake bombs this time. Maybe if he was lucky he could manage to sneak up on him.

Sure enough, the centipedes were burrowing underground...and the snakes were slithering stealthily towards him.

But unfortunately for Gaara, he was well-aware what clay smelled like...and thanks to his enhanced smell given to him he was able to destroy the bombs before they reached him.

"I see that you don't get surprised easily..." noted Deidara.

"I do not." nodded Gaara.

"Well, how about this!" exclaimed the clay ninja.

Immediately, he summoned a green clay figure.

"What's this?" asked the sand ninja. It looked a lot different from the clay figures that his opponent had used earlier.

Deidara then pulled out a bag full of books and laid them across the floor.

Gaara raised an eyebrow. Had Deidara gone to the library on his way here? Personally he wondered if he should read a few books himself. It might entertain him whenever he got a break from his duties...which admittedly did not come very often.

Suddenly, the green clay man leapt into one of the books.

Taking a closer look, he noticed that there appeared to be green clay sleeping from the book involving cowboys.

"Huh?" asked Gaara. What was Deidara playing at?

It came out later holding out a gun.

Quickly, it began to shoot at him.

However, Gaara simply ate the bullets in his mouth, much to Deidara's shock.

"What...the...playdoh..." said Deidara.

In frustration, Deidara instructed the green clay man to leap in the book featuring knights.

He came out wielding a sword.

Of course, Gaara simply bit the sword in half when the clay man attempted to use it against him.

"What's going on?!" bellowed Deidara.

This time, Deidara had the clay figure leap into a horror novel.

He came out wielding a chainsaw.

But of course, Gaara simply munched on it.

Deidara pinched himself to see if he was there. He was.

Realizing that his clay summon needed some help...he decided to summon another clay summon.

This time, it was a red horse.

"I was under the impression that most of your clay summons were white..." stated Gaara. Why green and red?

"These are the exception..." said Deidara.

Gaara shrugged. If Deidara wanted to experiment with different colors, who was he to judge? Speaking of which, he got the feeling that Deidara would hate if he criticized his art...so he decided not to.

With his new companion, the green clay figure leapt into the book of knights again.

This time, he was wielding a steel helmet and lance.

Gaara simply rolled his eyes. It appeared that it hadn't occurred to him by now that metal was completely useless.

However, he didn't mind having a snack.

Immediately, he ate the steel helmet and the sword.

The green clay figure and his horse leapt into another book to get more weapons...

...but Gaara tossed a paper bomb at the books.

Quickly, the duo were both splattered across the buildings.

"Ugh..." murmured Deidara.

Shortly afterward, they burst into smoke.

Deidara sighed. That had been a big fat waste of clay...though admittedly it had been rather entertaining to watch his summon fail to fight Gaara so miserably.

_Meanwhile..._

"You called us?" asked Yuru.

"Yes...I don't want people interrogating you later..." answered Sasori.

"Huh?" inquired Mukade.

Immediately, Sasori impaled Yuru with his tail.

"Aargh!" exclaimed Yuru.

Quickly, his eyes rolled into his sockets.

He then proceeded to summon man-eating scorpions...which crawled towards Mukade and began to devour him alive.

"Gah!" screamed Mukade.

"What a horrible death..." remarked Sasori.

Mukade had been stripped to the bone.

Afterwards, he whistled for Zetsu.

Immediately, he proceeded to devour their bodies.

"They taste like chicken..." remarked Zetsu.

Sasori had to question Zetsu's choice in food. Of course, he never actually ate anything himself since technically he was a puppet.

Fortunately for Zetsu, Sasori's poison did not take effect on him. Perhaps he had a resistance to poison.

Zetsu left shortly afterwards, happy to have been of assistance.

Personally Sasori wondered how he was doing. Judging from all the explosions out in the distance, Deidara had quite a fight on his hands.

If it continued, Sasori just might have to enter the fray himself.

But as it was, he was going to guard the entrance to make sure it was a one-on-one fight.

Hopefully he and Deidara would be more successful than Itachi and Kisame were. It was quite a wild story, really. Who would have thought that Naruto could give a tailed beast to someone else?

It certainly caught the Akatsuki off-guard. Naruto was apparently smart like that.

He wondered if Gaara could somehow do the same thing.

If so, he was going to have to report to Pain on the matter.

_Back at Sunagakure..._

Deidara continued making explosives with his chakra, hoping that one of them would get through Gaara's defenses.

But as it was, none of them were getting through.

This time, he decided to use both of his palms to create a clay clone.

Immediately, the clay clone walked towards Gaara.

It then began to explode.

Though it produced a much bigger explosion in comparison to the clay explosives he had used earlier, it still didn't get past Gaara's defenses.

Deidara went into thought. How was he supposed to get past Gaara's defenses?

Suddenly, he noticed that Gaara appeared to be eating from a lamp post.

"I'm awfully hungry all of a sudden..." stated Gaara.

Immediately, he tossed clay explosives towards the lamp post, destroying it.

"Hey!" bellowed the sand ninja.

Unfortunately for Gaara, Deidara had realized where he drew his strength for. It was rather bewildering that he could eat metal...but at least he could try to do something about it.

Gaara tried to eat metal from a building, but Deidara made it collapse.

"Grrr..." murmured Gaara. Why couldn't he have his lunch?

In retaliation, he used his Iron Dragon's Roar, causing Deidara's bird mount to be knocked backwards. Hopefully that would teach him a lesson about depriving him of food.

"Who does he think he is? The Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park?" asked Deidara. Personally it reminded him more of a dragon than a dinosaur...but hey, they were both reptiles.

Counterattacking, Deidara attempted to ram into Gaara with his bird mount. Gaara was surprised just how fast it could move.

This time, it was Gaara's turn to be knocked backwards.

"Oof!" exclaimed Gaara.

"I will admit that close-range combat is not my speciality...but you have to admit that my mount makes a good battering ram, correct?" inquired Deidara.

"I suppose..." nodded the sand ninja.

"You know what happens when people insult my art, right?" asked the bomber.

"Of course I do." answered Gaara. He got the feeling that it wasn't pretty.

This time, Gaara decided to send a tidal wave of sand towards Deidara.

Fortunately for Deidara, the gradual rising of the sand telegraphed the attack somewhat, giving him time to fly away from it.

In the process, much of Sunagakure was covered with the sand. Gaara might have to try cleaning it up later, though admittedly it wouldn't take him very long.

Suddenly, a safe was sent by the tidal wave right next to him.

Curious, he decided to eat part of the safe so that he could get the money inside.

"One million ryo inside...that's not bad..." stated Gaara.

Unfortunately, Deidara destroyed the safe, preventing him from getting the money.

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed the sand ninja. He had enough debts to other nations as it was.

Deidara simply snickered.

More frustrated then ever, Gaara decided to send even more sand towards Deidara.

This time, he created a hand to grab Deidara with.

Deidara attempted to avoid it, but he was a bit too slow this time.

Sure enough, it managed to grab the wings of his bird mount, and ripped it clean off.

"This can't be good..." thought the bomber.

All of a sudden, Deidara was having a hard time staying in the air. At this rate he was going to crash to the ground.

At this point, he realized that it might be best if he came up with a plan other than using brute force. If this fight kept up, he might end up losing an arm or two...and he did not want that.

Admittedly, pain didn't really much to him...but Kakuzu would have to go to the Akatsuki hideout in order to put his arm back on...and since he was often busy with his bounties he wouldn't be happy about that. Of course, he wouldn't mind spending time away from his partner.

Fortunately, he had an idea.

Immediately, he used both of his palms to create C3.

He then dropped it on Sunagakure.

Gaara gasped in shock. Deidara was trying to blow up his home village!

"You crazy little..." murmured Gaara.

Deidara laughed.

Of course, considering Deidara was a terrorist, maybe he shouldn't act so surprised.

A few seconds later, he realized what he had to do in order to save the village.

Quickly, he used his sand to prevent the village from being wiped off the face of the earth.

Luckily for him, it withstood the blast. Sunagakure would be fine.

But as it turned out, it wasn't Deidara's plan to destroy the city. He had something else in mind entirely.

As soon as he retracted the sand, he discovered that some of it had mixed with Deidara's clay in the process.

"What the f-"

At that very moment, the clay exploded, knocking Gaara out cold while Deidara laughed maniacally.

"Ow..." murmured the sand ninja as he lost unconsciousness.

Deidara was absolutely ecstatic. His plan had worked brilliantly. Now the tailed beast was ready for the Akatsuki to take.

Now all that was left was to head to the Akatsuki hideout so that they could begin the extraction process.

Immediately, he used some more clay to repair his bird mount so that he could fly properly once again.

"So much for the Fifth Kazekage..." stated Deidara as he put Gaara on his mount. Who was going to protect their precious sand village now?

Quickly, he flew to where Sasori was. At this point, the sun was starting to come up. The desert was rapidly getting warmer.

Personally he was starting to feel jealous of Sasori. He never had to feel the heat or cold, on account on him being a puppet and all.

Of course, he probably wouldn't be a good liar. His nose would grow every time he told a lie...and when he sneezed, snot would probably splatter everywhere. It would be really gross.

"I've got the jinchuriki. Let's get going, Sasori." stated Deidara.

"Congratulations, Deidara..." said Sasori. It appeared that his clay sculpting abilities were simply too much for Gaara to handle.

Still, he wondered how the rest of the Land Of Wind were going to react.

Suddenly, they saw a ninja running straight towards them.

"Stop!" bellowed Kankuro.

As it turned out, Kankuro had shown up to try to save his younger brother, even if technically he was outnumbered two to one. If only he had his sister Temari with him.

Fortunately, he wasn't already too late, as Deidara's bird mount was just getting ready to take off.

"What's this? It appears that the Fifth Kazekage's brother doesn't want us to make off with the tailed beast..." stated Deidara.

"Actually, there's something that you might want to know..." said Kankuro.

"Zip it! We don't have time for a chat!" exclaimed Sasori.

"I wouldn't mind a chat..." complained Deidara.

"It's not going to be long before the Sand ninja realize that their leader has been abducted. We need to leave now!" bellowed the puppet ninja.

"If you put it that way..." answered the bomber.

However, Sasori was not going to let Kankuro attack his partner. In fact, he was planning to let Deidara have a clean getaway.

"If you want to get to Deidara, you're going to have to go through me first..." stated Sasori.

"But I want to help my brother!" exclaimed Kankuro.

"Too bad." answered Sasori.

Sighing, Kankuro decided to fight Sasori. He just hoped that it wouldn't take too long so that he could fight Deidara and get his brother back. Hopefully since he had used up a lot of clay during his battle with Gaara he could take him on.

Immediately, Sasori attacked Kankuro with his tail, forcing him to avoid it.

Quickly, he pulled out his puppets.

Wasting no time, he sent them to attack Sasori. However, all they managed to pull off was rip off a piece of his cloak.

Unfortunately for Kankuro, Sasori had in fact made these puppets in the past.

"Sometimes I wonder where my puppets end up..." remarked Sasori.

As such, he happened to know their weakness.

Attacking the joints, his puppets quickly began to fall apart.

"No!" bellowed Kankuro.

He then attacked Kankuro with his tail, injecting him with his poison.

"I don't feel so well..." stated the puppet master.

"I'll be taking my leave now...mind you in just three days, my poison is going to make your heart stop...and until then, you're going to be in pain...a lot of it..." said Sasori.

Kankuro gulped. What kind of poison had Sasori injected into his bloodstream?

Immediately, Sasori walked away.

However, a few minutes later, he noticed that Deidara appeared to have suddenly stopped.

"Hurry up, Deidara. We do not have all day to get to the Akatsuki hideout. The Suna ninja are going to be after their leader as we speak." stated Sasori.

"He doesn't have the one-tailed beast inside him!" exclaimed Deidara.

"He...doesn't?" questioned the puppet master.

First Naruto, and now this. Part of him was actually expecting it to be honest.

"He has no jinchuriki mark at all!" bellowed the clay ninja.

"I see..." nodded Sasori.

Immediately, Deidara let out massive amounts of profanity.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" inquired the puppet master. And to think that he had three more of them.

"I haven't seen my mother in quite some time...she must get lonely..." remarked Deidara.

"We're going to have to report this to Pain..." stated Sasori. Once again, it appeared that they had gone after the wrong target.

Immediately, he exited Hiruko so that he could use his Akatsuki ring.

"Did Gaara remove his tailed beast as well?" asked Pain.

"Yes, he did." nodded Sasori.

Once again, Deidara spouted profanities.

"Please try to control yourself, Deidara. We shall try to capture the one-tailed beast some other time. But for now we shall have to focus on a different beast until we can determine who the current one-tails jinchuriki is." ordered Pain. It could be anyone, unfortunately. But they were likely a citizen of the Land Of Wind judging from what he already knew about the one-tails.

Deidara took a deep breath. This mission had been a big disappointment for him.

At least Gaara had been a fun opponent for him to fight.

Speaking of which, what should he do with him?

"I suggest for now that you drop the Fifth Kazekage and let their ninja recover him. We do not a riot to break out if we can help it..." stated Pain.

"After everything he put me through, you expect me to let him go just like that?" asked Deidara.

"I did not create the Akatsuki to wage war..." answered the leader.

"Fine..." stated the clay ninja.

Immediately, he dropped Gaara on the ground.

"We're going to have another meeting now...so try to head somewhere isolated..." said Pain.

Deidara and Sasori nodded. Apparently the Akatsuki would want to have a discussion about this.

Maybe there was a way for them to figure out whether a jinchuriki still had their tailed beast or not without having to battle them. Maybe Zetsu could do some spying and see if anything about the jinchurikis had changed. He was awfully good at espionage.

It certainly would allow them to waste less time, to say the very least. Time was precious, especially to Kakuzu. He thought that time and money were basically the same thing. That might explain why he lived for so long.

Immediately, they went to a canyon close to Sunagakure so that they could have their meeting.

Sure enough, their lantern projections appeared along with the other members of the Akatsuki.

"Did we capture the one-tails jinchuriki? I can hardly wait!" exclaimed Hidan.

"No, we did not...Gaara managed to transfer his tailed beast to someone else..." answered Pain.

"Hmph..." murmured Kakuzu. His bounty hunting had been interrupted for THIS?!

"Unfortunately, it appears that both Gaara and Naruto caught early wind that the Akatsuki would come after us...of course, Gaara is from the Land Of Wind now that we're discussing it..." stated the man.

Konan laughed.

"This isn't funny, Konan..." said Pain.

"Sorry..." apologized Konan.

"This is getting really annoying..." noted Kisame. It was as if the jinchuriki were giving other people their tailed beasts as Christmas presents or something. And it was summer!

"I apologize for sending you all on wild goose chases...I'm trying to make sure that this doesn't happen again..." stated the leader of the Akatsuki.

"It had better not! You're lucky I wasn't seriously hurt!" bellowed Deidara.

"What is the world coming to these days?" asked Sasori.

"We are going to investigate the two-tails jinchuriki for the time being...if she still has her two-tailed beast, we shall go after her. Any volunteers?" inquired Pain.

"I'd rather investigate the teenage girl I fought when I went after Naruto. I don't understand how she has Uchiha blood when I wiped out my clan..." stated Itachi.

"I'm curious about that myself..." nodded Kisame. If only she was interested in joining the Akatsuki. With two Sharingan wielders they just might be an unstoppable force.

"I'm going to work on making more puppets..." stated Sasori.

"I think I'll make some more clay sculptures..." said Deidara. Why didn't Sasori ever try making clay sculptures like he did? Of course, he had never been interested in making puppets. They might get devoured by those ferocious termites anyway.

"I'll handle it. Hidan and I can't decide whether we should go on a bounty hunt or perform one of his insane rituals..." answered Kakuzu.

"Hey! Don't be dissing my religion!" screamed Hidan.

"Alright then. I think we're done here for the time being. You are all dismissed." nodded Pain.

One by one, all the Akatsuki projections disappeared. Hopefully their next mission would be more successful. If not, Deidara was going to yell out every swear word known to man.

_A few minutes later..._

Temari ran up to Kankuro. Fortunately, she had managed to repair the power to the village. Now they were no longer panicking...though they would likely resume doing so once they realized that their leader was gone.

"Oh my god, Kankuro! What happened to you?" asked Temari.

"Poi...son..." murmured Kankuro.

"You've been poisoned?!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Kankuro passed out.

"I need to take you to the hospital immediately!" bellowed Temari.

Suddenly, she noticed Gaara out in the distance.

"Gaara? Is that you?" asked Temari.

Fortunately, he seemed to be alright...though he did appear to be injured when one of Deidara's explosives had gone off.

"Ugh...what happened..." stated Gaara as he rubbed his head.

Curious, he noticed that he appeared to be standing outside in the desert.

"Gaara! You're alive!" bellowed Temari.

Immediately, Temari gave him a hug. She was so glad to see that Gaara was safe.

"I bet you were worried about me...I'm sorry about that. I was trying to defend my village from this crazy terrorist..." stated Gaara. What was with terrorists and explosives? He wanted to know already.

"To be honest, I'm more worried about your brother than I am about you. He got poisoned trying to save you from the Akatsuki..." said the wind kunoichi.

"What?!" bellowed the Fifth Kazekage.

Sure enough, Kankuro appeared to be in pain. The poison was slowly but surely entering his bloodstream. Unless it was removed, he was going to die.

"We need to take him to the hospital!" bellowed Temari.

Gaara nodded.

Quickly, he used his sand to pick up Kankuro.

Together, they went towards the nearest hospital...which of course was in their village.

_A few hours later..._

"Did you hear the news?" asked Naruto.

"Yes...Kankuro got poisoned...this is terrible." answered Sakura.

"I heard that he was trying to save Gaara from the Akatsuki...apparently they wanted his tailed beast..." stated Sai.

"Funny you should mention that..." said the pink-haired kunoichi.

"What's so funny about that? Gaara could have died!" exclaimed the artist. Sakura apparently had a very strange sense of humor.

"Well, he's not the jinchuriki anymore...they kind of wasted their time..." answered Sakura.

"Oh...you mean like what happened between me and the Akatsuki earlier? I suppose it is kind of funny...but I'm worried about Kankuro..." said Naruto.

"I am too..." nodded the pink-haired girl. It just might be time for Kankuro to visit the skeleton in the black cloak. What would Temari and Gaara do without him? They might have to change their title of their team from the Sand Siblings into something else if they ever found another puppeteer to replace him.

At that very moment, Lucy showed up.

"Hey...did you hear about the news? Jiraiya told me that the Akatsuki struck again...this time it was Gaara of the Sand..." stated Lucy.

"He's safe...though I can't the say about his brother. They can't seem to find a cure for the poison..." noted Sakura. Those poor doctors. At least they managed to heal Gaara...who admittedly wasn't grievously injured.

"That must be a rather nasty poison..." answered Naruto.

"I heard that Kankuro has only three days to live...and that the last three days of his life are going to...suck..." stated the kunoichi.

"Should we put him out of his misery?" asked Sai.

"I suppose if they can't come up with a cure..." said Sakura.

Naruto sighed.

"I think I'll head to Fairy Tail...I think I'll go tell them what's going on..." stated Naruto. Maybe Makarov would be able to comfort him on the matter.

Immediately, he entered the interdimensional portal.

He then sat down a couch and sighed.

Sure enough, Mirajane noticed that he was upset.

"What's the matter?" inquired Mirajane.

"It's my friend Kankuro, he got poisoned fighting a member of the Akatsuki..." explained Naruto.

"He got poisoned?" asked the S-Class Mage, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep...and for some strange reason the doctors can't seem to save him...at this rate they're going to give up and pull the plug on his life support..." pointed out the jonin.

"I...might be able to help you with that..." stated Mirajane.

Naruto leapt in surprise.

"You can?!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah...to me, poison's more of a treat than a threat to me...I can just swallow poison like it's grape juice..." said the white-haired girl.

"Yes! Now all we need to do is head to Sunagakure!" cheered the jonin.

"If you want to do that Gaara agreed to create a portal to Sunagakure like they did with Konoha...Tsunade figured that Fairy Tail might be interested in meeting the other nations..." stated Mirajane.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Can you take a deep breath? I'm a bit worried about your excitement..." said the devil mage.

Naruto nodded. He decided to take a few deep breaths.

"Let's go!" bellowed the jonin.

_A few minutes later..._

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Temari.

"I'm afraid not. There's nothing that we can do about the poison...if only there was someone that could..." answered the doctor.

Gaara cried into his sister's arms.

However, at that very moment, Naruto and Mirajane showed up.

"Where is Kankuro?" asked Mirajane.

"He's in that room over there..." answered the doctor.

Immediately, Mirajane and Naruto entered the room.

Sure enough, there was Kankuro, lying down on a stretcher. His coat and face paint had been removed. Also, he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Gee, he's awfully sexy without his shirt on..." remarked Mirajane.

"Are you going to flirt with him or are you going to save him?" asked Naruto.

"I was getting to that..." answered the S-Class Mage.

Immediately, she put her mouth on Kankuro's chest.

"Um..." stated the jonin.

Quickly, she began to suck out the poison from the puppet master.

In the process, she let out a small burp.

"Whoops! Excuse me!" exclaimed Mirajane, putting her hand on her mouth.

Apparently, it was proving to be effective, as Kankuro was starting to stir.

Realizing that her work was done, Mirajane removed herself from Kankuro.

"Ugh..." murmured Kankuro, rubbing the back of his head.

All of sudden, he was feeling a whole lot better. Was he in Heaven now?

Curious, he noticed that he was still in the hospital. Apparently, he was still alive...though he had no idea why.

"What's going on? The last thing I remember was being poisoned by that man in a scorpion suit..." stated the puppet master.

"Mirajane here managed to cure you..." said Naruto. Poison wasn't much of an obstacle to her, it seems.

"Really? She did? Well then, I think I owe you a life debt..." noted Kankuro.

"I suppose you do..." nodded Mirajane.

"How can I repay you?" asked the puppet master.

"What do you do for a living?" inquired the demon mage.

"I make puppets..." answered Kankuro.

"Oh really? Can you make a puppet that resembles my brother? I would appreciate it..." stated Mirajane.

"Alright...what does he look like?" inquired Gaara's older brother.

Mirajane handed Kankuro a picture of her younger brother.

"I'll get to work on that..." stated Kankuro.

"If you want you can keep your shirt off..." answered Mirajane.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow.

"This might be the start of another crazy crossover ship..." acknowledged Naruto. Just how many of them were there in this fanfic anyway?

At that very moment, Temari and Gaara entered the room. Apparently, they had heard Kankuro's voice and had gone to investigate.

They were rather surprised to see him standing up, to say the very least.

"Did you manage to cure him?" asked Gaara.

"Yes, we did." nodded Naruto.

Immediately, Temari hugged her younger brother tightly.

"How did you do it?" inquired the sand ninja.

"It was easy...I just sucked out the venom through his chest..." answered Mirajane. Sasori's poison tasted rather delicious. She would like to try some more...though she wasn't looking forward to any more of her friends being poisoned.

"That's amazing..." remarked Gaara. He wished that he could do that.

"Done!" exclaimed Kankuro. "Now can I please put my shirt back on?"

"Alright..." answered Mirajane. That seemed fair.

Immediately, Kankuro put his shirt back on.

Quickly, Mirajane began to play with her new puppet of her brother.

"You're awfully lucky that you managed to face off against an Akatsuki member and live...of course, that's exactly what I did..." noted Naruto.

"That reminds me...I managed to get a piece of his clothing...we might be able to use it to track him down..." answered the puppet master.

"Really? I guess we're just going to have to come up with a plan to fight him then..." stated the former jinchuriki.

"If you need me I'll be back at Fairy Tail..." said Mirajane.

Immediately, Mirajane went into the interdimensional portal.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, Sasuke!" exclaimed Karin.

"What?" asked Sasuke.

"Since you got new powers from using that interdimensional portal, I decided to use it too...I used that sending scroll that Orochimaru gave you...only in reverse..." stated the kunoichi.

"It sure would have been convenient if he had that scroll back when he sent the Sound Four after me, isn't it?" questioned the knight.

"Yep..." nodded Karin. Maybe that way he wouldn't have to switch bodies with a different person. Having to wait for three years for the Sharingan must be awfully painful...Orochimaru wasn't very patient when it came to getting jutsu.

At least his next conquest against Konoha would be a success once he managed to use the nine-tailed fox for his own purposes. Why didn't he think of it before? Alternatively he could simply try blackmailing Konoha using the beast...they would likely have jutsu that he would like to have...such as that belonging to that of the Third Hokage.

Since they had found out what he was up to in his laboratories, the Third Hokage refused to allow Orochimaru to have access to any of his ninja scrolls. And he had managed to hide them rather well, too. But if he managed to threaten them with the nine-tailed fox...he could make Konoha do virtually anything he wanted.

Of course, they would probably want him to agree to spare them first. But she supposed that he could probably live with that. Why exactly did he hate Konoha so much, anyway? Karin wasn't sure.

"So...did you get anything?" asked Sasuke.

"Nothing yet..." answered the teenage girl. Personally she wondered if that particular trip was a dud. Then again, perhaps there was simply a delay before she got her new powers.

Sasuke wondered what those powers could possibly be.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, Mr. Demon! I'm talking to you!" bellowed Gajeel.

**"Yes?" **asked Shukaku.

"How dare you try to possess my body! My body is mine and mine alone! You cannot have it!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

**"But it's so precious..." **stated the one-tailed beast.

"If you do that again, I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

**"So what you're going to say is...you're going to kill yourself?" **asked Shukaku.

"Don't make me do it." answered Gajeel.

Shukaku simply laughed.

**"I'd like to see you try." **chortled Shukaku.

In order to prove to Shukaku that he wasn't kidding, Gajeel punched himself in the face.

However, much to his surprise, sand showed up and blocked the punch.

"What the-" exclaimed Gajeel.

The same thing happened when he tried to bite himself in the arm...or when he attempted to kick his dresser.

"What's going on?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

**"You didn't think that I was going to just sit there and LET you hurt yourself, are you?" **inquired Shukaku.

"Is that a challenge?" questioned Gajeel.

**"Go ahead! Try to jump off a building! I dare you!" **bellowed the one-tailed beast.

"It is ON!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, Gajeel climbed to the top of Fairy Tail's headquarters.

He then proceeded to jump.

"Cannonball!" bellowed the jinchuriki.

But as it turned out, Shukaku would not let him fall to his death.

Quickly, a bunch of sand appeared to break his fall...though Gajeel wondered for a second if he had broken his leg. He did not.

"Damn it!" exclaimed Gajeel.

**"Give it up, boy!" **bellowed Shukaku.

"You may have won this round, but you won't be able to shield me forever! Then you'll be sorry!" shouted the iron dragonslayer.

**"Good luck! I've been shielding my jinchuriki from suicide attempts for years..." **stated the one-tailed beast.

Gajeel clenched his fists in anger.

"Just you wait!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer as he stormed back into the Fairy Tail guild hall.

_Elsewhere in Fairy Tail..._

Mirajane gave herself a manicure. She wanted to look good, even when she went out on dangerous missions.

Speaking of which, she was about to get another mission...but not from where she was expecting.

As it turned out, Konoha had a message for her.

"Huh?" asked Mirajane.

"Tsunade wanted me to give this to you." stated Shizune. It was a bit...confidential.

Mirajane decided to read it out loud. It must be something important if Tsunade herself had written to it...unless it was some sort of love letter that had been addressed to the wrong person.

"Dear Mirajane, you have been invited to an S-Class Mission. I am aware that you happen to have the ability to suck out Sasori's poison...and I figured that you would be VERY useful for that particular mission. It is your choice whether to participate it or not, though Sunagakure would greatly appreciate it if you did so. Naruto told me that you had a liking for Kankuro, did you not?" read the S-Class Mage.

Mirajane began to blush.

"Succeed and the Land Of Wind just may very well build a statue in your honor...they might put it right next to the statue of Gaara...of course, they put that particular statue next to the other Kazekages, including his father. It's a bit ironic, really." continued Mirajane.

"How sweet..." remarked the model.

"If you fail, well, you'll probably end up six feet under. But you seem to be willing to sacrifice your life for others. So, will you help your friends on the other side out? Sincerely, the Fifth Hokage." finished the demon mage.

"Alright, I'll come. I'll just need to tell my brother where I'm going first. I don't want him worrying about me..." stated Mirajane.

Shizune nodded.

Immediately, Mirajane went to tell Elfman where she was going.

"So, you're off on a dangerous mission? Take care of yourself..." noted Elfman. Sometimes he worried that Mirajane would end up like her sister. Then again, she was a more careful person than she was.

Mirajane nodded. She didn't want to leave her brother sisterless.

Immediately, she headed towards Konohagakure to learn the details of the mission.

Sure enough, there was Naruto, along with Sakura, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara. It appeared that they were going on the mission along with her.

"Are you ready, Mirajane? We're going to be using this scrap of Sasori's cloth to try to hunt him down..." stated Naruto. Hopefully this would work.

"I think so..." nodded Mirajane.

"We just need to come up with a plan in order to ambush him and his partner..." said Sakura.

"I see..." answered the white-haired girl.

"By the way, did you know that Gajeel's a jinchuriki now? He has the one-tailed beast living inside him...whether he likes it or not..." stated Mirajane.

"Oh, really?" inquired Kankuro. That would explain why Gaara no longer has Shukaku inside his body.

"Sakura, you're a genius!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Thank you, Naruto. I like it when you compliment me..." said Sakura. But why exactly did Naruto have a Eureka moment?

"I have a plan to ambush Deidara and Sasori..." stated the jonin.

"What plan is that?" asked Tsunade.

Naruto whispered into Tsunade's ear.

"Alright, but it's going to be rather risky. You had better not let Gajeel fall under harm..." pointed out the Sannin.

"Right, of course not..." answered Naruto.

Immediately, Naruto and his friends set out to assassinate Deidara and Sasori.

Hopefully their mission would be successful. If they were, Lucy and Gajeel would be sleeping much sounder tonight...well, Lucy anyway.

"To Sunagakure!" exclaimed Naruto.

_Well, Gaara's lost to Deidara...but fortunately he's still alive. It appears that like Itachi and Kisame before them, Deidara and Sasori picked the wrong target. You probably know who's the real person they should be going after._

_But of course Naruto and his friends realize that too. They've come up with a plan._


	70. Chapter 70: A Battle Of Arts And Crafts

_In this chapter, Naruto's going to face off against Deidara and Sasori along with his companions...well, technically, his companions are going to face off against Sasori while he and two of the Sand Siblings face off against Deidara._

_I hope you enjoy it...and you don't mind the long title. I thought it would be appropriate considering who they were up against. It's a shame that they couldn't simply remain artisans and that they started using their arts and crafts to kill people. Who would have thought that clay and puppets could be so deadly? Then again people find puppets to be creepy sometimes...just look at Slappy the Dummy._

**Chapter 70: A Battle Of Arts And Crafts**

Close to where Sasori and Deidara were, Naruto was getting the trap ready. If all went well, Sasori and Deidara were going to get exactly what was coming to them. He was looking forward to it.

Sakura and Naruto tied Gajeel to a large wooden post, with his back positioned so that his jinchuriki mark was clearly visible.

"What's the plan?" asked Gajeel.

"You'll see..." answered Naruto.

**"Your friends better not be selling me out to the Akatsuki..." **murmured Shukaku. He hated those guys...always trying to seal him inside that giant statue of theirs.

Curious, Kankuro noticed that Mirajane was still playing with her puppet of Elfman.

Suddenly, one of his arms fell off.

"Darn it!" bellowed Mirajane.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Kankuro. He had tried to finish it quickly...but haste made waste. At least Mirajane thought it was a good rendition of her brother.

Speaking of which, Kankuro wondered if he should go visit Mirajane's siblings since Mirajane already got to visit his.

"It's alright, I'll fix it..." noted the teenage girl. She didn't want to ask Kankuro for too much even if he owed her a life debt.

Fortunately for her, she happened to know how to fix puppets quickly, due to the fact that she often repaired her and her siblings' toys back when she was small. It was a rather useful skill.

Within a few seconds, she had screwed the arm of the puppet back on.

"I didn't know that you could repair puppets..." stated Kankuro.

"Well, I have been repairing my belongings for years...they tend to break easily, unfortunately..." said Mirajane.

"Interesting..." answered the puppet ninja. Perhaps Mirajane could fix his puppets if they broke...like when he went up against Sasori.

This could be effective.

_A few minutes later..._

Sasori and Deidara remained in the canyon, making puppets and clay sculptures respectively. Hopefully Hidan and Kakuzu would finally get them a tailed beast instead of a decoy.

Suddenly, they began to hear noises. It sounded like someone was using a hammer.

"What's going on?" asked Deidara.

"Someone's hammering a signpost to a tree..." answered Sasori. Who could it possibly be?

Curious, they both went to investigate.

As it turned out, it was a sign saying "This Way To The One-Tails Jinchuriki!" with an arrow pointing to the left.

"How peculiar..." noted Sasori. Why was someone showing them where the jinchuriki was?

"This way to the one-tails jinchuriki?!" exclaimed Deidara. He was feeling rather excited all of a sudden.

Deidara followed the sign, with Sasori following in a leisurely pace.

Sure enough, there were other signs pointing them in that particular direction as well.

They decided to continue following the signs.

Eventually, they found Gajeel, who had been tied to a pole.

On his back was a jinchuriki mark signifying that he was in fact the one-tails jinchuriki.

"This is too easy!" exclaimed Deidara.

However, when he went to approach Gajeel, Sasori stopped him.

"You're right, Deidara...this IS too easy..." stated Sasori. Something was wrong.

"Out of my way! I want to capture a jinchuriki!" exclaimed Deidara.

Immediately, Deidara leapt over Sasori and went over to Gajeel.

"Here I come!" bellowed the clay ninja.

Suddenly, Naruto appeared in a burst of smoke right in front of Deidara.

"Huh?" asked the ninja.

Immediately, he used his sexy jutsu on Deidara at point-blank range.

This worked surprisingly well.

"My eyes! I've gone blind!" screamed Deidara, clutching his eyes.

"Fooled you!" bellowed Naruto.

"It's a trap!" warned Sasori.

At that very moment, Gaara showed up as well.

"This is for attacking my village!" bellowed Gaara.

Immediately, he used his sand to break Deidara's arms.

"Deidara, run! I'll hold them off!" exclaimed Sasori.

Deidara nodded. He needed to get out of here now.

Quickly, he summoned his bird mount and began to fly away. It was not a moment too soon, as Temari was tracing blood across her fan. She was clearly getting ready to summon her weasel.

Of course, Naruto was not planning on letting Deidara escape. He was a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence. He would wreak havoc if he let him wander free...

"Get your explosive ass back here!" bellowed Naruto.

Wasting no time, he summoned Gamabunta. Gaara and Temari climbed on.

Immediately, Gamabunta began to leap after Deidara.

Unsurprisingly, Sasori decided to go after Deidara as well.

However, Kankuro stopped him.

"If you want to get to Deidara, you're going to have to get through me first." stated Kankuro.

"But I want to help my partner!" exclaimed Sasori.

"Too bad..." answered the Sand Sibling.

Sasori sighed. He hated irony.

Sakura untied Gajeel now that the trap had been set.

"Finally! Now I can fight!" exclaimed Gajeel.

"It might be better for you to run, Gajeel..." stated Sakura.

"How come?" asked the iron dragonslayer.

"If the Akatsuki catch you, they're going to capture your tailed beast...and then you'll die!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"But I want to fight..." said Gajeel.

"Did I mention that you'll have to wait three days just so you can die?" asked Sakura.

"Fine..." murmured the iron dragonslayer.

Immediately, he scrammed. No doubt Deidara would be disappointed again...assuming that Naruto and his friends didn't catch him.

"Wait...didn't I poison you back when we captured your brother?" asked the Akatsuki member. How was Kankuro not paralyzed?

"Let's just say that I'm not going down that easily..." stated Kankuro.

"Then I'll just have to poison you again..." answered Sasori.

Immediately, Sasori fired poisonous senbon at Kankuro.

However, he used his puppets to block the senbon.

But unfortunately, Sasori managed to destroy his puppets once again by attacking the joints.

He then proceeded to strike Kankuro with his tail, poisoning him once again.

"Hopefully you'll learn your lesson this time..." stated Sasori.

However, as soon as he went to leave, he suddenly heard a noise. A noise that sounded like suction.

Turning around, he discovered that Mirajane was once again removing the poison from Kankuro.

"What in the Land Of Wind?!" exclaimed Sasori.

"I learned since the last time I fought you...thank you very much." answered Kankuro.

"Well, it doesn't matter. In case you haven't noticed, your puppets are in ruins..." pointed out the puppeteer.

"Mirajane here might be able to fix that..." noted the Sand Sibling.

Suddenly, Sasori noticed that Mirajane was repairing his puppets as he spoke.

It didn't take her long to repair them at all. They were as good as new.

Sasori attempted to attack the joints again...but this time a buzzsaw popped out of Crow when he tried that.

"I may have made a few modifications to it..." noted Mirajane.

Sasori was displeased with the turn of events, but he decided that it didn't really matter.

"I'll just have to destroy your puppets as many times as it t-"

"Gotcha!" bellowed Sakura.

Caught by surprise, Sasori found his Hiruko puppet being destroyed, with his various parts scattered throughout the canyon.

When the smoke settled, Sasori decided to show his real face.

"I'm rather impressed...you managed to destroy my favorite puppet..." noted the Akatsuki member.

"I've been training with Tsunade, thank you very much..." answered Sakura.

"However, I'll have you know that I happen to have more than one puppet up my sleeve..." stated Sasori.

Immediately, Sasori pulled out his Third Kazekage puppet.

Kankuro gasped in shock.

"Is something the matter?" asked Mirajane.

"That's my father's predecessor!" exclaimed Kankuro.

"Your father's predecessor?" inquired the S-Class Mage.

"I've always wondered whatever happened to him...up until now..." stated the puppet wielder. Who would have thought that Sasori was responsible?

Of course, considering he was known as Sasori of the Bloody Sand...that wasn't such a surprise.

"I'm particularly proud of this puppet, to say the very least..." answered the assassin of the Third Kazekage.

"We're just going to have to try to avenge him..." noted Kankuro.

Mirajane nodded. Hopefully Sasori would not get away with murder, especially over the death of such an important man.

Immediately, Kankuro attacked Sasori with his puppets one again.

However, Sasori countered by having his Third Kazekage puppet pelt the puppets with Iron Sand.

All of a sudden, Kankuro was completely incapable of moving them.

"Not this technique..." stated Kankuro.

"What's the matter?" inquired Mirajane.

"It's the Iron Sand technique...it's clogged up my puppets and now I can't use them..." said the Sand Sibling.

"Oh no..." murmured the S-Class Mage.

"I'm sorry to say this...but I just might be out of the fight..." pointed out Kankuro.

Curious, Mirajane examined Kankuro's puppet strings.

"Those wouldn't happen to work on people...now would they?" asked Mirajane.

"They can...why do you ask?" inquired Kankuro.

"Maybe you can use those on me..." answered the S-Class Mage.

Using the girl that had saved his life as a puppet made Kankuro...blush...but he decided to comply. It was the only thing that he could now, really.

Immediately, he attached his puppet strings to Mirajane. Now Kankuro's chakra was flowing throughout her body.

Mirajane then proceeded to attack the Third Kazekage using her darkness magic.

Unfortunately, Sasori used the iron to make a barrier to block it...though in the process, several cracks formed in the block of iron sand that he used.

"She certainly has powerful jutsu...wait, is that even a jutsu?" thought Sasori. It wasn't quite like any jutsu that he had ever seen.

He then had the Third Kazekage stretch out his arms...a lot of them.

Quickly, they began to advance towards Mirajane and Kankuro.

Fortunately for Mirajane and Kankuro, they were able to avoid them, as their range was finite even if the arms were extendable.

Unfortunately for Sakura, she ended up being grabbed by the arms.

"Let go of me, you pervert!" screamed Sakura, unhappy to have so many arms seizing her.

"Oh no! Sakura!" exclaimed Mirajane.

Taking advantage of the situation, Sasori then proceeded to have the Third Kazekage produce massive amounts of poisonous gas. If only Sakura had brought a gas mask.

Mirajane tried to swallow the gas, but unfortunately, the Third Kazekage simply produced more every time she tried to do so. At this rate she was going to become morbidly obese.

Likewise, Kankuro attempted to remove Sakura from the gas with his puppet strings...but the Third Kazekage's arms simply wouldn't let go.

Was Sakura simply a goner? At least she managed to destroy Sasori's puppet armor.

Suddenly, Sakura pulled out a tag. An explosive tag.

She tossed it, and the poisonous gas dispersed.

Sakura then proceeded to break the arms restraining her.

"That's for groping me..." murmured Sakura.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Sasori.

In place of the arms came out buzzsaws.

However, Mirajane destroyed those as well.

"I suppose I'll just have to switch back to using the iron sand..." stated the Akatsuki member.

Once again, Sasori used the Third Kazekage's iron sand to attack the trio. This time, he was using it to make shapes such as pyramids and cubes.

"Someone's been doing their geometry homework..." remarked Sakura.

"Yes, I have." nodded Sasori.

Fortunately for Sakura, she could simply punch through the shapes as she continued to make her way towards the Third Kazekage.

Unfortunately, he was proving to be rather persistent.

"C'mon!" exclaimed Sakura. Why was it so difficult to enter close-range?

This time, Sasori was using the sand to make a spear and a hammer.

Immediately, Sasori attempted to pierce Sakura while he used the hammer to attack Mirajane and Kankuro.

"I am not looking forward to getting hammered right now..." stated Mirajane.

"Can you not hold your liquor?" asked Kankuro.

Mirajane sweatdropped.

"Not really, no." answered Mirajane. If only she were more like Cana.

To make matters worse, the Third Kazekage was now raining on their parade. Literally.

Frantically, Sakura, Mirajane, and Kankuro were forced to take cover so that the Iron Sand didn't end up hitting them.

Finally, Sasori decided to pull out the big guns.

This time, he was going to use his Iron Sand World Method.

Immediately, a huge sphere of branching spikes appeared.

"This is going to suck." remarked Sakura.

"Run for it!" bellowed Kankuro.

Frantically, they were forced to try to avoid them.

Unfortunately for Mirajane, she ended up being pierced by one. Fortunately for her, she did not have to worry about the poison.

Though Sakura and Kankuro managed to avoid being nicked, they found their escape routes had been cut off.

"We're trapped!" exclaimed Sakura.

Seizing his opportunity, Sasori sent the Third Kazekage to stab Sakura and Kankuro.

Unfortunately for Sasori, Mirajane would not be having that.

Suddenly, Mirajane fired a blast of darkness magic towards the Third Kazekage puppet.

The Third Kazekage puppet was shattered into pieces.

With that, all the iron sand disappeared.

"Phew..." murmured Mirajane.

"Congratulations. You managed to destroy my favorite puppet..." stated Sasori.

"I thought Hiruko was your favorite puppet..." answered Kankuro. He was under the impression that not many people had seen what he looked like underneath Hiruko before Sakura destroyed it.

"They were both my favorite puppets...and as it would turn out, you managed to destroy them both. I'm actually rather impressed...you are not as ineffective of a puppeteer as I first thought..." remarked the Akatsuki puppet master. He really was the older brother of the Fifth Kazekage.

"Of course not!" exclaimed Mirajane.

"Then again, you do appear to have your girlfriend helping you this time..." noted Sasori.

"She is not my girlfriend!" exclaimed Kankuro, blushing.

Mirajane nodded, blushing as well.

"Whatever you say. Well, I suppose I should reward you. I'm actually quite impressed with your abilities. I think it's time for me to show you my ultimate puppet..." stated the man.

With that, Sasori began to take off his cloak.

"It appears that you're not the only stripper, Sakura..." pointed out Mirajane.

"Very funny!" exclaimed Sakura.

Eventually, Sasori discarded his cloak completely. Now how were people supposed to know that he was a member of the Akatsuki?

As soon as Sasori did so, they discovered something alarming.

"What are you?!" bellowed Mirajane.

"Surprised? My ultimate puppet is me." bellowed Sasori. As it turned out, he had discarded his old body a long time ago. Perhaps Zetsu had eaten it?

"Oh my puppet god..." murmured Kankuro.

"I was starting to wonder why you look so young for your age..." stated Mirajane. People said that he was thirty-five years old...yet he didn't look like he was thirty-five at all.

"You'd be surprised what you can learn when you seek immortality...just look at my former partner..." said the puppet man.

"You mean Orochimaru?" questioned Sakura.

"Yes. That's him." nodded Sasori.

"You replaced your body with a puppet? Have you gone mad?" inquired Kankuro.

"I've always been more comfortable around puppets than with people, to be honest. It all started when my parents died and my grandmother Chiyo looked after me..." noted the man.

Since then, he made puppets that looked just like his parents.

"Of course, if you want to face me...you're going to have to get past my army of puppets first..." stated Sasori.

"Your army of puppets?" asked Kankuro.

Immediately, Sasori pulled out a summoning scroll.

All of a sudden, an army of a hundred puppets appeared.

"That is a lot of puppets." remarked Sakura.

"I wish I had that many..." stated Kankuro. He would be entering fanboy mode right now if he wasn't in serious danger of being stabbed to death.

Quickly, the army of hundred puppets began to attack them all.

Realizing that this was a desperate situation, Mirajane transformed into a demon.

"You're not scared, are you?" asked Mirajane.

"For a demon you look awfully..sexy..." murmured Kankuro.

Mirajane began to blush. Then again, she thought that Kankuro looked sexy without his shirt on, so...

Fortunately for Sakura, it wasn't hard for her to punch through the puppets like they were made out of paper. That wasn't to say that she could simply punch through all hundred puppets with ease however...

Likewise, though Mirajane and Kankuro could handle the puppets individually, they were finding themselves being outnumbered.

At this point, they weren't sure what they were going to do about all those puppets. They were outnumbered 100 to 3.

Suddenly, Mirajane noticed the Third Kazekage. It was still lying there in pieces after she had destroyed it.

This gave Mirajane an idea.

Immediately, she flew towards it and began to repair the Third Kazekage.

It did not take her look to repair it, fortunately...though for a moment she was a bit worried that she had damaged it beyond repair...judging from the fact that Sasori had decided not to use it against them anymore.

"Use this!" exclaimed Mirajane.

Quickly, Mirajane tossed the Third Kazekage towards Kankuro.

Naturally, Kankuro knew how to deal with all the puppets now.

"Are you impressed with my artwork? I will admit that my artwork is inevitably going to kill you...but it won't stop you from appreciating it...right?" asked Sasori.

Suddenly, Kankuro began to use the Iron Sand against the puppets.

"What are you..." stated the puppet man.

One by one, the army of puppets were brought down by the sand, the iron sand getting into their joints and immobilizing them.

"My puppet army!" screamed Sasori. How could his puppet army be brought down by a puppeteer about half his age? Granted, he had used one of his puppets in order to pull it off...

"I think that since I'm the son of a Kazekage I should be using this instead of you, thank you very much..." answered Kankuro.

"Very clever..." murmured the puppet man. "Well then, it appears that now it's just you and I! I'll just have to show you the weapons I have inside my puppet body..."

Sasori outstretched his arms to demonstrate.

"Take cover!" warned Mirajane.

Sure enough, Sasori just so happened to have flamethrowers in his hands.

Immediately, he began to shoot some flames at the trio.

Frantically, they hid behind some rocks...though unfortunately it appeared that Sasori's flamethrowers were capable of gradually melting rock. Just how hot were those flamethrowers?

"If that keeps up, we're going to be barbecue!" exclaimed Sakura. Where were Natsu and Hinata when she needed them?

"I sure wish that we had some water right about now..." noted Kankuro.

On cue, Sasori switched to his killer squirt guns.

"Well, speak of the devil..." murmured the middle child of the Fourth Kazekage.

"Are you talking to me?" asked Mirajane.

"Maybe?" answered Kankuro.

Immediately, Sasori decided to try to kill them all with water. Water that could rip the bark from trees.

Sakura attempted to approach Sasori, but he quickly pulled out propeller blades.

Unless she wanted to get eviscerated, it would be in her best interest to stay away from him.

Fortunately, she had a way to counter that.

Suddenly, Sakura froze Sasori's arms with her ice abilities.

"My...arms..." murmured Sasori.

She then shattered him with one well-placed punch before he could free them with his flamethrowers.

For a moment, it appeared that she had won.

However, Sasori simply pulled himself back together. It was as if Sakura had never shattered him in the first place.

"What the hell?!" screamed Sakura.

"Let's just say that you're not the only one that can repair your puppets..." murmured Sasori.

"Speaking of that..." said Mirajane.

Suddenly, Kankuro hit Sasori with the iron sand from his new puppet.

Shortly afterwards, Sasori found himself unable to move.

"That should keep you busy..." stated Kankuro.

Sasori was rather surprised. All of a sudden, he was on the ropes. Not even the Third Kazekage himself had managed to push him this far...and he had been the strongest ninja in Suna history. And to think that he was one of the stronger members of the Akatsuki.

What was he going to do now? Fall to his knees and submit defeat? Deidara would never let him hear the end of it...though speaking of which he wondered how Deidara was doing now that Naruto blinded him and Gaara broke two of his limbs.

Suddenly, he noticed that one of his puppets was lying on the floor. It had not been hit by the iron sand...though admittedly Sakura had broken off the puppet's legs.

But since it still had arms, maybe it would work.

Immediately, he sent the core of his puppet self towards the inactive puppet.

"What the-" exclaimed Sakura.

Shortly afterwards, Sakura found herself being impaled by a sword. Quickly, blood began to leak out her mouth.

She was too shocked to speak.

Sasori pulled out the sword shortly afterwards, leaving Sakura bleeding over the canyon floor.

"You've proven to be quite a challenge, I must admit. But it appears that it's over for your friend..." noted the puppet man.

"No! Sakura!" screamed Mirajane.

Kankuro's eyes widened.

Sakura wondered if it was over for her herself. She had lived a decent life, at least...though it was a shame that she was apparently going to die young. She wasn't even eighteen yet. She certainly wasn't as old as Tsunade.

Suddenly, she remembered the core of Sasori's puppet self...it was now on the puppet that had stabbed her.

At this point, she realized Sasori's weak point.

If she was going to go down...well, she was going to take Sasori with her.

Using the last of her magic, she created an ice pick.

"Huh?" asked Sasori.

Immediately, she used it to stab Sasori in his core, causing him to gasp in shock.

"You very well may have killed me...but that doesn't mean I can't take you with me to my grave..." murmured Sakura.

"Sakura..." stated Mirajane.

Since the battle was basically over at this point, Mirajane reverted back to her regular self.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to let Sakura bite into her skin.

Immediately, she did so, leaving behind a scar in the process.

"Why does your skin taste like angel food cake?" inquired Sakura.

"Isn't it ironic..." murmured Mirajane. Of course, some would call her an angel rather than a demon.

Fortunately, it appeared that the scar on her arm would eventually heal up. Perhaps scars were not always forever.

Quickly, Sakura found that her stab wound had disappeared.

"Thank goodness..." murmured the pink-haired kunoichi. She didn't want Tsunade to be short one apprentice...even if she did get to train with her for two and a half years.

Mirajane sucked out the venom from the wound, and then Sakura was fine.

"How did you do that?" inquired Kankuro.

"I'm not sure..." answered Mirajane. Perhaps using interdimensional portals gave her new powers like everyone else?

Sasori noticed this as well.

"It appears that you are not going to die as I thought...since you managed to defeat me, I suppose I'll reward you..." noted Sasori, letting out a cough.

"What kind of reward?" asked Sakura. This was a bit of a surprise to her. How exactly could Sasori could reward her now that he was bleeding out?

"Would you like to know about my partner, Orochimaru?" inquired the man.

"Yes, I would!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"I just so happened to have sent a spy to gather information on him...does the name Kabuto ring a bell?" asked Sasori.

"Yes, it does." nodded Sakura. Kabuto had in fact worked with her during the Chunin Exams. Too bad he turned out to be a double agent.

"I was going to meet him...but since I don't have long for this world, I think you might want to meet with him instead. I was supposed to meet him at the Tenchi Bridge...as for you, Kankuro, since you managed to defeat me...I'll let you keep my puppets..." stated the Akatsuki member. From generation to generation, he supposed.

"As for you...well, unfortunately, I don't have really have a reward for you...but I congratulate you on managing to find a cure for my poison. Personally I didn't think it was possible...but apparently, I thought wrong..." noted Sasori.

"People were awfully impressed with me..." stated Mirajane. Fortunately, she thought that her newfound powers would probably be enough. Now she could heal her friends whenever she was injured.

However, she got the feeling that using her new powers could be dangerous for her if she used them too much. Besides, having people bite into her skin didn't seem too pleasant.

"And with that, I bid you farewell..." said Sasori.

Sasori's eyes rolled into his sockets, signifying that he was gone.

"We sure got a lot from him, didn't we?" asked Kankuro.

"Yes, we did." nodded Sakura.

"I just wonder how Naruto and the others are doing..." stated Mirajane.

_In the skies above Sunagakure..._

Deidara continued to retreat from Temari, Naruto, and Gaara. How could he have fallen for such a blatant trap? Now he was completely blind and both of his arms had been broken.

To his credit, he was rather desperate to get a jinchuriki after that fiasco at Sunagakure.

Unfortunately for Deidara, due to the fact that he was blind, he was having a very hard time aiming his bombs. They were missing his opponents completely. In fact, one of them almost blew off his foot.

"Curse this horrible darkness..." murmured Deidara. If only he had a seeing eye dog summon.

He then remembered his dragon summon, and wondered if this was the best time to use it.

Suddenly, Temari used her fan to produce gusts of wind, causing Deidara to lose his balance.

"Aah!" bellowed Deidara, clutching onto the wing of his bird.

Unfortunately for him, Naruto tossed a Rasengan at the wing, causing it to break off.

Gradually, Deidara began to fall...right towards a nearby tree.

Sure enough, he bounced between the branches.

"Ouch! Ow! Oof! Mother! Jesus! Playdoh! Christ!" bellowed Deidara as he bounced between each branch.

Eventually, Deidara hit the ground.

"Oh my aching head..." murmured Deidara, clutching it.

At that very moment, Naruto used his clones to swarm Deidara.

"Give it up, Deidara! We have you surrounded!" exclaimed Naruto.

Unfortunately for Naruto and his friends, unlike his partner, Deidara did not take losing well.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" bellowed the clay ninja.

At that very moment, Deidara began to expand.

"He's going to blow!" screamed Naruto.

Quickly, Temari, Gaara, and Naruto were forced to leap away. They were not exactly looking forward to being blown to smithereens.

Fortunately, they managed to escape the blast...though admittedly it was a rather big one.

"Well, I guess that's it then...to be honest, I was expecting him to put up more of a fight..." stated Naruto.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we managed to catch him...now there's one less Akatsuki member to deal with..." noted Gaara.

"That reminds me...I wonder how Sakura and the others are dealing with Sasori..." said the Konoha ninja. Sasori was apparently the stronger out of the two ninja.

He was feeling a bit sorry for Sakura.

"We should probably help them..." nodded Temari.

Immediately, Naruto, Gaara, and Temari went to go help Sakura and the others.

As they did so, the real Deidara emerged from the ground.

He in fact had not exploded earlier. Instead, he had simply used a clay clone to deceive them.

It worked.

"Suckers..." murmured Deidara weakly.

With that, he passed out.

_A few minutes later..._

"Sakura!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Hello, Naruto..." stated Sakura.

"Did you beat Sasori?" asked the jonin.

"Yep...he's lying on the ground dead...did you take care of Deidara?" answered the kunoichi. If so, then they've killed two birds with one stone...including Deidara's clay birds, oddly enough.

"Yes, we did..." nodded Naruto.

"I'll be using his puppet body now..." stated Kankuro.

Immediately, he picked up Sasori's lifeless puppet body.

In the process, his Akatsuki ring fell off.

"I wonder why he's wearing a ring when he's not married..." questioned the puppet ninja. Who want to be married to a puppet, anyway? Not even he would marry a puppet.

Mirajane shrugged. She didn't know much about Sasori's love life since he was pushing up daisies.

"I think it's time for us to report back to Grandma Tsunade now..." stated Naruto.

"You do that...we'll be heading back to Sunagakure...I've got duties to fulfill..." said Gaara.

"So do we..." nodded Temari.

The Sand Siblings said farewell to the trio as they went back home.

Likewise, Naruto, Sakura, and Mirajane decided to do the same.

As they did so, they failed to notice Zetsu coming out of hiding, who picked up Sasori's Akatsuki ring.

No doubt Pain would want to have this now that Sasori was out of the picture. Those rings didn't exactly come cheap.

_Later at Konohagakure..._

"I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you managed to succeed in your mission..." stated Tsunade. At the very least, they were still alive.

"Yes, we did. We managed to take down Sasori and Deidara..." stated Sakura.

"They won't be bothering anyone else anymore..." noted Naruto.

"Congratulations. Apparently, you are the apprentices of the Legendary Sannin indeed..." answered the Sannin. She didn't know that Sakura had it in her and that Naruto didn't have it in him.

"So, should we sit back and relax now?" inquired Naruto.

"I suppose you can...however, keep in mind that there are still other Akatsuki members out there...they're not going to give up after the death of one member of the organization...in fact, they may be working on finding a replacement..." noted Tsunade.

"That probably won't be easy..." stated Sakura.

"Yes. However, keep in mind that they have members all across the globe, so they'll be able to find ninja to join their cause quickly. The only question is whether they're strong enough to potentially be a member of the Akatsuki. There aren't many ninja with their kind of power...there's also the question whether they'd be willing to join the organization in the first place..." explained the Sannin.

"I know..." nodded the kunoichi.

"Anyways, your reward will be in the mail. You'll probably be going on a shopping spree tonight, Sakura..." said Tsunade.

Sakura smiled.

"By the way, there's something that you may want to know...Sasori said that he sent a spy after Orochimaru..." spoke Sakura.

"Really?" inquired the Sannin.

"Do you think I should go on the mission? Or should we send someone else?" asked the kunoichi.

"I think Naruto and Lucy would be up with it since they're already jonin...I know that you're planning to work on becoming jonin yourself..." said Tsunade. It was probably embarrassing for Sasori to lose to a simple chunin...though considering that he gave her information as a reward for defeating him he probably accepted his fate.

"Alright...when did Sasori say that they were going to meet?" inquired Naruto.

"About ten days from now..." answered Sakura.

"Alright then..." nodded the jonin. Once the deadline approached, he would go to fetch Lucy. She would probably be interested in helping him with this particular mission.

Oddly enough, Orochimaru still wasn't aware that Lucy was the jinchuriki of the nine-tails instead of him.

_Outside the Fifth Hokage's office..._

Curious, Shikamaru noticed that Lucy was rather excited.

"Did you hear the news?" asked Lucy.

"And that news is?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Naruto's mission was a success! Sasori and Deidara are down for the count!" exclaimed the blonde. Now there were two less S-Class criminals plaguing the world.

"That must be a relief for you." smiled the shadow ninja.

"It sure is! It makes me feel a whole lot safer..." noted Lucy.

"Well, don't celebrate too much...from what I know about the Akatsuki there are still eight members of the Akatsuki out there..." answered Shikamaru.

"Oh, really?" questioned Lucy.

"Mm-hmm...still, I suppose it was rather impressive that Naruto and his friends managed to take down two S-Class criminals..." noted the Nara clan member. Personally he wondered if he and his teammates would ever be able to do such a thing.

Immediately, Shikamaru pulled out a list about the members of the Akatsuki had discovered.

He proceeded to cross off Deidara and Sasori. Hopefully life would be easier for the rest of the jinchurikis now they were gone, in particular Lucy's.

And yet for some strange reason, he wasn't quite so sure about crossing off Deidara. He wasn't quite sure why. Was he secretly still alive?

"Why do my enemies cheat death so much?" asked Shikamaru.

"Trust me, I don't like it either..." answered the Grim Reaper.

"The Grim Reaper? Are you here for my soul? I will admit that I almost fell into a wood chipper last week...but it wasn't on..." stated the shadow ninja.

"What a nasty death that would have been..." noted the skeleton. "But I'm just on vacation..."

"Alright..." answered Shikamaru.

Immediately, the Grim Reaper went to the beach. Personally he was quite happy that he managed to get Sasori's soul. He was starting to wonder if he would ever get it.

_Back at Fairy Tail..._

Gajeel received a message from Sakura. He wondered whether Sakura's mission was a success or not. If it was not, then he was going to tell her to stop being a sissy little girl and do it right.

Curious, he decided to read it out loud.

"Hello, Gajeel. I just wanted to let you know that the mission was a success...though I did note that I ended up being stabbed in the stomach for my trouble..." read Gajeel.

Gajeel gasped.

"Fortunately, I happen to be fine. Mirajane managed to heal me..." continued the iron dragonslayer.

Gajeel sighed in relief.

Sure enough, Shukaku was happy about the occurrence.

**"Yes! In your face, Akatsuki!" **exclaimed Shukaku. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about having the Akatsuki take his tailed beast away from him.

"Yeah, in their face." nodded Gajeel. Serves them right for trying to take the one-tails.

Nearby, Mirajane told Elfman about her mission.

"I'm glad that you succeeded in her mission...no doubt Lucy Heartfilia was happy about it..." noted Elfman.

"She sure is." confirmed Mirajane.

"By the way, why do you have a puppet that looks like me?" inquired Mirajane's younger brother.

"A friend of mine made it...he kind of owed me a debt." answered the S-Class Mage.

"That was nice of him..." noted the animal mage.

"Personally I wonder how many puppets he has..." questioned Mirajane. Sasori sure had given him several parting gifts...even the puppet of himself.

Still, she wondered what had happened to the ring that was on his finger.

_Elsewhere..._

At the Akatsuki lair, Pain had urgent matters to discuss regarding the fate of Sasori and Deidara.

"I'm afraid that we have bad news, my comrades..." stated Pain.

"What bad news?" inquired Kakuzu.

"There's been a hit on our organization...Konoha and Suna ninja decided to work together against us...Sasori is dead..." said the leader of the Akatsuki.

"What? They killed Sasori?" questioned Itachi. The legendary puppet master himself? Who would have thought that they would be able to handle him?

Of course, his latest opponents had managed to find a way to counter his Tsukuyomi and his partner's chakra draining abilities. Perhaps the Akatsuki were not as invincible as some of the members believed.

"They must have found where he keeps his chakra..." noted Kakuzu. If only he didn't have a weak point like that.

"Zetsu confirmed his death a few minutes ago..." stated Pain.

"What of Deidara?" inquired Konan.

"He's not faring off much better...he's been incapacitated..." answered the leader of the Akatsuki.

"He's been decapitated? Did they put his head on a pike and carry it around Sunagakure?" asked Tobi. Sounds like they were throwing a celebration.

"I said he was INcapitated..." corrected Pain. If he was decapitated, they would be short two members instead of simply one.

"Oh...what happened to him?" inquired the masked man.

"He broke both of his arms, fell from a great height, he's gone blind, and he experienced an ungodly amount of sexiness..." explained the leader.

"He's not having a break, is he?" asked Konan.

"No, he is not. Zetsu is bringing him in now..." stated Pain.

Sure enough, Zetsu came into the hideout carrying Deidara. Sure enough, he was bruised and battered, and he was covered with leaves from when he had fallen into a tree earlier.

"Fortunately, Zetsu managed to recover Sasori's Akatsuki ring...as such, all we need to do now is find a replacement for Sasori...and while we're at it we're going to need to find a medic to heal Deidara...he's not going to be going after jinchuriki anytime soon in his condition, that's for certain..." noted the man.

"Can I replace Sasori?" asked Tobi.

"You already have an Akatsuki ring...you went for the one that was pink..." pointed out Pain.

"I love pink!" exclaimed the masked man.

"Well, I would advise you all to search for a new potential member of the Akatsuki...just for the record, we may be switching up the teams to accommodate our new member...just to let you know..." stated the leader. Sometimes that happened...as was the case when Orochimaru left the organization and they needed to find a replacement for him.

Konan shrugged. That seemed reasonable.

Suddenly, Itachi raised his hand.

"Yes, Itachi?" asked Pain.

"Is it alright if I visit Otogakure? I need to try to persuade my brother that he's making a huge mistake..." stated Itachi. Who in their right mind would want to be Orochimaru's vessel?

"Yes, you may. However, keep in mind that Orochimaru will inevitably want your body...do not let him possess you." warned Pain. That was in fact why he got kicked out of the Akatsuki in the first place. That, and he gave each of the Akatsuki members nightmare, especially Tobi. There was a reason why he slept with a teddy bear at night whenever someone mentioned Orochimaru.

"Don't worry, I'll be protecting him..." said Kisame. Orochimaru wasn't going to possess his partner's body on HIS watch.

"Thank you, Kisame, I knew that I could count on you..." answered the Uchiha clan annihilator.

Kisame nodded.

"That's it for today's meeting...is anyone going to miss Sasori?" inquired Pain. Considering that Orochimaru had left the organization earlier, he was starting to wonder if he would lose another member again someday.

Sure enough, it appeared that it had happened.

"I will..." nodded Konan. Wasn't she the one that brought Sasori into the Akatsuki? This was kind of awkward for him.

"Who would miss him?" questioned Hidan.

"It's too bad that I couldn't eat his corpse..." pointed out Zetsu. He just had to replace his body with that of a puppet's. What was with him and marionettes, anyhow?

"So much for his quest for immortality..." remarked Kisame. Maybe if he was lucky he would be reincarnated so that he could continue it.

"Such a pity..." murmured Itachi.

Immediately, all the Akatsuki member projections disappeared, leaving Deidara alone with Zetsu.

"I'm going to kill Naruto and his friends for this later..." murmured Deidara. They did not have any sort of respect for his art whatsoever.

Not only that, but he couldn't even make any more art now that he had gone blind. Life was so miserable all of a sudden.

However, he did wonder who his new partner was going to be. Pain did say that each Akatsuki member should have a partner so that neither of them ended up getting in crazy situations.

Unfortunately, he got into a crazy situation even with his partner...and now he was dead. Why did Sasori have a flagrant weak point?

"Now who I am going to argue about fine art with?" inquired Deidara.

_Sasori is dead and Deidara is currently incapacitated...as such, the Akatsuki is going to have to find both a replacement for Sasori and a healer for Deidara...where will they get those things?_

_Meanwhile, Itachi and Kisame are going to try to convince Sasuke not to make the biggest mistake in his life. In the process, they end up finding who the Akatsuki are looking for._


	71. Chapter 71: The Beast Of Otogakure

_In this chapter, the Akatsuki are going to find a replacement for Sasori...remember the Beast Of Otogakure?_

_Well, in this chapter we're going to find out more of who exactly they are. Have you been looking forward to that? They're also going to be joining the Akatsuki...you didn't think that I was going to simply copy Naruto Shippuden from start to finish, now did you? That would be...unoriginal._

_And yes, I make OCs so that my fanfics are more original. That's why I call them ORIGINAL characters, heh heh. I don't know if I've told you that already or not._

_Read it and weep! Well, maybe not the weep part._

**Chapter 71: The Beast Of Otogakure**

Itachi and Kisame arrived in Otogakure, ready to try to convince Sasuke not to become Orochimaru's vessel. Surely there was something else that he wanted to do in his life, right? Like...play with his dog?

Did he even have a dog?

Well, he knew that Sasuke wanted to kill him for one. Personally Itachi did not really mind the prospect of death. He in fact suffered from a rather nasty disease...though it didn't really affect his combat skill. It wouldn't really matter whether his brother killed him or not...though Sasuke would most likely want to do the job himself rather than just let time do the taking, however brief it was.[

At least Pain had provided him with medicine to keep it suppressed, though he decided that when it was the right time he would stop taking it and give in to the illness...he always got the feeling that he would die fairly young. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use dirty needles when he was a child.

Then again, he was technically older than Sasuke, albeit by only a few years.

Immediately, he went into the laboratory while Kisame stayed behind. Wouldn't want anyone to interrupt him while he tried to persuade Sasuke not to make the biggest mistake of his life...and to suffer the same fate that had almost befallen him quite some time ago.

Meanwhile inside the laboratory of doom, Sasuke was with Karin. Unsurprisingly, she was happy as ever to be alone with him...despite the fact that he had sold out his village to Orochimaru for greater power.

Boy, was Naruto ever upset. To think that they used to be such good friends, too. Now they were mortal enemies.

Suddenly, Karin spilled ramen juice all over him. Clumsy her. Maybe she should have eaten the ramen away from Sasuke.

"Whoops!" exclaimed Karin. How could she be so clumsy? She needed to pay more attention so that this would not happen in the future.

"Try to watch where you're going." stated Sasuke. Now he was going to have to put that particular shirt in the washer so that he could get the stain out. Hopefully it would come out easily. Orochimaru did remember to get bleach, right? Or maybe he hated that particular anime...

Of course, Karin was going to want to see him shirtless. Was he REALLY that sexy? He knew that people liked to draw him on Deviantart...some of which made him feel rather...sick.

"I've been a bad girl, haven't I?" asked the teenage girl. Her mother would be so disappointed.

"Well, you are Kabuto's apprentice, so yes..." noted the Uchiha clan member. She wasn't exactly...a saint. She probably wasn't going to heaven anytime soon.

"You should punish me!" exclaimed Karin. No doubt that Sasuke was displeased with her.

"Huh?" questioned Sasuke.

Immediately, Karin began to shake her booty in front of Sasuke.

"Are you saying I should spank you?" inquired Orochimaru's apprentice.

"Yes! You should, Sasuke!" bellowed Karin, smiling.

Sasuke wondered what he should do. Karin probably wasn't going to leave him alone about it.

Why was Karin...such a pervert?

_Meanwhile..._

"Is something the matter, Juvia?" asked Gray.

Sure enough, Juvia was scratching her head. She seemed confused about something.

"All of a sudden I'm feeling a strange sense of deja vu..." stated Juvia.

"Is there another crazed fangirl around?" inquired the ice mage. He will admit that Juvia wasn't the first girl that tried to flirt with him.

"What would be the chances of that?" questioned the water mage.

_Back at Orochimaru's Lab..._

Suddenly, Sasuke heard something.

"Is something the matter, Sasuke?" asked Karin.

"I think...you may want to leave..." answered Sasuke.

"But I want to be with you!" exclaimed the kunoichi. Sasuke was the sexiest man ever...more than could be said about Suigetsu. What the heck was his problem?

"Karin, this is serious. Danger is approaching..." stated Orochimaru's apprentice.

"I'll protect you!" bellowed Karin.

"I think that this is something that I need to do alone..." said Sasuke.

Karin sighed.

"Yes, Sasuke..." spoke the kunoichi.

Immediately, Karin left Sasuke to his own devices.

Shortly afterwards, Itachi Uchiha himself showed up.

"You!" exclaimed Sasuke. What was HE doing here?

Immediately, Sasuke prepared to fight his brother.

"I'm not here to fight you, Sasuke..." stated Itachi.

"If you didn't come to fight, then why DID you come here?!" shouted Sasuke.

Naturally, Itachi attempted to use his Tsukuyomi so that he could explain to his brother everything.

However, much to his surprise, the Tsukuyomi had no effect on him. Genjutsu was not going to do the trick.

Sasuke was as surprised at the occurrence as he was...but why question something that he liked?

"It appears that your genjutsu isn't going to work me anymore, now is it?" inquired Sasuke.

Seizing his opportunity, Sasuke lunged towards Itachi.

Realizing that he was going to have to fight his brother to defend himself, Itachi decided to toss some fireballs.

However, Sasuke countered by using his Flame Emperor Armor.

Fortunately for Sasuke, he was a much better match for his brother than he was the last time that they had fought. It had been a rather humiliating experience, to say the very least. And not even Jiraiya could finish the job for him, even though HE was one of the legendary Sannin. They both fled like sissy little cowards.

Curious, Itachi noticed that he seemed to have fought an opponent that could freely switch between different armors before. He hadn't recalled Sasuke ever being able to do so.

But who exactly was the opponent that he had faced earlier? He couldn't quite remember.

Wait, didn't she have the Sharingan as well?

Something was going on here...

Itachi and Sasuke got into a swordfight, hoping one of them would overpower the other.

Oddly enough, Sasuke noticed that Itachi seemed to lack...killing intent.

It was rather weird.

"Why did you come here?" asked Sasuke.

"I came here to stop Orochimaru from taking your body..." answered Itachi.

"Why do you care? You're the one that wiped out my home village!" exclaimed the younger Uchiha brother.

"You think I wanted to do that?" asked the older Uchiha brother.

"You what?!" bellowed Sasuke.

Suddenly, he dropped his sword on the ground.

"I only did that so that the Uchiha clan wouldn't wage war against the rest of Konoha...they've been plotting against them for years...I had to do something!" exclaimed Itachi.

"I did hear a rumor that there had been a conspiracy..." acknowledged Sasuke.

"I figured that since you were left out of the loop and were my younger brother I wouldn't do anything you though..." stated the Akatsuki member.

"I suppose that makes sense...but why the Tsukuyomi?" inquired the younger brother. That had been a rather depressing and outright bizarre experience.

"I needed to make sure you were ready to fight me...I figured that people would be proud of you if you took me down..." answered Itachi.

"I suppose people would be proud of me...but I've already made my path. You should make yours..." stated Sasuke.

Itachi sighed. It appeared that Sasuke was going to become Orochimaru's vessel...

Well, it was his choice, not his.

Upset, he decided to leave Sasuke to his own devices. At least now he understood why he acted the way he did. He didn't wipe out his clan for target practice. Who would do something like that?

Oh wait, Kenichi Chikawa would do something like that...that horrible man.

Meanwhile, Kisame was still waiting for his partner.

Unfortunately for Kisame, Itachi was the one that would rather play the waiting game instead of him. He would rather hunt down some ninja and practice his swordsman skills on them. He just loved it whenever he maimed his opponents.

But as it was, he was going to have to wait for his partner. Still, he was willing to listen to his partner since they were rather good friends and all. He could avoid hunting down other ninja for one mission.

Speaking of ninja...

Suddenly, he noticed a Otogakure ninja running towards him.

He was about to pull out his sword...when suddenly he noticed that he had already been in a battle. Were he and itachi not the only ones in the area?

He looked rather...frightened. In fact, sweat was dripping all over his face.

At this rate, he was going to have a heart attack...assuming that Kisame didn't stab him through the heart first.

He also seemed to be covered with some blood...blood that appeared to have come from his teammates. Clearly there had been some sort of bloodbath.

"Huh?" asked Kisame.

Curious, Kisame decided to investigate the matter. Of course, since Itachi wasn't around, he just might end up killing the ninja. Without Itachi, he was kind of a...berserker.

"Run! It's the Beast Of Otogakure!" exclaimed the ninja.

"The Beast Of Otogakure?" inquired the water ninja. Didn't sound too friendly from the looks of it.

According to Sasori, Orochimaru had told him about the beast once. Apparently, he had lost many, many ninja to the beast. He also rambled something about an experiment gone wrong.

Kisame scratched his head. Just what was the beast?

Curious, he decided to ask the Oto ninja on the matter. Of course, he wondered if he would realize that he wasn't an Oto ninja and would attempt to combat him, as futile as that was.

It was probably a good thing that they were wearing their bamboo hats. Otherwise they might recognize Itachi and try to capture him for Orochimaru.

Fortunately, the bamboo hats made it so that they could not see Itachi's eyes, so they would not realize that he had the Sharingan and by extension his identity.

"She's killed so many of us..." noted the Oto ninja. She had killed more ninja than any other enemy ninja that they had known, to be precise.

"Wait...she?" inquired Kisame.

"Yeah...Orochimaru's starting to wonder if he's going to run out of recruits...even if he could always get more of us..." stated the ninja.

Curious, Kisame wondered if she would make a good potential recruit...though he was surprised to learn that the beast in question was female. The nickname sounded rather...masculine.

"I'd be happy to take her off your hands..." said the swordsman.

"You can't kill her! She's immortal!" exclaimed the Oto ninja.

"Who said that I was going to kill her?" asked Kisame.

"Do whatever you want! Just get her off our hands!" bellowed the man.

At that very moment, the Beast Of Otogakure herself showed up.

Immediately, the ninja who had warned Kisame about her screamed.

Oddly enough, Kisame noticed that she appeared to be a young woman about her 20s...really not what he was expecting. She happened to have short black hair...and as her name implied, green eyes. She had a slender body and was about 170 cams tall. Her skin was also slightly pale.

Still, judging from how terrified the Oto ninja was of her, there was more to her than meets the eye.

"You're the Beast Of Otogakure?" asked Kisame.

"Of course I am. Why do you ask?" inquired Midori.

"I was expecting you to be a man..." answered the water ninja. And yet, Midori was clearly female.

"What made you think that I was male?" questioned the kunoichi. Had puberty not done much for her?

"Mostly the nickname..." stated Kisame.

"I suppose it DOES sound rather masculine..." acknowledged Midori.

"Anyways, I'm here to provide you with a business opportunity...how would you like to join the Akatsuki?" inquired Kisame. Pain just might have a use for her.

"The Akatsuki? I've heard of you...apparently Orochimaru used to work with them...speaking of which, I'm hoping to obtain his head..." stated the beast.

"You don't say?" asked the swordsman. Perhaps Orochimaru's head would look good on a wall. Then again, it might look rather creepy.

"Yeah...I could never find him for the life of me though. Why does he have to have so many laboratories?!" exclaimed the kunoichi. It was quite frustrating, really. But she would simply destroy each and every one of the laboratories until she found him.

Kisame shrugged. It did seem impractical to build so many laboratories in one single location. He was really starting to question Orochimaru's evil ways. Just what was he researching, anyhow?

"Did you know that Orochimaru used to be part of the Akatsuki?" inquired Kisame.

"Oh really?" questioned Midori. It didn't surprise her considering that he was a psychopath. No doubt he would be interested in joining a criminal organization...especially one that was as legendary as the Akatsuki.

"If you join, you might be able to find more information about him..." stated the water swordsman. Maybe if Sasori was still alive, maybe he would be willing to spill secrets about Kabuto.

But as it was, he was dead...just like the Third Kazekage whom he murdered himself. Ironically enough, Orochimaru had murdered his successor and Deidara attempted to kidnap Gaara.

He was starting to wonder why the Akatsuki hated the Sand Village so much...did they get sand in Pain's pants or something?

"So, about joining the Akatsuki...I might be willing to join...but I have some conditions first..." answered Midori.

"Like...what?" inquired Kisame.

"You beat me in a fight. Prove to me that the Akatsuki are S-Class criminals..." said the kunoichi. Personally she wondered if she could handle S-Class shinobi by herself at this point.

"You first..." nodded the swordsman.

Immediately, Midori lunged towards Kisame...

...only to discover that she was fresh out of chakra. She wasn't going to be able to use jutsu, that was for certain.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"What the-" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Quickly, she began to wonder what was going on. She typically didn't need much chakra to take care of the ninja that tried to stop her dirty work. Why would she suddenly run out like this?

Kisame explained it to her.

"Whoops! My sword might have devoured your chakra already..." nodded Kisame. Did he forget to mention that to Midori before their inevitable duel? His sword was feeling awfully hungry after their trip.

"I hate you..." remarked Midori. Why didn't Kisame fight like a man? Of course, one might think that she fought like a lady due to her gender...even if underestimating her did prove to be a big mistake.

For a member of the Akatsuki, Kisame seemed like a...coward. Surely he would be braver than that...but apparently not.

At that very moment, Itachi returned from his mission. He was rather depressed. Apparently, his attempt to prevent Sasuke from selling himself out to Orochimaru hadn't gone out too well.

Kisame sympathized.

"You didn't get your brother to come with you?" asked the swordsman.

"No, I did not." answered Itachi. It looked like he was going to become Orochimaru's vessel despite his best wishes. Was Orochimaru going to win? He wasn't looking forward to him having the Sharingan. If he had access to all jutsu, he'd basically be a god.

"Well, would you mind if someone else came with us instead?" inquired Kisame.

Suddenly, Itachi noticed that there was a kunoichi standing with Kisame. She didn't seem to like Kisame too much.

"Who is this?" questioned Itachi.

"Just someone I met while you were gone..." stated the water swordsman.

"Why do you want to take her with us?" inquired the man.

"Well, judging from how terrified the ninja around here are of her...she just might be Akatsuki potential..." answered Kisame. It would probably be better if she was on their side instead of an enemy, to say the very least.

"Akatsuki potential? If you say so..." stated Itachi. They were one member short after the departure of Sasori.

"So...are you going to take me towards one of your hideouts? I never thought I would get involved with an organization like THAT..." questioned Midori. She wasn't under the impression that she would hunt down a jinchuriki one day.

Itachi and Kisame nodded.

"Fair enough. Occasionally I wondered where they had their meetings of evil and whatnot..." answered the beast. Was it some sort of evil office building?

"We've certainly come up with some rather crazy defense systems..." remarked Kisame. Who would have thought that Pain would design them all himself? Apparently he didn't want to make his lackeys do all the work for him. That would make him seem...lazy.

Of course, some of the other Akatsuki members might be interested in pitching in...but for the time being Pain was going to handle protecting his stronghold on his own. He was a one-man army after all.

He was starting to wish that he had the Rinnegan...but apparently the Rinnegan wasn't for everyone. Imagine what the worst of the worst could do with that kind of power...

Immediately, Itachi and Kisame escorted Midori to the hideout. Due to the fact that Pain hadn't decided to make her an official member of the Akatsuki yet, she was wearing a blindfold.

Wouldn't want people to discover where their hideout was now. That would present a problem...though admittedly they had multiple hideouts to spare.

Shortly afterwards, Itachi used his ring to contact Pain. He would want to know that a potential recruit was in the hideout, after all.

"Yes?" asked Pain.

"We've found a potential recruit to the Akatsuki...she seems interested in joining us..." noted Itachi.

"Did you say she?" inquired the leader of the Akatsuki.

Itachi nodded. Midori was definitely a girl...despite what Kisame first thought.

"Hmm...perhaps I should tell Konan about this...I'm not so sure how she'll react if she's no longer the only kunoichi in the organization..." stated Pain. It felt like she had been the only female in the organization for about fifty years...

Sure enough, Konan's lantern projection appeared in the hideout.

Immediately, she took a look at Pain's lantern projection.

"Yes?" asked Konan.

"Guess what, Konan. You might not be the only kunoichi in the Akatsuki anymore..." stated Pain.

"Really?" inquired the kunoichi. It felt rather...weird.

At this point, Itachi removed the blindfold so that Midori could see again.

Immediately, Midori investigated her surroundings. Where were the lights?

"So...your hideout is some sort of cavern?" asked Midori.

"One of our hideouts is." stated Itachi.

"Huh. I was expecting some sort of evil castle. What do you know..." remarked the kunoichi. Still, she was expecting it to be a building rather than some sort of cavern. Shouldn't there be air conditioning?

And why exactly was nobody here? Were they off playing bingo?

Curious, she noticed Deidara lying down on a stretcher. He was as messed up as ever after that crazy ambush. Who would have thought that Naruto would ever get the best of him? He had been recruited into the organization to capture jinchuriki. It was rather ironic.

"What's with the young man on a stretcher?" asked Midori.

"We're looking for a medical ninja to heal him..." stated Itachi. Unfortunately, other than Kakuzu's ability to stitch limbs back on, none of the Akatsuki were skilled with medicine and the like.

"He took a nasty...beating..." remarked Kisame.

"I can see that..." answered the young woman.

"He's even gone blind..." stated Itachi. How was he going to capture jinchuriki if he couldn't even see them?

"Maybe I can fix that..." said Midori.

Suddenly, Midori spat on Deidara's eyes.

Unsurprisingly, he was not amused. How dare she spit in his face! What did he ever do to her, anyhow? Did he bomb her village?

Immediately, he rose from his stretcher, despite his injuries.

"What the crap was that f-"

Suddenly, he noticed that he could see again. He began to rub his eyes.

"My eyes...I can see..." murmured Deidara.

It appeared that Naruto's sexy jutsu would not leave him permanently blind after all. It certainly had been devastating at close-range though. It was going to give him nightmares.

Pain noticed what was going on.

"Do you have some sort of healing saliva?" inquired Pain. It was rather peculiar...and yet it appeared to be effective.

"As a matter of fact, I do..." nodded Midori. Though the Otogakure ninja probably thought otherwise, she could do more than just kill things. Personally she didn't think that she would need to use a medical jutsu on herself though.

"Well, you might want to use it on his arms then..." suggested the leader of the Akatsuki.

Midori sweatdropped...but she decided to do as asked.

Immediately, Midori rolled up Deidara's sleeves and began to drool on his arms. It was rather awkward for them both.

And yet, it seemed to be effective. Already, Deidara's bones were starting to knit together. Midori had rather powerful salivation fluids, it seemed. Maybe he should start calling it the Salivation Of Salvation.

In less that a minute, Deidara was ready to hunt down jinchuriki again. It felt rather satisfying to get to continue his work.

However, Deidara wondered if there was something else that she was good at other than healing.

As she did so, she noticed that Deidara had mouths on each of his palms. It was very...peculiar.

"Is there a particular reason you have mouths on your hands?" inquired Midori.

"It's part of a forbidden jutsu...why do you ask?" asked Deidara.

"Great. Now I can talk to you three times as much..." answered the kunoichi.

Deidara faintly chuckled. Someone had a sarcastic sense of humor, it seems.

"It appears that we've found a medic..." noted Konan. It looked like the doctor was in.

"Yes...though I'm beginning to wonder if that's the only jutsu that she possesses..." answered Pain. How exactly did Midori obtain the title of the Beast Of Otogakure?

"Should we test out her abilities?" inquired Itachi.

"Yes, although we're going to need a volunteer..." stated the man.

Immediately, he decided to ask the other Akatsuki members on the matter.

However, none of them seemed willing to do so.

"I don't see the profit involved..." stated Kakuzu. Personally he would rather turn in a ninja to the authorities than survey their skills...though technically he was an outlaw himself.

"Where's the carnage?" asked Hidan. He wanted to do something that involved killing people.

"I want to play with my action figures!" bellowed Tobi. He had just gotten a rare collectible too.

Pain sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. Sometimes it was hard to find good help.

Suddenly, Deidara raised his hand.

"You want to test out her abilities?" asked Pain.

"Well, she DID heal me after I was badly injured...I suppose I'll handle it..." stated Deidara. Believe it or not, he could show gratitude...sometimes.

Personally Midori found it to be a bit ironic...but she decided to comply.

Quickly, Deidara summoned his clay bird summon. It was good to be able to see again, to say the very least. How else would he use his clay to snipe? Get a seeing eye dog with a sniper rifle?

Hopefully he wouldn't be defeated again...at least not as thoroughly as he was before. Next time he was going to be more hesitant to try to grab a jinchuriki. Sasori had warned him, after all.

Sometimes he wondered if he was going to miss him...though personally he wished that he could see things HIS way.

Immediately, Midori leapt onto the bird.

Shortly afterwards, the bird sped off into the sky.

"How'd you get into the Akatsuki, anyway?" questioned Midori. Did they bribe him?

"They were impressed with my skills at being a terrorist..." answered Deidara.

"Orochimaru's a terrorist too...I hate him..." remarked the kunoichi.

Deidara nodded. He wasn't particularly fond of Orochimaru either. Because of him he ended up being humiliated by Itachi Uchiha. If he had simply stayed with the organization, that wouldn't have happened.

Of course, Orochimaru DID try to body jack Itachi Uchiha...so perhaps he could respect him for that. But he still wanted to blow him up. That way people would be impressed with him.

"So...they thought that you would be good at capturing jinchuriki?" asked Midori.

"Of course they did! I'm a S-Class criminal!" bellowed Deidara. He was proud of it, too...though admittedly people loved hunting him down.

"Someone didn't listen to their mother growing up..." remarked the kunoichi.

"Well, she DID say that I should express myself..." stated the clay ninja.

"I'm not sure if that's what she had in mind..." answered Midori.

"Are you criticizing my art?" inquired Deidara.

"What? No, of course not..." stated the kunoichi.

"Good..." murmured the bomber.

"So...about the Akatsuki coming to you..." said Midori.

"It was awful...Itachi wiped the floor with me...and his partner Kisame laughed the whole time..." stated Deidara.

"Kisame brought me into the organization and wiped the floor with ME...how ironic..." remarked Midori.

Deidara wondered if they should form a tag team and kill Itachi and Kisame later. Revenge would be sweet.

Sure enough, they arrived at a destination where Midori could show off her powers.

"So...are you going to demonstrate?" asked Deidara.

"It'd probably be better if I had a live demonstration..." answered Midori.

Suddenly, several ninja showed up.

"Well, speak of Orochimaru..." stated the kunoichi.

As it turned out, they just so happened to want to arrest Deidara. Was he about to suffer the consequences of his actions? He hadn't exactly been behaving himself lately.

"Deidara Nendo! You're under arrest for bombing several villages, working with the Akatsuki, and refusing to get off my lawn!" bellowed the leader of the ninjas.

"You wouldn't get off his lawn?" asked Midori.

"I liked the flowers..." stated Deidara. Maybe he could make some flowers out of clay...if they didn't make him seem girly.

Suddenly, they noticed the mouths on his palms. They began to comment about it.

"What a freak this guy is..." remarked one of the ninja.

Midori was not amused...since people had called her a freak herself when she was younger.

"I swear...this guy belongs in the circus..." stated another ninja. Too bad the circus didn't appear to be in town.

Deidara was rather amused. He was looking forward to fighting again after being in that stretcher who knows how long.

However, just as he was starting to make clay bombs, he noticed that Midori had decided to confront the ninja authorities herself.

Sure enough, one of the ninja decided to talk to her.

"Now now now. We don't want any trouble, missy. We just want to arrest this freak here and-"

Suddenly, Midori vomited all over said ninja.

Deidara wondered why Midori had done such an unsanitary (not to mention gross) act...

...when suddenly, he noticed that the ninja that she had vomited on was starting to...melt.

"I'm melting..." murmured the unfortunate ninja as he drew his last breath.

"No duh." retorted Midori.

As it turned out, Midori could vomit a corrosive acid. It might be in his best interest not to make her eat too much.

Gasping in shock, the other ninja started to become rather frightened. One of their comrades was now a puddle on the floor!

However, one of them was not planning to give up just yet.

Immediately, one of the ninja tried attacking her with taijutsu.

Deidara noticed that she didn't seem worried about that as all. In fact, she simply seemed annoyed.

Once again, he was about to figure out why.

"You're attacking me with taijutsu? You are too dumb to live..." remarked Midori. Of course, she could say that for most of the ninja that she had fought back at Otogakure.

They might have lasted longer if they simply kept their heads on straight...before she made their heads come off.

Immediately, Midori transformed her arms into that of pure muscle. It was rather frightening...as the look on the ninja's face that was attacking her would suggest.

Deidara wondered if Midori had been taking steroids. Uber steroids.

Clapping her hands together, she immediately caused the ninjas trying to arrest Deidara to fall on the floor.

This was then followed by Midori grabbing the unfortunate ninja on the head, and then crushing his skull.

She then dropped him on the ground shortly afterwards, allowing the three remaining ninja to see her dirty work.

"I seem to use this particular jutsu a lot..." noted Midori. Maybe it was one of her favorites?

Once again, the ninja began to panic. How was Midori killing them this easily?

"Oh dear...it looks like you're losing horribly. I on the other hand have yet to break a sweat...oh wait. I just did..." stated Midori.

Immediately, Midori tossed some of her sweat at the ninja.

As it turned out, Midori's sweat was combustible. Once it left her body, it transformed into a fireball.

Unsurprisingly, one of the ninja caught on fire.

Unfortunately for him, the thought of stopping, dropping, and rolling did not occur to him.

Instead, he began to run around. Didn't the fire department teach him anything?

Naturally, the flames spread, and he eventually perished.

Now there was only two ninja left.

Curious, one of the ninja noticed Deidara just standing there.

Immediately, he decided toss kunai at him.

Deidara prepared to defend himself...but as it turned out, he didn't need to bother.

"He's not your opponent, jackass!" exclaimed Midori, catching the kunai with her arms.

She then pulled them out shortly afterwards.

Deidara noted that Midori had some rather impressive reflexes...though he had to question why Midori let herself get stabbed.

Oddly enough, having those kunai lodged into her arms didn't seem to impede her. In fact, they didn't seem to have left a visible mark.

Deidara wondered what was going on.

"You're a monster!" bellowed one of the two remaining ninja.

"You're calling me a monster? You just brought me to tears...that's really cold..." answered Midori.

Somehow, Deidara got the feeling what Midori was going to do next.

"And so is this..." noted the kunoichi.

Sure enough, Deidara had called it.

As it turned out, Midori's tears were made out of...liquid nitrogen. Basically they were an ice jutsu.

Sure enough, the offending ninja ended up being frozen solid.

He was shattered by Midori shortly afterwards.

"I'm making quite a mess, aren't I?" inquired Midori.

Suddenly, she noticed that the last ninja appeared to be hiding. Apparently, he realized that he could not win against Midori. She wondered where he could have possibly gone.

"Oh dear...where could he have possibly gone? It's not like I don't have Byakugan eyes on my stomach and back that I can use to find you...oh wait..." answered Midori.

Deidara was rather perplexed at this revelation to say the very least. Then again, HE did have mouths on his palms that he could use to knead chakra into clay. So perhaps he and Midori weren't so different.

Sure enough, Midori managed to find the last ninja.

Immediately, he panicked, and held out a kunai.

"Stand back!" bellowed the final ninja.

"Or else what? You'll stab me with that big and scary kunai? I assure you that kunai don't mean much to me...and quite frankly, neither do shurikens and paper bombs..." answered Midori.

To demonstrate, Midori stabbed herself several times with a kunai, splattering blood all over the remaining ninja in the process.

Deidara wondered why Midori was such a masochist...when suddenly he noticed that Midori's injuries were disappearing.

Within seconds, it was as if Midori had not stabbed herself at all.

Realizing that Midori could more or less regenerate from all the jutsu that he could dish out, the last ninja decided to flee.

"I'm getting out of here!" screamed the last ninja.

"Oh, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere. You just absorbed a lot of poison..." stated Midori.

"What are you talking about?" asked the ninja.

"You see, my blood happens to be quite poisonous...one drop is enough to make a ninja ill. And since I made myself bleed quite a bit...I think you might see where I'm going with this..." said Midori.

Suddenly, the ninja collapsed on the floor, and his eyes rolled into his sockets. Already the poison had taken effect.

In less than ten minutes, Midori had wiped out an entire squad of ninja.

"Well, so much for them trying to stop me...don't they know the reason why I'm called the Beast Of Otogakure?" inquired Midori.

However, a few seconds later, she began to hear the sound of someone clapping.

"Huh?" asked the kunoichi.

As it turned out, it was Deidara. He had written down the results from Midori's test. So far they seemed pretty positive. Jonin clearly weren't a hassle for her...at least, though those weren't experienced jonin such as the Sand Siblings.

"I think we're ready to report back to Pain...what do you say?" inquired Deidara.

"I've never really had someone applaud me for my work before...usually they run away screaming..." answered Midori.

"I'm not exactly most people...I detonate bombs for a living...and occasionally for fun..." stated the clay ninja.

"You have a point there..." nodded the kunoichi.

Immediately, Midori and Deidara headed back to Pain's evil lair.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy sat on Shikamaru's couch, sighing.

"What's the matter, Lucy?" asked Shikamaru.

"I can't help but shake the feeling that the Akatsuki have recruited another member to replace Sasori..." noted Lucy. Was there another S-Class puppet ninja in the world some well? Or was it someone entirely different? Either way, the jinchuriki might be in trouble.

"If so, that may present a problem..." answered the teenage Nara ninja. How many S-Class ninja were there in the world of ninja, anyway? She was under the impression that there wouldn't be too many...

"Should we hunt down more Akatsuki members?" inquired Lucy. The less members of the Akatsuki there were, the better. Likewise, the more jinchuriki that still had their tailed beasts, the better off the world would be.

"We could do that...but it would be best to try to come up with a plan BEFORE we did that..." answered Shikamaru. If they rushed in blind, they would likely get killed. And then they would have a funeral where everybody cried their hearts out. Wouldn't that be a tragedy?

"Right...Mirajane seemed effective at countering Sasori's poison..." noted the teenage girl. Kankuro might have been dead if it weren't for her. How would Gaara and Temari react?

"She certainly was..." nodded the shadow ninja. It felt rather satisfying to have a method to counter another ninja's abilities...such as being a lightning ninja when your opponent was an earth ninja.

Of course, it wasn't so satisfying when you were on the receiving end. He'd be in trouble if they found a way to counter his shadow jutsu. Why did have some ninja have to have tremendous muscles?

Problem is...the Akatsuki didn't seem too interested in explaining their powers to their enemies. Apparently they liked to keep them secret...except for Kisame because he was a showoff. His sword was awfully hungry.

Fortunately, since Lucy was a member of Fairy Tail and Makarov believed in keeping his guildmates safe...it seemed likely that he would help Konoha gather information about the Akatsuki. They had already managed to figure out how to defeat Sasori...though he did put up a fight regardless. Who would have thought that he was the one that had killed the Third Kazekage, the whole time?

It was a rather surprising revelation. Would Gaara have even become Fifth Kazekage and a jinchuriki if it weren't for Sasori?

Then again, they were more used to fighting other mages than ninja...and these were the deadliest ninja of them all. It's a shame that they couldn't be more like Tsunade or Jiraiya...though admittedly they probably had better anger management and chastity than they did.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had inherited her father's estate. Perhaps she could go visit sometime. It might be gathering cobwebs now that her father was gone. What if a giant spider showed up?

She had been a bit hesitant to enter it before considering that he hadn't been the best father in the world...but since he voluntarily gave up his estate to her surely there was some love somewhere, right?

It might also be a good hiding spot from the Akatsuki...though they didn't seem to be hunting her down at the moment. They didn't even know that she had the nine-tails living inside her. That's why they went after Naruto instead of her.

Immediately, she decided to head back to Fairy Tail.

Fortunately, it appeared the the mansion in question wasn't far from the Fairy Tail guild. Personally she wondered what she should do about her old apartment. Should she give it to someone else?

Then again, she might want to visit it later.

For now, she decided to check out her new home.

Oddly enough, it looked the same as ever, even with her father's absence.

However, she quickly noticed a picture of herself along with her mother and father, and began to sigh. Things just weren't the same, anymore.

Of course, life was never going to be the same now that she had the nine-tails living inside her. At least she didn't have to worry about being lonely...even if her nine-tailed fox was dangerous to those around him.

Suddenly, she heard knocking on her door.

Curious, she decided to open it.

Sure enough, it was her honorary brother...aka Naruto.

"I'm glad that you came to visit..." noted Lucy.

"I heard that you inherited your father's estate and decided to come check it out myself..." answered Naruto.

"By all means, feel free to do so. Just try not to get too jealous..." stated the blonde.

"I probably have more money than you from all the missions I've done at this point..." said the jonin. He just may have surpassed his sensei Kakashi. It was kind of ironic, really. But that wasn't the first time that had happened.

Lucy shrugged.

Sure enough, Naruto noticed that there was a vault inside the mansion.

Inside the vault were a lot of jewels.

He prepared to jump into it...

...but Lucy stopped him.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

"You're probably going to injure yourself if you try that..." answered Lucy.

"But I want to be like Scrooge McDuck..." stated the jonin.

"You're not a cartoon character..." said the kunoichi.

"Aww..." spoke Naruto.

Shrugging, Naruto decided to continue exploring the house.

_Meanwhile..._

Orochimaru and Kabuto continued to make their way to Konohagakure. Though Orochimaru was going to need to get a new body soon, he was feeling awfully fine. Perhaps he was feeling rather excited.

Suddenly, a maniac showed up.

In this case, it was Takeshi.

As usual, he was trying to kill somebody...however badly he may fail.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi.

"You'd be surprised how many people have tried to kill me..." noted Orochimaru. He was starting to wonder if he could even trust his own goons...even if he did promise them power.

Kabuto sweatdropped. He didn't seem nearly as strong as Orochimaru was, to say the very least.

"You do realize that you're trying to kill one of the three legendary Sannin, right?" asked Kabuto.

Takeshi then remembered the beating that the Fifth Hokage had beaten him. He didn't want something like that ever happening again, that was for certain. That incident gave him nightmares.

"I surrender!" exclaimed Takeshi.

Curious, Orochimaru remembered that he might have a use for a bloodthirsty maniac like him. He wouldn't be difficult to corrupt. At all.

Immediately, he sank his teeth into Takeshi's neck.

"Ow! My neck! My precious neck!" screamed Takeshi. That really hurt...though not as much as when Tsunade beat him to a pulp with her bare hands.

Unsurprisingly, the curse mark then appeared on the back of it. Basically he was Orochimaru's pawn. Now he was going to do his crazy bidding. Maybe help with an experiment or two.

But on the plus side, Tsunade wasn't going to beat him to a pulp this time...unless of course, Orochimaru decided to send him after her. How he longed to destroy the leaf village.

All of a sudden, Takeshi was feeling...stronger. A lot stronger in fact.

"Now then...are you ready to kill more people? Just don't try to do it to me...I'm basically immortal..." stated Orochimaru. He had worked hard on becoming immortal too.

"You're immortal? Aw man!" bellowed Takeshi. How was he supposed to kill him now?

Then again, he was starting to not want to do so all of a sudden. Was Orochimaru sexy?

"It's a disappointment for everyone..." answered Kabuto.

"What was that, Kabuto?" asked Orochimaru.

"Nothing, nothing!" exclaimed Sasori's spy. He was just thinking out loud...though sometimes he wished that his thoughts would become reality.

Takeshi nodded. Why not try to hunt down Lucy and Shikamaru? That ought to be fun. He couldn't wait to test out his new power.

Immediately, he leapt away, giggling as he did so.

Sure enough, he was heading straight towards Konoha.

Perhaps Lucy and Shikamaru should prepare themselves...then again, maybe not. Takeshi typically wasn't much of a threat.

_So, what do you think about my new OC? I figured I'd include her since I wanted my fanfic to be original...though you might say that it already is. I'm open to suggestions though._

_In the next chapter...we're going to experience Takeshi's new power. Also, Naruto's friends are going to try to become jonin. Whose going to make it?_


	72. Chapter 72: Takeshi's Cursed Seal

_In this chapter, Lucy and Shikamaru are going to face off against Takeshi once again...but he's going to prove to be a more difficult opponent than before. After all, he happens to have the cursed seal now...much like Sasuke does. Oddly enough, Erza did not inherit that. Apparently, you need Orochimaru to bite your neck in order to get it...or maybe Kabuto._

_Do you want to know what he would look like once he reached the second stage of his cursed seal? I had some ideas in case you were wondering. But I figure it would probably take time before Takeshi could use the second stage of the cursed seal. After all, Sasuke needed help before he could activate the second stage._

**Chapter 72: Takeshi's Cursed Seal**

"I'm actually starting to miss my father..." thought Lucy. It was a shame that he was no longer with her. At least his corporation still appeared to be intact. Who was in charge of the corporation now?

Hopefully it wasn't some sort of corrupt corporate executive. She hated those. They always ruined the lives of the other corporate members.

"I never got to know mine..." stated Naruto. Unfortunately, part of the plan of saving Konoha from the tailed beasts ended with them dying. They were as dead as the mouse that he had accidentally flushed down the toilet.

"Wasn't he the Fourth Hokage? I've been reading the history books..." noted the teenage girl. Apparently, the Second Hokage had the Third Hokage for a pupil. It was rather ironic.

"Yes, he was..." nodded the son of the Fourth Hokage. Perhaps that was the reason why he wanted to become Hokage in the first place. So that he could be like his father and be the hero of his village. Wouldn't that be nice.

Maybe he could be his own person instead. Still, people probably wouldn't mind if he were in charge...once he was strong enough that is. He could already take on members of the Akatsuki as it was. At least, he could take on Deidara with planning. He did need his friends for that plan though.

"You'd think you'd be more popular because of that..." answered Lucy. She knew how popular she was as the daughter of Jude Heartfilia, though personally she wondered what it would be like if she weren't part of that family back when she was younger.

"Well, I did used to have the nine-tailed fox living inside me...people thought that I was a bloodthirsty monster..." noted Naruto. Did they really think that he was going to burn down the local orphanage? Technically he WAS an orphan himself...so that would be extra heinous.

Perhaps people would like him more now that he no longer had the fox living inside his body. Of course, Lucy seemed as popular as ever even though she had the nine-tailed fox living inside her body. It was weird.

Of course, perhaps people didn't know what the nine-tailed fox was in Lucy's world. Maybe she was simply lucky like that.

"But you weren't, right?" asked the teenage girl.

"Nah, just a prankster..." nodded the male ninja. Why did people judge others by their tailed beasts? They technically weren't the same person.

Besides, if they weren't treated well, chances are the jinchuriki's tailed beasts might come out of their bodies...and then they would be in big trouble...at least until they managed to seal them into another host.

Well, they might not be as big trouble as they used to be. The more time a jinchuriki spent inside a host's body, the more human they tended to become. It was a proven fact...at least that was how things had worked for the eight-tails jinchuriki. Once the eight-tails learned to understand humanity better, it started to become less evil.

Still, Lucy didn't want to risk the nine-tailed fox coming out, even if she would probably survive it thanks to the fact that she had Uzumaki blood flowing in her veins.

After all, it just might decide to attack Fairy Tail where all her friends resided. How many of them would die?

At that very moment, Shikamaru showed up.

"Hey there, Shikamaru...are you checking out my old estate?" asked Lucy. It was nice that Shikamaru came to visit her. Of course, he had done so before back when she was living in her apartment.

Speaking of which, maybe she should tell her landlady about her new home...though she didn't think that she would give up her own apartment just yet. She was feeling homesick already.

Of course, she had decided to visit his house...

Shikamaru nodded. He might as well since Lucy used to live there.

"Why did you want to leave this estate? It looks like a nice place to live..." answered Shikamaru.

"Not while my father doesn't pay attention to me..." stated the teenage girl. Perhaps life would have been better for her if her father had simply paid attention.

Of course, she probably wouldn't have become a member of Fairy Tail if her father had treated her well. It was rather ironic that they were a better father figure than her own father was.

"Oh, right..." nodded the teen ninja. It was unfortunate that Jude Heartfilia wasn't the best father in the world...but at least he loved his daughter, that was for certain.

Still, Lucy wondered if she would want to go back to her old apartment. At least she had something to fall back to in case she didn't have the jewels to pay rent...though considering all the missions she had done that seemed unlikely.

_Meanwhile..._

At the Akatsuki base, the Akatsuki members were waiting for Midori and Deidara to return. Though it had not been a long time since Midori and Deidara had left, some of the Akatsuki members were getting impatient.

"Hurry up already!" exclaimed Hidan.

"I was planning on going on a bounty mission today..." stated Kakuzu.

"Of course you were...you and your horrible greed..." answered the priest.

"You and your horrible bloodlust..." retorted the bounty hunter.

However, at that very moment, they heard footsteps. Hopefully it wasn't intruders...as unlikely as it was.

Fortunately, it was not. It was none other than Deidara and Midori.

"Good to see you're back..." answered Konan. It would have been a shame if something bad had happened to him like when Sasori and Deidara were lured into a trap. Only one of them had made it out of that alive...and even then he was lucky to still be alive.

"Any results?" asked Pain as Deidara and Midori returned to the Akatsuki base. He wanted to see why exactly Midori had claimed his title. He got the feeling that Midori was a dangerous ninja.

The only question was...just how dangerous was she?

Deidara decided to give the answer.

"They were rather impressive...to say the very least..." answered Deidara.

Midori smiled. Served those ninja right for being so obnoxious. In her hard opinion, they had gotten what they deserved.

Deidara showed the notes in front of Pain's face.

"Let's see now..." stated Pain.

Immediately, Pain decided to read the notes that Deidara had taken. Apparently, Midori was some sort of genetically engineered killing machine.

Sure enough, Pain realized that Midori was not a ninja that should be underestimated...though she probably wasn't as strong as he was. The Otogakure ninja had every right to be frightened of her, all things considered.

"This is...quite impressive..." answered Pain. Did she really take down five jonin that easy? Perhaps she COULD take on a jinchuriki, as big of a task that might seem.

"You like it?" asked Midori.

"You mentioned something about her being able to regenerate?" asked the leader of the Akatsuki.

Midori nodded. She could regenerate flesh and bone quite easily. It had been a quite effective defense back when she was facing off against Otogakure ninja.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I can regenerate my limbs in a matter of seconds...I could even regenerate my internal organs if I wanted to...though I will admit I need to spend more chakra in order to do that..." admitted the kunoichi.

To demonstrate, she ripped off her own arm.

Shortly afterwards, tentacles appeared to make a new one rather quickly. It was as if she had never ripped off her arm in the first place.

"How impressive..." answered Pain. There weren't many ninja that could regenerate lost appendages, let alone internal organs. Something told him that Midori was not going to die anytime soon. That would explain why Midori appeared to be uninjured after her training session with Deidara.

Of course, judging from the fact that Kisame had managed to defeat her by extracting her chakra, perhaps her chakra was necessary for her to regenerate. It might be best for her to regulate her chakra reserves, as large as they maybe.

The fact that she could regenerate limbs aroused Zetsu's cannibalistic appetite.

"If she can regenerate limbs, can I eat them?" asked Zetsu. He was feeling rather hungry.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. My blood is poisonous..." pointed out Midori.

"Ohh!" complained the plant man. There was always a catch.

"Well then, I think we're going to need to get you a partner..." said Pain. Who should it be? It would be a bad idea to make Midori try to capture jinchuriki alone, as strong as she was.

Curious, the Akatsuki members wondered who that could possibly be. It could be anyone, really. They might try shuffling the Akatsuki pairs a bit.

Deidara decided to ask who it was going to be himself. He wanted to know already.

"Who is it going to be? Hidan? Kakuzu? Tobi?" asked Deidara.

Curious, Pain looked at Deidara.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"It's funny you should mention that..." answered Pain.

"Huh?" questioned the mad bomber.

"After looking at those notes...I actually think YOU'RE an ideal partner for Midori..." stated the leader of the Akatsuki.

"What?" asked Midori. This was rather ironic considering that she had worked with him just a few moments ago.

Pain decided to ask Midori some questions in order to confirm this.

"Would you describe yourself as preferring to fight offensively, wanting to end your fights quickly...and excelling at close-range combat?" questioned Pain. That was what he had gotten from Midori so far.

Midori nodded. She was also rather good at long-range combat with her ability to toss heavy objects...though close-range combat was definitely her forte, especially with her superhuman strength and poisonous blood that she bled when struck. Trying to stab her with a kunai wasn't such a good idea.

"Well, in case you were wondering, Deidara happens to be the exact opposite of those things..." stated the man in charge of the Akatsuki. Though admittedly he lacked Midori's regenerative abilities...he DID make up for it with his destructive potential.

From the looks of it, Midori probably couldn't destroy an entire city like he could...though she had a lot of destructive potential nonetheless given how inhumanely strong she was. She could crush a man's skull like it was made out of playdoh...unless of course, Deidara hardened said playdoh using his clay clones.

All of a sudden, this was starting to make sense.

"So...have we found a replacement for Sasori?" asked Konan. Having one member short meant that capturing jinchuriki and defending their organization would be harder, so it would be a good thing if they did find a replacement for him.

"I believe so, yes. They do seem to counter each other's weaknesses pretty well..." nodded Pain. Together they could handle both a close-range AND a long-range opponent rather effectively. If they fought a long-range opponent, Deidara could use his clay explosives to blow them up from afar. If they fought a close-range opponent, then Midori could vomit on them with her corrosive acid.

Pain thought the idea of vomiting on her opponent to make them melt was rather gross...but at least it appeared to be effective.

Midori smiled. Perhaps working with Deidara would be enjoyable, even if they had only known each other for about half an hour. At least their training session had gone by quickly.

Then again, not all Akatsuki members got along with each other. Hidan and Kakuzu in particular always seemed to be at each other's throats. Who exactly decided to pair those two together, anyway?

"Are we going to go after tailed beasts now?" asked Midori. Perhaps the jinchuriki would put up more of a challenge than the ninja that had tried to stop her from hunting down Orochimaru. She had lost count on how many ninja had failed to stop her.

"Actually, right now you're on standby. We're going to be sending Hidan and Kakuzu after the two-tailed beast once we narrow its location..." stated Pain. Hopefully the mission wouldn't be a bust this time. He didn't want to make the Akatsuki members go on a wild goose chase. That would be embarrassing, and it would make the Akatsuki members angry.

He didn't want them to leave the organization now...S-Class Ninja didn't grow on trees...except for maybe Zetsu.

Immediately, Zetsu handed Midori Sasori's former Akatsuki ring so that she could be an official member of the Akatsuki. Maybe she could assist in extracting tailed beasts.

"Am I getting married?" asked Midori.

"No no no. You're just getting that ring so that you can contact me in the future..." stated Pain. It was important for the Akatsuki members to stay in touch with one another.

Midori shrugged. Being part of the Akatsuki might be something that took a while to get used to. They were rather secretive.

Now that Midori was now an official member of the Akatsuki, Pain decided to end the meeting.

"That's it for today. Dismissed." said Pain.

Immediately, the lantern projections disappeared, leaving Midori alone with Deidara.

"So...do you want to explain your powers to me so that you we can use it to our advantage?" asked Midori. Deidara already knew most of Midori's abilities due to that demonstration they had earlier.

Deidara handed Midori a portfolio of himself. Fortunately, Pain had thought of that.

"So...you use clay to blow things up? It's a good thing I can regenerate then..." answered Midori. She had endured many paper bombs in the past and had simply regenerated from them without a problem.

Deidara nodded in agreement. Wouldn't want any friendly fire now.

"It's one of my greatest hobbies...I get to blow up buildings and I get paid for it..." stated Deidara.

"So...you're like a demolitionist?" asked the young lady.

"That's sort of legitimizing it..." answered the bomber. If he tried to be part of the demolitionist squad, the demolitionists would probably kick him out of their group.

"Oh, yeah..." stated Midori. Deidara was rather...evil...despite what his fangirls would probably say about him.

Looking at the portfolio, Midori noted that she and Deidara could not be more than a mile apart for safety purposes...every now and then some wise guy might show up to try to bring them to justice for their crimes.

After all, that had already happened to Sasori...and to think that he had basically been immortal. Perhaps having Akatsuki partners WAS a good idea.

Besides, Deidara didn't have to worry about close-range combat while Midori was around. Just look at that acid vomit. He clearly didn't want to be caught in that...though now that he thought of it he could probably simply use his flying mounts in order to avoid it.

Perhaps it was good that Midori was on his side. Everyone that had stood in her path right now had ended up wounded or worse. He wouldn't be surprised if even Orochimaru was wary of her.

Suddenly, Deidara remembered something. He was out of clay after that fiasco with Naruto and his friends. He promptly groaned.

He needed to get some more before he could continue fighting. Otherwise he would be a sitting duck when he went out to capture another jinchuriki. Hopefully it wouldn't be a wild goose chase this time.

Well, he wasn't completely a sitting duck. He still had potent taijutsu skill that he could use in the event that he ended up cornered.

Even so, he decided not to risk it. There might be ninja hunting him down, after all.

Of course, since he needed his partner not to be separated from him in case enemy ninja showed up...so it looked like she was coming with.

"Midori..." said Deidara.

"Yes, Deidara?" asked Midori.

"We need to get some more clay...how else will I express my art otherwise?" asked the bomber. You couldn't be a painter without a paintbrush and a paint bucket...as much as you would like to be one.

"Oh right, of course. Try not to blow off your own head once we get it..." answered Midori. He couldn't regenerate it like she could, after all.

Deidara snickered. Once again Midori was being snarky...and yet, he found it amusing.

Immediately, the two of them set off to get some more Playdoh.

_Meanwhile..._

"So...did Kenichi tell us what this girl looked like?" asked Haku.

"She should have blonde hair...and oddly enough she has the nine-tailed fox living inside her body..." answered Zabuza. It was rather unusual.

"I thought it was Naruto who had the nine-tailed fox living inside his body..." questioned the ice ninja. He had seen Naruto's nine-tails power firsthand after he wounded Sasuke.

Perhaps it would be best not to make him angry.

"It's quite unusual...but that was what Kenichi told us..." stated the swordsman. Perhaps it had been transferred from one host to another since the tailed beasts were handing down from generation to generation.

In the Uzumaki clan case, they tended to survive the extraction of the tailed beast, so the jinchuriki didn't necessarily have to grow up without a father and a mother.

Unfortunately for Naruto, that wasn't the case. And in Lucy's case, her mother had died long before she had become a jinchuriki, though having the tailed beast transferred into her was surprisingly painless. She didn't even know she had it until Konohamaru pointed it out to her while she was wearing her tube top of fanservice.

"I can't believe the depths to which he'll sink...planning to torture and murder an innocent girl simply because she's managed to elude his grasp..." remarked Haku.

"I don't think any of us can..." answered Zabuza.

Fortunately for Lucy, they didn't plan to draw out her death like Kenichi did...they weren't that cruel.

Still, they didn't have a choice but to obey him. He could make their life very miserable indeed.

Oddly enough, Zabuza and Haku wondered if they would encounter Kakashi and Naruto again, now that they were back to life and all. It would be kind of awkward...

At least maybe this time Zabuza wouldn't be beaten to death by Gato's thugs now that he was dead and his criminal empire had disbanded.

Of course, if that happened, they would probably have to fight them again.

It would be a rather interesting battle, to say the very least.

_Meanwhile..._

Kakashi was feeling a bit worried about something. For some strange reason, it appeared that an adversary that he had fought in the past had returned...one that was rather dangerous.

Who was it though? He wasn't quite sure.

Had an old foe of his...somehow returned from the dead?

It appeared that he may be dealing with someone that could restore the dead to life...

If so, they were probably a powerful ninja indeed.

Who exactly was it?

Perhaps Lucy was in danger once again...some ninja simply would not leave her be. Being the nine-tails jinchuriki was definitely without its share of problems...even if you did have quite the power source.

In other news, he had heard a rumor that the Akatsuki had somehow managed to find a recruit to make up for the ninja that they had lost. Apparently, this particular ninja was female.

Apparently, not all the ninja in the Akatsuki were male (apart from one curious exception) as he had thought. Maybe they were bothered by charges of misogyny?

It was rather unfortunately, really. It appeared that the Akatsuki were finding a method to counteract their efforts.

Just how many S-Class Ninja would they be able to find to join their cause?

The only question was...who exactly had they been partnered with? Akatsuki members always came in groups of two. Even their leader had an Akatsuki partner of his own.

The exception was Zetsu...since basically he could be his own partner rather than someone else. Of course, his mission was to spy rather than to capture jinchuriki...though on some occasions he would dispose of their bodies.

He just hoped that the Jonin Exams didn't receive any further interruptions. They were getting to be kind of...annoying.

_Meanwhile..._

After receiving his present from Orochimaru, Takeshi was ready to look for Lucy and Shikamaru.

"What a nice man Orochimaru turned out to be..." noted Takeshi. He was so much better than Tsunade, otherwise known as the Fifth Hokage.

Maybe he should challenge her to a gambling contest. He was certain he could win that...assuming that he wasn't as bad of a gambler as Tsunade was.

Problem was...he did not know where they were. They did not seem to be in Konoha at all.

Of course, due to the fact that there were Konoha ninja all over the place, he couldn't search for them for too long.

Curious, he decided to look around outside Konoha for a sign of them. Maybe he would find something if he was lucky.

Suddenly, he noticed a strange portal.

Perhaps Lucy and Shikamaru were waiting for him on the other side.

If so, he wanted to find out. He was feeling rather excited about it.

Immediately, he leapt through it, traveling across time and space.

"Whoa!" bellowed Takeshi.

It was a bizarre experience...and yet, part of him wanted to experience it again.

Unsurprisingly, the portal took him right inside the Fairy Tail guild. This might be a efficient getaway...unless of course the ninja found out that he had been using it.

Fortunately for him, it appeared that Fairy Tail did not recognize that he was an outlaw. Otherwise they would probably turn him back in to Tsunade. How he hated that slave camp, even if it wasn't usually difficult for him to escape.

As such, it was a simple matter of looking for Lucy and Shikamaru so that he could test out his new power on them.

He began to laugh wickedly.

"Why are you laughing?" asked Levy.

Takeshi decided to answer that question.

"I'm having a good day?" inquired Takeshi. Of course, his day would be a lot better once he managed to kill Lucy and her boyfriend. They had caused him so many problems.

"What's that on the back of your neck?" inquired the girl.

"Just a little present a ninja gave me..." answered the man.

"Hmm..." stated Levy. There was something off about that mark on his neck. It made her feel rather nervous. Who exactly gave him that mark?

In fact, there seemed something off about this particular man as well. He seemed rather evil.

Fortunately for Takeshi, he found a letter detailing the Heartfilia estate...and realized where he needed to go.

Laughing maniacally, he began to head towards Lucy's house.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Shikamaru were taking a bubble bath once again.

At this point, Naruto had decided to head back home.

"It's a shame that your father's no longer with us..." stated Shikamaru.

"I suppose he wasn't going to be around forever..." answered Lucy. Quite frankly, neither was her. She was eventually going to have to transfer the nine-tailed fox to someone else if she didn't want it to die as well. Who should it be? Her daughter? A close relative? Who?

It was rather sad.

Suddenly, Takeshi shot a rocket at the bathroom where Lucy and Shikamaru were.

Fortunately, the bathtub absorbed most of the impact.

"What in Fiore?" asked Lucy.

Unfortunately, the bathtub began to fall.

"No no no no no!" screamed Shikamaru.

The bathtub broke, leaving Lucy and Shikamaru to fight Takeshi in their swimsuits.

On the plus side, they hadn't been injured. It was rather fortunate that they didn't end up breaking their necks.

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to buy another one! I hope you're happy with yourself!" bellowed the teenage girl. Bathtubs didn't grow on trees...

"I'm going to kill you!" bellowed Takeshi.

"Again?" asked Lucy. For some strange reason she was starting to wonder if she was trapped in some of time loop. To her knowledge she was traveling across space instead of time.

"He must have found out how to access our world..." answered Shikamaru.

Takeshi was anything if not persistent.

Speaking of Takeshi, he was currently trying to shoot them. Where did he get all those weapons?

Fortunately for Lucy and Shikamaru, they already knew how to fight them...though it felt funny fighting them in their swimsuits.

Suddenly, Takeshi began to drool.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

She then remembered that she was wearing her strapless bikini that showed off her curves.

"Oh...' remembered the teenage girl. That made sense. Since when did she fight in a swimsuit, anyway? It would probably be a better idea to fight in her ninja uniform...like when she went out on missions.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lucy gave Takeshi a Lucy Kick.

"Ow!" bellowed Takeshi, who now had a bruise on his face.

In retaliation, Takeshi pulled out a grenade launcher, grinning widely as he pulled it out.

It was a miracle that Takeshi always had weapons on hand.

Fortunately for Lucy and Shikamaru, he was too slow to hit them.

"Do you have any new tricks up your sleeve?" asked Lucy.

Takeshi thought for a moment whether he did have a few new tricks up his sleeve...

Suddenly, he remembered the cursed seal that Orochimaru had given him.

He decided to give it a test run.

Shortly afterwards, black marks began to appear on his skin.

Shikamaru was rather surprised, to say the very least.

"Where did you get that?" asked the ninja.

"A snake man gave it to me..." answered Takeshi.

"Orochimaru?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Orochimaru?" questioned Lucy.

"He's a man that waged war on Konoha in the past..." stated the shadow ninja. It appeared that Takeshi had a chance encounter with him...and Orochimaru had decided to give him one of his cursed seals.

This didn't bode too well for them, to say the very least. Shikamaru had in fact faced a wielder of the cursed seal before. Even in her first stage she was a fearsome opponent.

It was a good thing that he was able to take control of her Doki so that he didn't end up being smashed to bits. That would have been quite a story at his funeral.

Sure enough, the cursed seal allowed Takeshi to fire faster. Lucy and Shikamaru were now having a harder time avoiding his attacks.

"I'm going to kill you!" exclaimed Takeshi in a louder voice than normal. He sure was becoming more maniacal, that was for sure.

"Those strange markings on his skin are making him stronger..." noted Lucy.

"I'm afraid that having a cursed seal can do that...at the price of losing your free will to Orochimaru..." stated Shikamaru. You don't get those curse seals of evil for free, not even Kimimaro.

"I see..." nodded the teenage girl.

"Just be glad that he doesn't have the second stage of the cursed seal..." answered the shadow ninja. That would be a big problem indeed. Choji and Neji were rather lucky that they were able to defeat their opponents even in that particular state.

Even then, they still had to go to the hospital. In Choji's case, that was because he ate too many pills. Talk about a drug overdose.

Takeshi pulled out a bazooka. Apparently, having the first stage of the cursed seal activated allowed him to wield more formidable weapons.

Immediately, he fired at Lucy and Shikamaru.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Lucy. She was starting to get worried that the mansion was going to be destroyed.

It was a good thing that they had insurance.

Wait, did it cover deranged maniacs?

Fortunately for Lucy, she managed to get out her whip and started attacking Takeshi with it.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" exclaimed Takeshi, his cheeks now covered red with burn marks.

"If you were part of the military, this is what they would do to you..." noted Lucy. Hopefully this would teach him a lesson...but maybe not.

Shikamaru drew the word BOX...and suddenly Takeshi was trapped in a cardboard box.

"Let me out!" screamed Takeshi.

"I was hoping that he would get hit with a boxing glove...but this might work too..." acknowledged Shikamaru.

"Can a cardboard box really restrain him?" asked Lucy. Cardboard wasn't the most sturdy material in the world.

"We might as well exploit it while it lasts..." suggested the shadow ninja. Perhaps it was a magical cardboard box. What did he know about magic? He was too lazy to read a book about magic.

Lucy nodded, and began to decorate the cardboard box with paper bombs.

The paper bombs exploded...and Takeshi was wounded.

In the process, his curse mark disappeared.

"It looks like we might have won..." noted Shikamaru. For some strange reason whenever a wielder of a cursed seal went down they transformed back into their regular state. Perhaps it was because there was no longer chakra flowing through their body.

"Finally...now I change out of my bathing suit...though you probably like seeing me in this outfit..." answered Lucy, posing seductively.

Shikamaru nodded. Lucy did look sexy in her bikini.

Of course, Lucy probably thought that he looked sexy in his swim trunks in return. He was rather happy that Lucy was his girlfriend...though admittedly she did wish that he would be more proactive. There had to be a tradeoff somewhere, right?

"There's something that worries me though..." answered Shikamaru. Apparently, if Takeshi had a cursed seal, that probably meant that Orochimaru wasn't too far behind.

Perhaps he wanted the nine-tailed beast for something. It couldn't be anything good, that was for sure.

Maybe Tsunade should get ready.

_Meanwhile..._

"Are you sure that Zabuza and Haku can pull it off?" asked Akiko. At this point, Lucy was most likely jonin-level. Sure, Zabuza was known as the Demon Of The Mist back when he was still alive...but that wasn't to say that he was invincible. Kakashi DID manage to defeat him...and if it weren't for Haku, he likely would have killed him.

She clearly was a tough ninja, especially she knew how to fight with the tailed beast.

At the rate she was going, she could potentially become one of the Kages.

Kenichi just might have quite the nemesis on his hands. He had made things rather personal to her for what he wanted to do with her boyfriend...not that Kenichi cared.

"Probably not...Zabuza and Haku aren't nearly as strong as I am..." answered Kenichi.

"If they're not strong enough, then why did you send them?" inquired Gorou.

"I figured I might as well give my resurrection jutsu a test run...besides, chances are they might take down some of the ninja defending Lucy...I don't want a repeat as to what happened earlier..." stated Kenichi. Jiraiya had ruined everything.

Now that he thought of it...he heard that Jiraiya liked taking in apprentices...apprentices that could prove to be an obstacle in his plan. Perhaps he should try going after them considering that they were most likely friends and companions with Lucy.

Unfortunately, as he was well-aware there were ninja that were too weak or too moral to participate in his evil plans. The former he wished to kill and the latter he considered to be foolish.

Either way, the former would need to die...and he would destroy anything that would stand in his way.

_Meanwhile..._

"We managed to capture Takeshi...again..." stated Lucy. At this point, she was dressed in her ninja outfit.

"How did he escape this time?" asked Tsunade.

"We've got some bad news though. Orochimaru bit him while he was away from the slave camp this time...and now he has a cursed seal..." answered Shikamaru. As he knew, cursed seals tended to make ninjas more violent and more dangerous...and Takeshi was no exception.

Of course, there was the possibility that using the cursed seal would damage Takeshi's body if he used it for too long...but that was only if.

"Do you think we need to use a jutsu to supress it?" questioned the Fifth Hokage. They had tried it with Sasuke in the past...though it hadn't really worked out. Orochimaru simply promised him too much power...power that he could use to fight his "evil" brother.

Oddly enough, she got the feeling that for some strange reason Sasuke didn't want to fight his brother anymore. She wasn't quite sure why.

Of course, considering that Itachi was a wanted outlaw in Konoha, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if Sasuke DID slay his brother. She just wished that he hadn't defected from his village in order to do it. Several young genin had nearly gotten themselves killed trying to bring him back, even if Sasuke did decide not to kill Naruto. At least there was some goodness still left in him after that little betrayal.

Maybe one day Sasuke will want to own up to his actions and apologize to what he had done. But perhaps that was just wishful thinking. Perhaps Sasuke didn't want to return to his homeland.

Besides, his family and clan were all dead now. Itachi Uchiha apparently didn't want the Uchiha clan to do something bad from what she had learned recently...but she wasn't quite sure what.

Still, Itachi was still a wanted criminal for capturing tailed beasts and extracting them...since the procedure involved murdering jinchuriki. Granted, some Akatsuki members were less evil than others, but they were all outlaws nonetheless.

If only they could find a way to end war without resorting to murdering people.

"I'm glad that you told me about that. We might have to keep a better eye on Takeshi...he managed to escape from my slave camp BEFORE he got that cursed seal..." questioned Tsunade.

"I know..." nodded Lucy. Perhaps it would only be a matter of time before he managed to advance it to the second stage.

Now that Shikamaru thought of it...he wondered if Orochimaru would find a way to make the cursed seal advance to a third stage, or even a fourth. If so, he was not looking forward to Orochimaru unleashing that kind of power against Konoha.

_Meanwhile..._

"Is the second stage of Jonin Exams ready yet?" asked Gajeel.

"Yes...however, there's going to be a short break between each fight...we need to make sure that nobody else shows up to attack the examinees..." said the ninja.

"Meh..." answered the iron dragonslayer.

Fortunately for Gajeel, he would get to go first.

"Yes!" exclaimed the man.

In this case, he was up against Rock Lee.

"Let's get it on!" bellowed Gajeel.

A few minutes later, he and Rock Lee entered the arena.

Immediately, Gajeel used his sand abilities to attack Rock Lee.

Rock Lee gasped in shock.

"What?" asked Gajeel.

"You have Gaara's sand power?" inquired Rock Lee.

"I guess I do. Why do you ask?" questioned the iron dragonslayer.

Rock Lee started to worry. The last time he had gone up against that kind of power, he had ended up being crippled.

Of course, he had been the first person that had actually managed to put up a fight against Gaara up until Naruto and Sasuke showed up.

Fortunately for Rock Lee, he had new powers as well.

In this case, he tossed some playing cards at Gajeel.

However, he simply used the sand to defend himself from the cards.

**"This is as easy as ever..." **answered Shukaku.

"You've faced this guy before?" asked Gajeel.

**"Yes, I have. Breaking his arm and leg and making him a cripple was so much fun...too bad Tsunade managed to cure him despite the risk of him dying..." **stated the one-tailed beast.

"OK..." answered the iron dragonslayer. This was disturbing him a bit.

Frustrated that the cards were proving to be ineffective, Rock Lee decided to check his deck to see if there were something else that he could use other than the razor-sharp ones.

It also probably wasn't a good idea to try using his martial arts to attack Gajeel either. What if he had his arm and leg shattered again? That would be awful, wouldn't it? And Tsunade might not be able to save him again, try as she might.

Fortunately, he just so happened to have more cards in his deck.

In this case, he had a card with a lightning bolt on it.

Curious, he decided to try it out.

Shortly afterwards, Gajeel got struck by lightning.

"Ow!" bellowed Gajeel, rubbing his head.

**"He's clearly gotten stronger since the last time I fought him...unfortunately..." **answered Shukaku.

"Such a pity..." retorted the iron dragonslayer. Still, he was looking forward to a challenge. Having the ability to defend himself with sand made his fights so much easier.

It actually got rather boring.

Curious, Rock Lee decided to check to see if there was anything else in his deck that he could use to fight Gajeel.

There were a lot of possibilities.

Suddenly, he noticed that there appeared to be a water dragon in the deck.

Immediately, he summoned it.

Quickly, the water dragon began to attack Gajeel, causing his sand to turn into mud.

"What is that thing?" asked Gajeel.

Fortunately, he was able to harm it by hurling daggers at it.

Unfortunately for Rock Lee, summoning that had made him feel rather exhausted.

"I am tired..." stated Rock Lee.

Suffice to say, he had learned an important lesson about magic.

Shortly afterwards, the dragon disappeared.

Gajeel smiled. That had been too easy. It looked like he was going to become a jonin.

"What a loser..." thought Gajeel.

Might Guy was rather disappointed. But on the lighter side of things, Rock Lee didn't get crippled this time. He didn't want a repeat of that incident.

Fortunately, Gajeel was not as bloodthirsty as Gaara had been back when he was the host. Of course, Gajeel's childhood had been better up until that point, even if he did have to put up with Master Jose and his wickedness.

"And the winner is Gajeel!" exclaimed the referee.

"Way to go, Gajeel! Maybe Rock Lee won't try to flirt with me while you're around..." answered Sakura.

Gajeel nodded.

Speaking of Sakura...apparently she was going to face a ninja next.

She was looking forward to it.

Little did she know that particular ninja was going to be outside of Konoha...

_And Midori is now an official member of the Akatsuki. Not good news, is it? And yes, she's going to be working with Deidara if you don't mind...since you probably want to see Tobi and Deidara to __interact together I'll include a few scenes like that...I just figured that if I partnered Deidara with Tobi the fanfic might get unoriginal...just saying..._

_Also, Takeshi now has a cursed seal. You could say he's with Orochimaru now. Of course, that battle with Orochimaru and Kabuto might have to wait because other events are going to happen first. I'm sorry if you're disappointed._


	73. Chapter 73: Working Together

_In this chapter, we're going to see how Midori and Deidara work together as a team. You're probably interested in that, am I right? Mind you, it's not going to be pretty...even if Deidara technically is an artisan. They are members of the Akatsuki, after all._

_Also, we're going to see Kakashi and Sakura work together to take down Zabuza and Haku...I figured I would make it two on two like I did with Naruto and Erza's chance encounter with Itachi and Kisame. It's a good thing Erza has Sasuke's Sharingan now, isn't it? It's going to come in handy when she ends up in another fight._

_Also, Hanabi is going to spray paint Naruto's apartment. She's as mischievous as ever._

**Chapter 73: Working Together**

After getting some more clay from their handy supplier, Deidara realized that he had a problem as soon as he stepped outside the store.

"Not these guys again..." thought Deidara. He was getting tired of the people that didn't appreciate his art, to say the very least. They would rather try to arrest him than admire his artwork. If they didn't like it, they could kiss his C2 dragon.

Apparently, there were some ninja from Iwakagure had caught wind that he was here. He must have quite the bounty on his head from the looks of it. He had been a very naughty boy. If it weren't for the fact that he had very good eyesight, he might have not even noticed them...until of course, it was too late.

Each of them were wearing a headband signifying their nationality. Of course, Deidara's headband was slashed to indicate that he had forsaken his village. Incidentally, they were also dressed in red.

Of course, this wasn't the first time that some ninja had shown up to apprehend him. He wasn't the most liked man in Iwagakure, that was for certain. Some of them weren't even from Iwagakure, either.

Fortunately, it appeared that his supplier hadn't sold him out, so he didn't need to blow him up for his trouble. Where else was he going to get his precious clay?

Luckily, since he was stocked on clay, he could probably attack them with his clay sculptures. They were rather good at getting the jump on the enemy, especially the grasshopper ones. Sometimes he cracked himself up.

However, it appeared that they might be able to put up a fight if he decided to attack them alone. What if some of them knew lightning jutsu so that they could defuse his bombs?

At that very moment, Midori showed up.

Curious, she noticed Deidara's facial expression. She could tell that she was worried about something. What could it possibly be?

"Is something the matter?" asked Midori, approaching Deidara.

Deidara's eyes widened in surprise.

He proceeded to look behind him, and realized who it was. Why didn't he recognize that voice? Surely he would have gotten used to it by now considering that they were partners.

He decided to explain the situation...since they were partners, maybe they could help each other out. Of course, Midori wasn't a wanted criminal like he was...at least, not outside of Otagakure...

"It's some ninja from Iwagakure...they're here to arrest me. Apparently they don't like my form of art..." answered Deidara. Of course, they had never managed to catch him before (his clay clones were a big help), but he didn't want to do anything too risky. He had almost been caught the last time he encountered enemy ninja.

Curious, Midori looked around, and she noticed them as well.

Fortunately, it appeared that they were not yet aware of their presence. However, it seemed unlikely that they could simply walk on by though. There were about a dozen of them. Thank goodness none of them had brought binoculars.

"I suppose there will be some people who don't understand it..." noted Midori. Fortunately, she was not one of them.

From the looks of it, they needed to come up with a plan to get rid of them. It seemed foolhardy to try to attack them alone. They weren't sure what they were capable of, after all.

"Any ideas?" asked Deidara.

Curious, Midori decided to check Deidara's portfolio to see what her partner was capable of again. It might come in handy for the situation that they were in.

Of course, they weren't aware that Midori was working with Deidara so she would likely get the first strike against them...but she figured that her regeneration ability wouldn't protect her from EVERYTHING. After all, she did need some chakra in order to use it. If she ran out, she wouldn't be able to recuperate...not until she got her chakra back, anyway.

Fortunately, after examining it for a few seconds, she had an idea.

"I think I might know what to do..." stated Midori. If all went right, there wouldn't be any ninja to worry about.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hmm..." thought Inari. For some strange reason he got the feeling that someone he knew had returned from the dead. He wasn't quite sure who. He got the feeling that they were someone dangerous, too.

How exactly did they return from the dead, though? Was some sort of evil necromancer bringing people back to life? For some strange reason he also got the feeling that there was actually an evil necromancer that was bringing people back to life somewhere...who could it possibly be?

Suddenly, he noticed Hanabi. As usual, she was being rather mischievous. Perhaps Hiashi Hyuga could have raised her differently.

As it turned out, she had discovered a can of green spray paint...and wouldn't you know it, she had decided to have some fun with it...at another person's expense.

Currently, she was spray painting Naruto's apartment with a big smile on her face.

"Nothing like some good spray paint to start the day with." remarked Hanabi.

"Hanabi was here. Naruto is a loser!" read the graffiti.

"You sure that's a good idea?" asked Inari. There probably was another way that Hanabi could express herself.

"Relax...he can wash it off sooner or later..." answered Hanabi. It was only a matter of time before he came back home.

"I don't think he's going to be too happy with you though..." stated the preteen boy.

"He did that all the time back when he was a genin..." pointed out the girl. One could consider Naruto be the prankster king. Of course, nowadays he didn't really prank anyone anymore. It was kind of disappointing. She doubted that she would ever give up pranking. It was simply too much fun to pass up.

"I suppose you have a point, but Naruto did risk his life to save us from Gato..." answered Inari. Unfortunately, he couldn't save them from Kenichi, but he supposed he couldn't blame Naruto for that. Kenichi was one of the most dangerous ninja there was, and he had no way of knowing that he was coming to pay them a visit.

"True..." nodded Hanabi. It was rather depressing that Inari had lost so much so quickly. She was glad that she could befriend him so that she could help him get through the loss...though admittedly she was a lot more ill-behaved than he was.

"So, how's it going?" asked Inari.

"Pretty good. I got disinherited by my father." stated Hanabi. In other words, she wasn't the heiress of her clan anymore.

"What? That's terrible!" exclaimed the preteen boy. He knew how he would feel if his mother decided to disinherit him...though admittedly she was broke before Tazuna built that bridge.

"Actually, no. I'm free from a lot of responsibilities now." answered the preteen girl. Hiashi Hyuga had been rather hard on her previously. Now he was giving her more freedom...though he was a bit worried about her mischievous streak.

"Oh yeah..." stated Inari. Hanabi just might have a point...though he would have liked to inherit his grandfather's business if the business had survived Kenichi's attack. He would have gotten to see a lot of people crossing the bridge every now and then. Maybe he would have been able to meet some friends.

"Why did you get disinherited anyway? Did you spend too much money?" asked the preteen boy. He got the feeling that Tsunami didn't like it when he kept asking for his allowance. He just wanted some candy...

"Actually, I got disinherited because my older sister Hinata got stronger all of a sudden. Did you know that she can breathe fire now?" inquired Hanabi.

"Really? Gosh." stated Inari. He didn't even know that ninjas could breathe fire. Sure, he was living in the Land Of Fire...but it still seemed rather unusual.

"Also, she's really strong...she managed to take down several treasonous Hyuga ninja by herself..." remarked the brunette. Fortunately, it appeared that the main house and the branch household were on good terms once again. It appeared that Natsu had taught her rather well.

At that very moment, Naruto walked by. Judging from the smile he had on his face, he had no clue what Hanabi had done while he was away.

Immediately, he discovered what Hanabi had done. His eyes widened in shock.

"Noooooo!" exclaimed Naruto. Not his apartment! What would the landlord think?

Of course, he himself had practiced using graffiti in the past, such as the time where he decided to spray graffiti on Kiba's house. He was not happy with him to say the very least. He was really starting to hate irony.

Well, it looked like he was going to have to wash it off. Where did he put his sponge? Where did he put his bucket of water? Maybe if he was lucky it was going to rain today.

He thought for a second that he heard snickering in the bushes...but he figured that maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe Itachi's genjutsu had affected his brain.

Shrugging, he decided to go into his room in order to look for them. Maybe he put them in his closet?

"Are you sure that you should have put your name on that?" asked Inari. The authorities could probably use it to find her.

"Relax...nobody knows who I am except for you. I vanished off the face of the earth for quite some time in the manga..." pointed out Hanabi.

"Oh yeah..." remembered the boy. Of course, he could say the same for himself now that he thought of it. He wished that he could have some more screen time for a change.

At least he was going to be in a novel soon. Why were they writing so many novels about Naruto again? Apparently they thought that they would sell at the bookstores. He sure hoped that was true.

_Meanwhile..._

Tsunade was feeling rather worried about something.

Sure enough, Shizune had noticed the worried expression on her mistress's face.

"Is something the matter, Lady Tsunade?" asked Shizune. She could usually tell whenever her mistress was depressed. She had known her for quite some time, after all.

"Kenichi is up to something. I'm not quite sure what. I can sense it." answered Tsunade, putting her finger on her chin.

"Is he trying to destroy another clan again?" inquired the kunoichi. She really wished that he would stop his campaign already. Enough lives had been lost at his hands as it was.

"I think he's taking a break from that...I'm sensing that he's trying to kill Lucy. I'm not sure how I'm going to counteract it though..." stated the Sannin.

"She and Kenichi have encountered each other for a while, haven't they?" questioned Shizune. No doubt that they would be having more encounters in the future.

"Yes, no doubt Kenichi has built up a grudge against her." noted Tsunade. His encounter with Lucy was proof of that. She was rather worried about Lucy.

Perhaps she should make sure that Lucy is monitored. Of course, there was the possibility that Lucy was going to think of a way to defend herself for their next encounter. Maybe she was trying to unlock more of the nine-tailed beast's chakra. That would be a good way to protect herself from Kenichi.

Alternatively, Tsunade could simply send her on nearby missions instead of faraway ones. It might be a good idea to make some jonin go with her as well.

However, she wasn't sure where Kenichi was. It was a shame that they didn't have a method that they could use to monitor him...though she could check to see if there had been any attacks lately to get a general idea of his location.

"I wonder where Lucy is, anyway?" asked Shizune.

"She's probably at Fiore where she'll be safe..." answered the Fifth Hokage. That seemed like a good choice of action...though she wondered if Kenichi would eventually find out about the interdimensional portal.

_Elsewhere, near a canyon..._

The Iwa ninja smiled. They were finally going to get the opportunity to arrest Deidara. They had a feeling that he would show up at the clay store. After all, making clay sculptures was his profession...when he wasn't using them to blow people up.

"I'm so glad that we can bring him to justice...I'm sick of him always blowing up buildings with his bombs. Can't he come up with another way to express his art?" asked the leader of the group. The less mad bombers that were in the world of ninja, the better.

"I know..." answered the second-in-command of the group. Well, he'd like to see him make bombs once they carted him off to prison. Of course, if the Tsuchikage considered him to be too much of a threat, maybe they should simply kill him.

Suddenly, Midori showed up. Due to the fact that she was dressed in her Akatsuki robe, they immediately realized that she was a member of the Akatsuki.

"Where's Deidara?" asked the leader of the Iwa ninja. Since when was Deidara a brunette? Of course, people did tell him that he looked like a girl...

"I'm not sure...maybe we got the wrong target..." answered the second-in-command. He could have sworn that Deidara would be here. Maybe they had gotten the wrong directions?

"Well, she's clearly a member of the Akatsuki. Get her!" exclaimed one of the ninja.

Immediately, the ninja began to hurl kunai at Midori. If that failed, maybe they could whip out some paper bombs. Whose bright idea was it to make explosives made out of paper, anyway? They were trying to save the rainforest.

Of course, due to her regeneration ability, kunai weren't much of a problem to her at all. She simply regenerated from them.

However, she pretended to be wounded regardless, clutching her stomach.

"Ugh..." murmured Midori.

"I think we wounded her! Chase after her!" ordered the leader of the Iwa ninja, pointing in Midori's direction.

Unbeknownst to the ninja, she was smiling. It looked like her plan was working. It was time to execute the next part of the plan.

Midori then began to run, leading them between two canyon walls.

The Iwa ninja continued pursuing her...unaware of what she was planning.

Quickly, she used a camouflage jutsu to throw the ninja off her trail.

Shortly afterwards, she leapt to the top of the canyon wall.

Curious, they began to look around for her.

However, the Iwa ninja began to get suspicious. Why exactly DID she take them here?

"Hmm...something's not right about this. Everyone pay attention to your surroundings..." warned the leader of the group.

"Where did the kunoichi go?" questioned the second-in-command. He sure hoped that she wasn't simply an illusion. He hated it whenever he fell victim to a genjutsu.

Midori tapped Deidara on the shoulder.

"I think they might be on to us..." whispered Midori.

"It's alright. I've got them where I want them." Deidara whispered back.

Midori smiled.

"Time for my rendition of Picasso's Guernica!" exclaimed the bomber, performing a hand seal.

"Did you say something?" asked the leader of the group.

Suddenly, the clay mines that Deidara had secretly buried in the ground began to go off. Unsurprisingly, they were rather loud...and rather deadly, too.

Quickly, they began to hear the explosions. However, the Iwa ninja were already being consumed by them. They were going off surprisingly quickly.

The leader of the Iwa ninja attempted to run for it, but unfortunately he was not an Olympic runner, and the mines eventually caught up with him. He screamed like a little girl as he was blown to bits.

The few remaining ninja who had not been caught by the mines gasped in shock. How could so many of them have gotten killed this quickly?

At that very moment, Midori showed up, much to their surprise. Despite her clutching her stomach earlier, she did not appear to be wounded at all. In fact, she didn't even seem to be grimacing.

"Remember me?" asked Midori.

Before they could react, Midori vomited her corrosive acid all over them, and then they knew no more.

She then wiped the acid off her face shortly afterwards. Oddly enough, the acid in question didn't really seem to affect her.

Deidara applauded Midori once again. Now they didn't have to worry about those Iwa ninja anymore...though he supposed that more Iwa ninja might be sent to investigate their deaths. They were rather...nasty.

"What a nasty trap." remarked Midori. Sure enough, the canyon had gotten rather...bloody. Was that what ninja were going to call it...Bloody Canyon? She wouldn't be too surprised.

"Did...one of them scream like a little girl?" asked Deidara.

"I think it was their leader. It looks like he wasn't as manly as he looked." answered the young lady.

Suddenly, Deidara remembered something. How did Midori know where the mines were?

"How could you see the mines? I hid them underground..." pointed out the bomber.

"Good question." answered Midori.

Immediately, Midori removed her cloak and lifted up her shirt...which oddly enough resembled a hospital gown.

What Deidara noticed was rather...interesting.

"Wait, is she flashing me?" Deidara asked to the narrator.

"What? Of course not!" exclaimed Midori, her cheeks turning red. Why would she want to do that? She and Deidara hadn't known each other for that long.

Deidara sighed in relief.

As it turned out, Midori had a Byakugan eye on her stomach. A fairly large one, no less.

She then turned around, revealing that she also had a Byakugan eye on her back. All of a sudden, things were making sense.

"You have the Byakugan?" asked Deidara. Despite this, Midori did not appear to wear a slashed Hyuga headband. It was rather unusual. He also didn't notice a seal that would indicate that she was a member of the branch household.

"Not always..." answered Midori. Though she did have the Byakugan, she technically wasn't a member of the Hyuga clan. If she was, she would have it to go with her eyes...not in that particular position.

Of course, she would also know how to use the Gentle Fist...but considering that she could tear through concrete like it was made out of paper, maybe she didn't need it.

Personally, Deidara found it to be rather ironic that he was working with someone that had multiple eyes...similar to how he had multiple mouths. Of course, his previous partner had similarities with him as well, though their art style was rather different.

Well, it was getting late, so he figured that maybe he should look for shelter. Wouldn't want to collapse from exhaustion in the middle of nowhere.

Fortunately, there was a hotel nearby. Hopefully they wouldn't notice that they were members of the evil Akatsuki. They tended to flip when they realized that they were around. They were the biggest criminals in the world, after all.

Perhaps they should take off their cloaks so that nobody would get suspicious.

Afterwards, Deidara summoned his clay dragon mount and began to fly.

However, he realized that he had forgotten Midori.

"Well then, I'll just lower my dragon and-"

Suddenly, Midori leapt through the air and onto the dragon.

Deidara was rather surprised at the occurrence. Just how many feet did she just leap?

"How did you do that?" asked Deidara.

"I can leap pretty high...even for a ninja." noted Midori. It made her feel like a kangaroo...an evil kangaroo.

Deidara decided to check Midori's portfolio on that.

Sure enough, she could leap rather high. Apparently, her legs were as strong as her arms.

Well, that was rather convenient for him. It looked like he wouldn't need to wait for Midori to hop onto his clay dragon before taking off.

Now that he thought of it, he was wondering how Midori was able to leap to the top of the canyon so easily as well. It was a rather large jump.

Together, he and Midori rode into the sunset, looking for a place to stay.

_Elsewhere..._

Near Konoha, Kakashi was out on a mission to make sure Kenichi was not near Konoha. If he was, Lucy could be in danger.

However, he noticed something else instead.

As it turned out, it was Zabuza and Haku.

This perplexed him...he thought that Zabuza and Haku were deceased. Yet here they were, walking like nothing had happened to them at all.

Something wasn't right.

Had he fallen victim to some sort of genjutsu?

Curious, he scratched himself with a kunai to see if that was the case.

However, it turned out that his eyes in fact were not playing tricks on them. These were the real deal, alright. It was as if he had died and gone to heaven.

Sure enough, a familiar mist was beginning to appear.

He wondered what they were planning. Was Zabuza going on another assassination method? He wouldn't be surprised, even if his last contract didn't work out so well. Hopefully Gato was rotting in Hell for what he did.

As such, he decided to eavesdrop using a camouflage jutsu.

As it turned out, they were up to something. Something bad. Specifically, they were plotting to kill somebody.

"I wonder where Lucy is..." stated Haku. It felt like they had been looking for her for a while.

"You know what to do once we find her, right?" asked Zabuza.

"Yes." nodded the ice ninja...though personally he would rather let Zabuza do the killing. It made him feel rather squeamish.

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise. Sure enough, they were planning to kill Lucy.

He had to warn her immediately. He wondered if Kenichi had hired them for the task. It would make sense for him to do so while he went off to hunt more clans.

But at that very moment, Sakura showed up. She was on a mission to get some herbs for the purpose of healing ninjas that had been sick and injured.

As it turned out, she had spotted Zabuza and Haku as well.

She gasped in shock. Had they somehow survived their battle at the Great Naruto Bridge?

Unfortunately, Zabuza and Haku noticed her before she could head back to Konoha.

Immediately, they decided to take action.

"Oh dear...it looks like we're going to have to kill her in order to stop her from warning Lucy..." acknowledged Zabuza. Something told him that she was a friend of hers.

"It's rather unfortunate..." noted Haku. Still, Kenichi WOULD make their life a living hell if they didn't complete that task that he had set for them. They would be begging for death more than ever by the time he finally killed them.

Sakura sighed. It looked like she had no choice but to fight. However, she realized that she was at a disadvantage since it was two against one.

Fortunately, at that very moment, Kakashi showed up.

"Kakashi!" exclaimed Zabuza, his eyes widening in surprise. He never thought that he would run into him of all people.

"Hello there, Zabuza." stated Kakashi.

"Were you expecting us to be dead?" asked Haku. Last time he checked they probably still had a tombstone. It would be kind of awkward to visit it...though considering it was far away they probably wouldn't be doing that anytime soon. Why hadn't they invented vehicles in the world of ninja yet?

"Kinda..." answered Sakura. Of course, it had been super depressing when they did die, so maybe it wasn't so bad that they had been resurrected. However, it appeared that they were once again enemies...even if they weren't working for Gato anymore. Who would want to resurrect him? He wasn't a fighter.

"Well, we're not. A man with red hair decided to resurrect us..." answered Zabuza.

Sakura gasped. She had a feeling who that was. That would explain why they would be after Lucy now that she thought of it. What other explanation could there be? Lucy wasn't even from the world of ninja.

Of course, if they knew how rich Lucy was, maybe they could simply make money robbing her instead.

"Which one of us should take on which opponent?" asked Sakura. She was a bit worried about facing Zabuza...the first time Kakashi had fought him, he had gotten trapped inside a water prison. It was a miracle that he didn't end up drowning. Just how long could he hold his breath?

"I think I should take on Zabuza since I have more experience fighting him...of course, that leaves you with Haku, I suppose." nodded Kakashi.

Sakura thought it was rather ironic that she developed ice abilities from her first trip to the world of magic all of a sudden.

Sure enough, Haku trapped Sakura with his Crystal Ice Mirrors technique.

"Why am I seeing so many of you all of a sudden?" asked Sakura. For some strange reason Haku's reflection was on each of the crystal ice mirrors.

And unfortunately, it appeared that Haku had her surrounded. She could see his reflection everywhere...and she had no idea when or where he was going to strike. It was rather inconvenient.

Fortunately, since she was Gray's interdimensional partner, she didn't exactly mind the cold much. She could stand naked in a blizzard and not feel anything.

"Are you saying you want to see me naked?" asked Sakura to the author.

I wasn't implying anything.

"You had better not." answered the angry pink-haired girl. She was saving her body for Gajeel.

Quickly, Haku began to dart across the ice mirrors. If she wasn't careful, Haku could end up hitting her.

Not only that, but he was tossing senbons. Those would likely hurt if one of them pierced her skin.

"I wasn't really expecting to fight you, to be honest. The last time I fought you, you stood in front of Tazuna..." stated Haku.

"Tazuna's dead now..." answered Sakura. She was under the impression that he would die of natural causes...but it looked like that wasn't the case at all.

"Oh..." said the ice ninja. He wondered what could have happened to him. Now that he thought of it...didn't Zabuza mention about a genocide occurring at the Land Of Waves? It looks like Tazuna had been one of the victims.

"I'm just going to stand there and not do anything anymore...that would be lazy." pointed out the pink-haired kunoichi. She wouldn't be surprised if she ended up being compared to Shikamaru.

"I suppose you have a point..." nodded Haku. She would probably be letting her teammates down...though now that he thought of it...hadn't Sasuke left her side since then? He had heard a lot of rumors in Heaven.

Fortunately for Sakura, she was able to punch one of the mirrors with a single punch, shattering it in two. She sure hoped that she didn't have bad luck later.

Now there were only...about twenty of them to go.

"I guess I might as well get started..." said Sakura, approaching another one of the mirrors.

"You sure have gotten strong..." noted Haku as he leapt to another mirror. It was surprising what could change between two and a half years, the simple fact that they had been restored to life included.

"I sure have." answered Sakura. Before anyone asked, she hadn't been taking steroids...though she did admit that she was rather aggressive, especially towards Naruto. He once farted in Sakura's face and she had beaten him so hard that he had to use a wheelchair for a few weeks.

Haku began to toss ice spears, hoping one of them would hit her.

However, she simply punched the ice spears with her bare hands, and shattered another mirror.

Unfortunately for Haku, he realized that the longer he maintained the ice mirrors, the more chakra he was going to be spending.

Perhaps he should try using a different jutsu instead. That way he could conserve his chakra while fighting.

Meanwhile, Zabuza was attempting to slash Kakashi with his sword. He was proving to be rather agile though. He was starting to wonder if he should really wield such a heavy sword when facing off against other ninja. Sure, it was a powerful weapon, but still.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Kakashi had gotten stronger since his last encounter, even if he did pick up a few new tricks while he was in the afterlife.

On the other hand, Kakashi just might prove to be entertaining to fight.

For a moment, Zabuza thought that he had slashed him...only for him to transform into a log. Who invented that jutsu, anyway? It was really annoying to think that you had hit your opponent only to realize that you missed them completely.

Suddenly, Kakashi attempted to stab Zabuza with a kunai from behind.

However, Zabuza blocked it with his sword.

Curious, he seemed to remember Kakashi having the Sharingan on his left eye. It might be best for him to change his strategy accordingly, like they did during their second encounter.

It seemed rather unusual to meet Kakashi again after over two and a half years. Where had the time had gone?

In order to give him a hand, Zabuza decided to create a water clone.

However, Kakashi countered by creating a shadow clone. Maybe they were wasting their chakra.

"I see that you're still wielding that same sword after all this time..." remarked Kakashi.

"Of course I am. Even if the sword is damaged, I can simply use my blood to repair it...or someone else's, if you catch my drift..." answered Zabuza.

"Right..." nodded the man. He sure hoped that Zabuza didn't have a blood fetish.

Suddenly, he noticed that Zabuza had hidden himself in the mist.

Kakashi wondered where he could have possibly gone.

He sure hoped that he wasn't planning to attack Sakura. She already had her hands full with Haku as it was.

Suddenly, Zabuza spat out water at him.

Naturally, Kakashi was forced to avoid it. He sure wished that there was something that he could do about all this mist. It was a good thing that his Sharingan enhanced his eyesight or this might be even more difficult.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that since he knew earth release techniques...it might be a good idea to try using them to defend himself.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" thought Kakashi.

Immediately, he created a wall of earth to defend himself from Zabuza's attacks.

Sure enough, the water techniques were having a hard time getting through.

Zabuza sighed. It was times like this when he wished that he knew lightning techniques instead of water ones. Maybe he needed to stop specializing in a particular element so much.

Well, maybe he could try cutting through the rock wall with his sword.

Quickly, he began to start cutting.

Meanwhile, Sakura was still fighting Haku. As before, she was smashing the mirrors with her fists.

However, she noted that every time she smashed a mirror, Haku ended up becoming faster. Apparently, the less mirrors he had, the less chakra he had to spend maintaining them. It made sense.

Sure enough, Sakura was starting to feel rather dizzy.

"I wonder if there's some way for me to stop him in his tracks..." thought Sakura.

Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Oh, that's right. I have Gray's magic..." acknowledged the pink-haired girl. How could she have forgotten that?

Quickly, she made an ice block.

It wasn't a moment too soon, as Haku began to move across the mirrors again.

However, he ended up crashing into the ice block this time for his trouble. It looked like he was moving a bit too fast for his own good.

"Ow!" exclaimed Haku.

In the process, his face mask cracked a bit. Sakura wondered what he looked like underneath that mask.

She could figure that out later. For now, she was in the middle of a fight.

Before Haku could resume traveling throughout the mirrors, Sakura punched him a few times.

"Ow!" exclaimed Haku. How did Sakura get so strong? No wonder she was able to break the crystal ice mirrors!

Perhaps it was time for him to change tactics.

Immediately, he dismissed the crystal ice mirrors. He then sighed in relief now that he could conserve his chakra.

He then began to create an enormous ice castle.

"Hey! Quit ripping off Frozen!" demanded Sakura. She didn't want to have to go to court.

"Sorry..." answered Haku.

Sure enough, it appeared that the castle was heavily guarded. It might not be a good idea to simply venture in blindly. It would be rather stupid, to say the very least.

Fortunately, Sakura had a better idea. Since Zabuza was currently fighting Kakashi, maybe she could pitch in and give him a hand. Then she could get Kakashi to help her take on Haku.

As it turned out, Zabuza had injured Kakashi with his blade. He now had a cut across his stomach.

"Ugh..." murmured Kakashi. He wasn't feeling so well.

"Are you giving up already, Kakashi?" asked Zabuza.

"No, I am not." answered the lightning ninja.

"Good...I'd be disappointed if the fight was over this quickly." answered the demon of the mist.

Suddenly, Sakura showed up.

Immediately, she began to heal Kakashi.

"Thanks...but I thought you were fighting Haku..." stated Kakashi.

"He's holed himself in an ice castle like in that Disney movie..." answered Sakura.

"I see..." nodded the jonin.

Immediately, Zabuza lunged towards Kakashi.

However, Sakura used her ice powers to freeze his legs.

"What the...I can't move!" exclaimed Zabuza. Now how he was supposed to eat Kakashi and Sakura with his sword?

"Let's just say that Haku isn't the only ninja that can use ice jutsu..." answered Sakura.

"You know, part of me wondered what it was like to be on Haku's receiving end..." stated Zabuza. It looked like he was starting to find out.

"It's probably a good thing that he's a pacifist." acknowledged Kakashi. Imagine if he were an icy and remorseless killer like his element implied.

Quickly, he summoned some dogs to attack Zabuza.

"Summoning help, are you? Well, I brought help too!" exclaimed Zabuza.

"Isn't Haku holed up in a castle to keep himself safe?" asked Sakura.

"Well, obviously, but I brought help aside from him..." answered the swordsman.

Immediately, Zabuza pressed his hand against the ground.

Sure enough, several octopuses appeared.

"You have a summoning contract?" asked Kakashi. He didn't recall Zabuza ever having one before.

"I may have picked one up on the way here..." answered Zabuza.

Sakura thought it was somehow appropriate considering that he was an assassin. She got the feeling that those octopuses could camouflage themselves.

Sure enough, they were blending into their surroundings. Of course, it also helped that it was rather misty. Sakura was getting rather sick of the mist.

Suddenly, one of the octopi squirted ink in Sakura's eyes.

"Aargh! My eyes!" exclaimed Sakura.

This gave the octopi the opportunity to start wrapping Sakura off.

"You know, these tentacles feel rather nice..." noted the kunoichi.

However, they were starting to squeeze her.

"You do realize that I have super strength, right?" asked Sakura.

Unfortunately for them, it appeared that they had forgotten about that.

Immediately, she broke free from their tentacles and started swinging one of the octopi around, knocking down the rest like dominoes.

This gave Kakashi's hounds the opportunity to sink their teeth in Zabuza's flesh.

"Ow!" bellowed Zabuza.

Sure enough, he was starting to bleed.

"Should you hit him with the Lightning Blade?" asked Sakura.

"I'd rather send him to Tsunade. I'm a bit worried that he might fake his death again..." answered Kakashi.

"I didn't fake my death, I was resurrected." pointed out Zabuza.

"I was referring to when we fought the first time..." stated the lightning ninja.

"Oh..." remembered the water swordsman. Haku had been a big help, that was for sure.

"Alright then. I know how to capture him..." answered Sakura.

Immediately, she froze Zabuza in a big block of ice.

Shortly afterwards, the dogs let go of him.

"Now all that's left is Haku..." stated Sakura.

Immediately, she and Kakashi headed towards Haku's castle.

However, it was guarded by a rather ferocious-looking snowman.

"Let me guess, his name is Marshmallow..." answered Sakura.

"My name is Snowflake, actually." stated the snowman.

"You can talk?" asked the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Yes...you can be surprised what Haku can do with ice..." answered Snowflake.

"I know..." nodded Kakashi. Part of him wished that he had that particular kekkei genkai.

Of course, he wondered if he would actually use it to fight rather than simply make ice sculptures. Maybe people would be interested n buying them.

Immediately, Snowflake began to attack the duo.

However, he turned out to be more bark than bite.

Sakura punched the snow man in the face, and he collapsed into a pile of snow.

"I guess Haku really is a pacifist..." remarked Kakashi.

"He sure is." nodded Sakura.

Sure enough, Haku was standing on a throne.

"Are you going to sing Let It Go?" asked the kunoichi.

"I already let myself go when I made this ice castle..." answered Haku.

"Good point..." nodded Kakashi.

Immediately, he stabbed Haku with his Lightning Blade.

"I can't believe that I'm going to die like this again..." stated the ice ninja.

"I missed your heart this time..." answered Kakashi.

"Oh..." said Haku as he passed out.

Unfortunately, it appeared that now that Haku was unconscious, his ice castle was starting to collapse.

Sakura picked up Haku and fled the ice castle along with Kakashi.

"Should we tell Lucy about this?" asked Sakura.

"We probably should...Kenichi might end up sending more assassins in the near future..." pointed out Kakashi.

Sakura nodded.

_A few minutes later..._

"What's this?" asked Lucy as she picked up her mail.

As it turned out, it was from Kakashi Hatake.

"Isn't that Naruto's teacher?" inquired Lucy. Jiraiya was Naruto's sensei nowadays.

Curious, she decided to read the mail to see what it said.

"Dear Lucy, we have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that Kenichi is sending assassins after you." read Lucy out loud.

"Well, I suppose that's not much of a surprise." she thought.

"The good news is that we managed to take down two of the assassins. Sakura and I managed to take care of them. Tsunade will be interrogating them later." stated Kakashi.

"Phew..." stated Lucy. That was a relief. What if they went after her while she was sleeping? She needed her beauty sleep.

She was glad that Kakashi and Sakura had managed to take care of the assassins...however, Kenichi was likely going to continue to hunt her down regardless. He did not give up that easily.

Perhaps it would be best if she decided to continue training. Maybe Jiraiya had something new that he could teach her. Or maybe she could try getting more power from Kurama.

"Kurama?" asked Lucy.

**"Yes, Lucy?" **inquired Kurama.

"Can you lend more of your chakra?" questioned the teenage girl.

**"Now why would I do that?" **asked the nine-tailed fox.

Lucy stripped down to her underwear.

**"Oh...that is a good reason." **answered Kurama.

"Do we have a deal? Or am I going to have to stand here freezing?" asked Lucy.

**"How does a partial transformation sound?" **inquired the nine-tailed fox.

"A partial transformation? Sure." nodded the kunoichi.

Suddenly, her hand transformed into one similar to that of Kurama's.

"Wow!" exclaimed Lucy.

**"Happy? You can probably use it to tear someone to shreds...though since you're a little pacifist I doubt that you would ever do such a thing..."** stated Kurama.

Curious, Lucy went up to a tree and slashed it.

She was able to take it down with a simple slice.

"Is there any way to change it back though?" asked Lucy.

**"Oh, that's easy. Just stop using your chakra." **stated Kurama.

Lucy nodded, and her hand turned back to normal.

**"Keep it up and you'll be able to do a bigger transformation..." **answered the nine-tailed fox.

"Sounds good." nodded the kunoichi.

However, at that very moment, Makarov showed up. She then remembered that she was still in her underwear.

"Lucy! You can't strip down while you're outside! People are going to see you!" bellowed Makarov.

"Sorry, Makarov." apologized Lucy.

Immediately, she put her clothes back on.

**"Awww..." **complained the nine-tailed fox.

"If you keep that up, you're going to get arrested!" shouted the guildmaster.

"Yep..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy went back indoors.

"Maybe I should continue experimenting with my partial transformation..." answered Lucy. Of course, if she tried transforming her head, maybe people would be sent running for the hills. Kurama was rather horrifying.

On the other hand, Kurama seemed to be becoming less...evil.

When Kenichi tried sending more assassins, she would probably be ready.

"If Kenichi thinks he can simply snuff me whenever he feels like it, he's got another thing coming." stated Lucy.

_Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter even if it did include a blood bath. Those poor Iwagakure ninjas never saw it coming. On the lighter side of things, Haku and Zabuza won't be working with Kenichi anymore. They're kind of tired of killing, if you catch my drift._

_ As you can probably tell, Midori and Deidara are rather dangerous when they're together. It's not much of a surprise, considering Pain chose them to be part of the Akatsuki. And to make matter worse, it's only a matter of time before Pain sends them after another jinchuriki._

_In the next chapter, Haku and Zabuza are going to get used to being back in the world of living. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that Kenichi is going to stop his efforts to hunt down and kill Lucy, is he? Knowing him he's going to try resurrecting more ninja...it's rather unfortunate, huh?_


	74. Chapter 74: The Zombie Brothers

_In this chapter, Hidan and Kakuzu are going after the two-tails. You probably know from the anime and manga how that mission is going to turn out. Afterwards, Midori is going to be invited to participate in an Akatsuki meeting. And yes, it's going to be her first time. You could say that Midori is a bit of an audience surrogate. Heh heh._

_Also, Chiyoye is up to no good again...Naruto and his friends need to stop her. This time she's going to be launching another strike._

**Chapter 74: The Zombie Brothers**

"Have you narrowed down the two-tails? I want to hurry up and get paid." stated Kakuzu. He didn't like it when his wallet was empty. He liked to keep his wallet nice and fat...like a member of the Akimichi clan.

"HEY!" screamed Choji from a distance.

By the looks of it, Pain had decided that he and Hidan were the best candidates for the job. People said that they were unstoppable as a team. Of course, people had said the same thing whenever other members of the Akatsuki worked together.

Of course, he was already rich from all the bounties that he had gotten on his missions...but he had forgotten that money did not buy happiness. Why was that so hard to remember?

"As a matter of fact, we have." nodded Pain. "The jinchuriki appens to be a kunoichi by the name of Yugito Nii...she happens to live in Kumogakure..."

"Is that where we're going? Hopefully there are ninja that I can conduct rituals on..." said Hidan. His god would be so proud of him.

"There probably are." answered the leader of the Akatsuki. No doubt that Hidan's immortality would keep him safe from their jutsus...though of course he needed Kakuzu to make sure he didn't do anything foolish.

Suddenly, Kakuzu remembered something. There was a client that had not yet paid for his services...even though he was rather rich.

In fact, he was overdue. Apparently someone didn't honor their debts...and he just so happened to be quite the loan shark. Was there anything else that people would expect from the Akatsuki?

He decided that he and Hidan were going to teach him a lesson. Nobody withheld money from Kakuzu and got away with it...except for maybe Pain because he was his employer and he would run out of money without him.

Currently, he was holed up inside a mansion in the middle of the cold. Perhaps it was his kind of environment. Fortunately, it wasn't far from their destination, so maybe they wouldn't be late on their mission for a change.

Of course, it also helped that their current hideout wasn't far from Kumogakure. Apparently Pain wanted to give Hidan and Kakuzu some extra time to compensate for their bounty hunters and voodoo rituals.

"Are you prepared to leave?" asked Pain.

"Yes, we are." nodded Kakuzu.

"I can't wait to cut off some heads!" cheered Hidan, swinging his scythe around.

"Yes, yes. I understand your sadism, Hidan. If you wish, Kakuzu, you may have her heart after we're done with the ritual. Just remember not to do so before the ritual as this will also kill the two-tails." warned Pain.

"Of course I know that..." answered the bounty hunter. Sure, he did have a short temper...but he could control himself.

Immediately, he checked the map to see where his client's house was.

He was about to plan a strike.

Hidan and Kakuzu left the hideout, ready to inflict some carnage.

Pain summoned the rest of the Akatsuki afterward to alert them that Hidan and Kakuzu had departed and they would probably capture the two-tails jinchuriki soon. Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not.

Currently, Midori and Deidara were relaxing in a hotel room. Oddly enough, they had not decided to get separate ones. Apparently

Curious, Midori noticed that the ring that had been bestowed to her was starting to glow purple.

Likewise, Deidara's ring was starting to glow green.

"What's going on?" questioned Midori.

"We're going to have a meeting...apparently Hidan and Kakuzu are going to capture a jinchuriki." explained Deidara. How long had it been since their last ritual, anyway?

"Hidan and Kakuzu?" inquired the kunoichi.

"They're two Akatsuki members that simply won't die..." explained the bomber. He wouldn't be surprised if they would live longer than he would. Of course, he wasn't particularly interested in immortality. He felt that art didn't last forever...so why should he?

"Kind of like myself, eh?" questioned Midori. Her metabolism was rather special.

Deidara nodded. Of course, they didn't have regenerative abilities like Midori did...but it appeared that they were very difficult to kill nonetheless. In Kakuzu's case, though he technically couldn't regenerate himself, he could sew himself together in the event that he ended up being dismembered. He could do the same with his partner Hidan if he ended up being dismembered as well...which was part of the reason why they stayed together.

Immediately, Deidara tapped his ring, and he seemed to go into a trance.

Likewise, Midori decided to do the same. Hopefully Deidara wasn't in a coma.

Sure enough, she could see the rest of the Akatsuki all of a sudden. She also appeared to be in some sort of cavern that was rather cloudy. For some strange reason they also resembled a rainbow. It looked like the entire organization was here.

Of course, one of the Akatsuki members that she saw was Kisame. She began to scowl.

She also noticed that Deidara was scowling at an Akatsuki member as well...in this case, it was Itachi.

Apparently he was as fond of Itachi as she was fond of Kisame. It was rather ironic considering that they were partners as well as she and Deidara.

"As you may be aware of, Hidan and Kakuzu have been sent to retrieve the two-tails. They may succeed in their task, they may not. I will admit that we've been having problems capturing jinchuriki lately..." noted Pain.

"The Zombie Brothers, eh?" questioned Kisame.

Deidara clenched his fist in anger. How had Gaara gotten the best of him like that?

"The Zombie Brothers?" asked Midori.

"That's who I refer to Hidan and Kakuzu as...I think I'll call you and Deidara Beauty and the Beast..." stated the water swordsman.

"Very funny, Kisame." answered the kunoichi.

"I'm starting to wonder how the jinchuriki are transferring to other hosts without dying..." answered the man. Perhaps he should interrogate a jinchuriki on the matter. It might give them an edge so that they didn't end up capturing fake jinchuriki.

"That does present a problem..." nodded Itachi. Perhaps the person that was holding the nine-tails wasn't far from where Naruto was...in Konohagakure.

Maybe some investigative work was in order.

"It's a good thing that I have the Byakugan..." answered Midori. For some strange reason she noted that whenever she talked it sounded like it was coming through a radio.

"You don't look like you wield the Byakugan..." questioned Pain. Didn't the Hyuga clan have pale eyes?

Konan did note that was rather peculiar.

"That's because it was transplanted on my stomach..." stated the kunoichi.

Pain raised an eyebrow. Now who could have done that?

"I can't wait for the next ritual!" cheered Tobi. He was looking forward to adding a new tailed beast to their ridiculously huge statue.

"I will admit that it has been a long time..." answered Konan. Not to mention the delays in their work as of late. Perhaps Naruto and Gaara had given the tailed beasts as a gift to friends...or to prevent themselves from being alienated from their peers. She was aware that jinchurikis had a tendency to have a rough life ahead of them...though it did depend on how vicious the tailed beast in question was.

They had heard a rumor who the eight-tails jinchuriki was...but they also heard that he was untouchable. Perhaps they should save him for second-to-last and hunt down the easier jinchuriki first.

"Are you going to assign Midori a jinchuriki?" asked Deidara. Chances are that there was an Akatsuki member that was suited for that particular job. He was aware that he was suited for capturing the one-tails jinchuriki (though technically that mission had been a failure as they had chosen the wrong target) and that Itachi was likely well-suited to capture the nine-tails once the other tailed beasts had been sealed...though personally he wanted to capture the nine-tails jinchuriki himself and show him that he was the better ninja.

"I'm still thinking of a target for her..." answered Pain. It would be a good idea to take advantage of her regenerative abilities when deciding the jinchuriki that she could capture.

Midori wondered just who the target was going to be. She could be traveling anywhere in the globe. It felt odd considering that she had been spending most of her time in Otagakure up until now.

"I shall notify you when I've chosen a target for Midori. For now, the meeting is dismissed." stated Pain.

Immediately, the members of the Akatsuki's astral projections disappeared. Midori noticed that her ring was no longer glowing and decided to tap on it.

She found herself jolted back to reality a few seconds later. Apparently, this was what Akatsuki meetings were like.

"That was an out of world experience..." answered Midori. It was as if her mind had literally wandered off from her body.

"You'll get used to it..." stated Deidara. He had been in several meetings before...the first of which was not long after he joined the Akatsuki.

_Meanwhile..._

"Are we here?" asked Hidan. He wanted to hurry up and claim some lives already. If he didn't satisfy his bloodlust, he would get rather cranky.

Currently, it was night time. The moon was in the sky and the stars were twinkling. If Hidan saw a shooting star, he knew what he would wish for. Lots and lots of bloodshed.

"Yes, we're here." nodded Kakuzu. Personally he didn't think that it was a long wait.

Hidan and Kakuzu noted that it was rather cold outside. It looked like the mansion was rather close to the mountains.

As it turned out, Ebemener Scourge had set up a new mansion in the world of ninja. He figured that people would probably be looking for him in the world of magic so he decided to stay there for the time being.

Immediately, Kakuzu bust down the door with his bare hands. He wasn't in the mood for knocking...even if the door was made of valuable mahogany. Why would his door be made of mahogany if he lived out in the cold, anyway? Mahogany was tropical.

Sure enough, Ebemener Scourge noticed them from a distance using his camera system, and flinched when he noticed Kakuzu bursting down the door. It was a good thing that he managed to get the cameras installed or he might end up being caught off-guard.

"Oh no! He's here! And he brought his partner with him!" thought the magician. Why exactly was the bounty hunter hanging out with a deranged priest again?

Quickly, he began to defend himself.

Using his magic, he began to activate the defensive systems in his mansion. He would like to see Kakuzu get past them all...or Naruto and his friends for that matter.

A few defense turrets emerged from the ground, each of which were loaded with a steady supply of bullets...bullets that would make a normal person swiss cheese.

But if Ebemener Scourge thought that would be enough to hold off Hidan and Kakuzu, he was mistaken.

As it turned out, the bullets simply bounced off of Hidan. He didn't seem to be hurt by them at all.

Ebemener Scourge gasped. How was he bulletproof? To his knowledge he was not wearing a bulletproof vest.

Kakuzu then smashed the defense turrets with his bare hands, reducing them to scrap metal.

The last of them launched a rocket at him...but he picked it up while it was in midair...and then tossed it right back, destroying the turret instantly.

The former mayor of Icevale wondered how Kakuzu had gotten so strong. He could give Sakura a run for her money.

Oddly enough, he had heard a rumor that Kakuzu was even older than he was. How did he live to be so long? Had he been drinking from the Fountain Of Youth or something? He spent years looking for it...but he didn't have any luck.

Pressing another button, he decided to send in the snow golems.

Hidan tried slashing the golems with his scythe...but since they were made out of snow, it wasn't that effective. If only he had a different weapon.

"You do realize that they're made of snow, right?" questioned Kakuzu.

"Shut up, Kakuzu." answered Hidan. Oddly enough, despite being partners, Kakuzu and Hidan were not the best of friends. If Kakuzu had the chance he would likely add Hidan's heart to his collection, but alas, he was immortal and that wouldn't kill him. What was he to do?

Fortunately for Kakuzu, he knew what to do.

Immediately, he pulled out one of his hearts.

In this case, it was the fire heart. Since telling them apart would be rather difficult otherwise, each of the hearts just so happened to have a different mask.

Quickly, the fire heart shot out fireballs, causing the snow golems to melt.

In the process, Hidan slipped over one of the puddles.

"Watch where you're going, Hidan..." stated Kakuzu.

"You suck, Kakuzu." insulted Hidan.

Ebemener Scourge gasped. Kakuzu had destroyed the snow golems so easily. They hadn't stopped him from approaching at all!

Maybe he should try sending out a different kind of golem...one that wouldn't melt so easily.

Immediately, he sent out some dirt golems.

However, Kakuzu countered by pulling out his wind heart.

Quickly, it blew away the dirt golems, scattering dirt throughout the mansion.

Ebemener Scourge's eyes widened. It occurred to him that he might be in danger. It was clearly becoming apparent that Kakuzu was not going to hold back. And he might end up using his Hidan + Wind Heart technique on him that he had been hearing about. He had found a way to take advantage of his partner's immortality.

However, he still did not wish to give up the money. In case the citizens of Icevale hadn't figured it out yet, he was a very greedy man. He was rather surprised that they hadn't checked his financial statements sooner.

Immediately, he pressed a button and activated his defense robot. It was armed with several different weapons. Maybe THAT would keep him safe.

Shortly afterwards, Kakuzu and Hidan began to hear the sound of footsteps. Robotic footsteps?

"He's still trying to stop me from approaching him, I see..." noted Kakuzu. Did he really think that he was safe from his wrath?

Sure enough, the robot came within sight. It had red glowing eyes that made it look scary. Also, it said "Property of Icevale Industries". Perhaps Ebemener Scourge had stolen it.

Kakuzu wondered how long it will take until his client realized that resistance was futile.

"You have three seconds to surrender...or save me the job and kill yourselves. Three...two...one..." stated the killer robot.

Kakuzu sent out his lightning heart and electrocuted the killer robot, causing it to shut down.

It collapsed on the floor.

"I'll be back...or maybe not." said the robot.

"So much for technology." remarked Kakuzu. This was too easy. He would be surprised if Ebemener Scourge decided to continue fighting at this point.

He in fact actually did consider giving up...but he decided at the last moment to continue fighting.

Ebemener Scourge decided to send out his coal golems...though at this point he wondered if he should run away from home.

Unfortunately for Ebemener, Kakuzu had a water heart too. He was prepared for everything.

He started to wonder if he was secretly a Hollow from Bleach. That might explain why he was living so long.

Fortunately, he happened to have some human bodyguards as well. Much like Kakuzu, they were willing to serve...for a price.

He decided to send them out. Sure, they weren't golems...but they might be able to help.

However, Hidan made short work of them. He was delighted to finally get to face something that actually bled.

Ebemener was mildly disturbed with the results. They had cost good money too...though not as much as the money he had agreed to pay Kakuzu.

After that bloodbath, Kakuzu busted down the door...even though it was made out of solid steel.

Ebemener gasped in shock.

"You had better give me the money..." answered Kakuzu, stretching out his arm.

"Alright, fine! You win! I surrender!" bellowed Ebemener Scourge.

Immediately, Ebemener pulled out a check...a check that was worth about a million.

However, just as he was about to give it to Kakuzu...

Hidan sliced his head off with his scythe.

Ebemener Scourge's body fell to the ground shortly afterwards, still holding onto the check that he was going to give to Kakuzu.

"Hidan, he was going to pay us." pointed out Kakuzu.

"I know that...I just wanted to chop off his head!" exclaimed Hidan. Perhaps Ebemener Scourge would look good in his severed head collection. Maybe he could mount it on his wall.

Kakuzu sighed. For some strange reason Hidan thought violence was the solution to everything...even though their leader did not agree on that at all.

Why exactly did he include him in the organization again?

Oh, that was right. They recruited him because Pain had gotten tired of him killing his former partners. They had just made him so angry.

Of course, he was often angry. Due to the fact that he was so old, he thought a lot of people were dumber than him...especially his partner Hidan.

Pain was the exception...though he was in fact younger than he was. How he had gotten more powerful even though he was by far the younger ninja was a mystery. Oddly enough he was about as old as Sasori was when he died. It was rather ironic.

Well, he might as well help himself to Ebemener Scourge's belongings now that he was dead. He was rather loaded. Considering that he had embezzled from Icevale (or whatever the village was) back when he was the mayor, that wasn't a big surprise. They probably wouldn't be too upset to see that he was gone.

It looked like this mission had turned out to be a success...even if Hidan decided to behead Ebemener Scourge instead of simply allowing him to give Kakuzu the money.

Suddenly, he remembered something. Didn't Ebemener Scourge have an icy cold heart? He decided to do research on his client before working for him so that he knew what type of job he would give him.

Perhaps if he took it it would enhance his water heart. It seemed like a good idea. Since he was already dead, he likely wouldn't need it.

Curious, he noticed that Hidan was mounting Ebemener Scourge's head on a totem pole. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was another one of his barbaric rituals.

Shrugging, he decided to take Ebemener Scourge's heart and add it to himself.

For some strange reason the heart felt rather...magical. He was expecting it to be full of chakra...but he found it to be intriguing regardless.

He decided not to dwell on it though. Maybe it would give him special abilities like some of the targets that he had assassinated. It was rather unfortunate that he didn't manage to slay the First Hokage despite his village's request. It was a suicide mission from the beginning...but at least he survived.

Oddly enough when he absorbed the heart he suddenly felt the urge to ruin Christmas...but he decided against that. Christmas could be a real money maker. And he always got lots of presents...including human skulls from Hidan. Why exactly did he think that was a good Christmas present? He would rather have money.

Well, it was time to get back to hunting the two-tails jinchuriki. They weren't going back to Pain until they got her tailed beast...unless of course, she turned out to be a fake.

And yet somehow, he got the feeling that it wasn't going to be a decoy this time.

It was time to put on their bamboo hats and start traveling once again. Kakuzu wondered if he had been across the entire globe at this point.

Oddly enough, he noticed that Hidan appeared to have blood on his bamboo hat. Perhaps he had been killing too many people recently.

It was dripping all over the floor of Ebemener Scourge's former hideout.

Walking outside, Hidan and Kakuzu resumed their search for the jinchuriki. Personally Hidan hoped that the jinchuriki was more of a challenge than Ebemener Scourge was. His defenses were a cakewalk.

_The next day..._

"Wow..." stated Naruto as he took a look at the newspaper.

As it turned out, his nemesis Ebemener Scourge had been murdered last night. It had been quite the struggle...as there was dirt, snow, and blood scattered all over the floor. Apparently, Ebemener Scourge's various golems had failed to keep him safe.

Apparently, he owed someone money. He wondered if he should start paying off his debts.

It wasn't a pretty crime scene. His head had been cut off...and oddly enough his heart had been ripped out. Why would they rip out his heart when they had already cut off his head?

It was rather unnerving...though he will admit that he didn't get along with the former mayor of Icevale. It looked like there was one less member in his rogues gallery.

Speaking of which, he wondered if he should go visit them and tell them what happened. Maybe they would want to know about it.

Immediately, he put on his coat.

Fortunately, he happened to know how to get there.

However, he wondered if he should bring a friend. Preferably someone that dressed warmly. It could be dangerous in Icevale because of the Vulcans.

Curious, he noticed Shino. He always dressed rather warmly.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Hey, Shino! Since you're always wearing a coat, maybe you could accompany me to a cold village..." answered Naruto.

"Alright, Naruto." nodded Shino. Of course, he doubted that there would be bugs that could survive out in the cold, so he wouldn't be able to study insects.

However, he did value Naruto's safety. Naruto could do crazy things sometimes.

Immediately, he stepped into the interdimensional portal along with Naruto.

But unbeknownst to Naruto, someone else was using the portal.

As it turned out, it was Millianna, who was chasing Happy.

"Help me!" screamed Happy.

Carla rolled her eyes. Millianna always did that whenever an Exceed was around.

As soon as she exited the interdimensional portal, Millianna began to feel strange...but she decided not to dwell on it.

For now, she wanted to chase Happy and cuddle him.

However, she was starting to lose sight of the cat. He was rather fast.

Eventually, Millianna lost track of the Exceed.

Perhaps he had managed to find a hiding spot.

Millianna was rather disappointed. If only she knew her surroundings better. This was her first time in the world of ninja now that they thought of it.

She had heard about it earlier from a history book that she found in the Fairy Tail library. It had been added rather recently.

Suddenly, she noticed a grasshopper appeared to be beckoning her in the direction that Happy went. It was hopping in a particular path instead of simply hopping around randomly.

She found it to be rather peculiar...but she decided to follow the insect anyway.

Sure enough, Millianna found Happy resting on a rooftop.

Currently, he was snoring.

Immediately, she began to climb up the rooftop towards him.

Happy gasped in shock. How had she managed to find him? He thought he lost her.

Well, it looked like he was simply going to have to keep running. Alternatively he could try flying...but he was worried that the ninja populace might think he was some sort of mutant.

Once again, Millianna resumed chasing after Happy.

Curious, she noticed that some insects were attempting to latch onto Happy in order to slow him down. Some of them were even wrapping him up in silk. Maybe it was the moths?

"Get them off me!" screamed Happy. Right now he was NOT living up to his name. Perhaps he should change his name to Unhappy.

Millianna wondered what was going on...but it was coming in rather handy.

Unfortunately for her, he managed to shake the insects off and continue running.

However, she doubted that he would be able to run from her forever. He was starting to sweat.

What was he going to do?

However, at that very moment, Hinata showed up.

As it turned out, she had noticed that Happy was in the area due to her handy Byakugan, and decided to pay him a visit.

"Hinata! Thank goodness you're here!" exclaimed Happy.

"I'm glad to see you...you look panicked though. Is something the matter?" asked Hinata.

"It's this crazy cat lover! She's been chasing after me!" bellowed the Exceed.

"Oh...alright then, I'll go have a talk to her..." answered the kunoichi.

Sure enough, she didn't have to wander far.

At that very moment, Millianna ran towards her.

"Hey! Have you been chasing Happy?" asked Hinata, her arms crossed. She wasn't too happy with the cat lover.

"Yes, I have. He's so cute!" exclaimed Millianna.

"Leave him be! You're scaring him!" bellowed the kunoichi.

Millianna gave her the kitty eyes.

"If you're going to hold him, be gentle..." stated the fire ninja.

"Alright, fine..." nodded Erza's childhood friend.

Immediately, Millianna picked up Happy and began to gently stroke his fur.

"Ah..." cheered the Exceed as he was gently petted.

"There you go." stated Hinata.

Millianna put down Happy shortly afterward.

"Thanks for saving me, Hinata!" cheered Happy. He knew that he would always count on his friends. That was what Natsu had said to him.

"Well, I am Natsu's interdimensional partner so it would make sense that I'm your friend..." nodded Hinata.

"You betcha!" exclaimed the cat.

For some strange reason, Millianna reminded her of someone that she knew rather well...though she wasn't quite sure who. Maybe it was Naruto?

Of course, Millianna wasn't Lucy.

Curious, she decided to take a look.

She noticed something that was rather interesting.

"Hmm...the sun's starting to get into my eyes..." noted Millianna. Perhaps she had better do something about that.

Fortunately, there was some sunglasses on sale.

Immediately, she bought a pair and put them on.

"Hmm..." thought the kunoichi. This all seemed rather familiar.

Now that she thought of it, she wondered where Shino was. Though she could see Kiba playing with Akamaru she didn't see him anywhere.

Naruto appeared to be out of town as well. Perhaps he decided that he wanted to hang out with his friends in Fairy Tail.

Suddenly, it occurred to her that maybe Shino and Naruto went to the world of magic. Maybe she could try checking there.

At that very moment, she noticed Millianna exiting through the interdimensional portal.

"Wait a minute..." answered Hinata.

It then occurred to her that maybe Millianna had inherited Shino's abilities.

"Hmm..." thought the kunoichi.

Perhaps it would be best to alert Shino on the matter.

Immediately, she entered the interdimensional portal.

Once again, she decided to use the Byakugan. She had to admit that she could use it for quite a while now that she was feeling more confident in herself. Perhaps it had an impact on her training.

However, she still couldn't find Naruto or Shino.

"Where are they?" questioned Hinata. She sure hoped that Naruto didn't get kidnapped again. It was a good thing that Phantom Lord had disbanded.

Perhaps she should start asking to see if she could find Naruto and Shino. She might get some answers.

Immediately, she noticed Gray.

"Hey there, Gray...do you know where Naruto is?" asked Hinata.

Fortunately for Hinata, Gray did in fact know where Naruto had gone...and he wasn't off to eat ramen or practice his sexy jutsu.

"He went to Icevale...apparently he wanted to let them know that their former mayor had passed on..." answered Gray.

"I wonder what happened to him..." stated the kunoichi.

"Naruto told me that he was brutally murdered in his own home..." spoke the ice mage. It looked like someone wasn't too happy with him.

"Sheesh..." answered Hinata. Who could have done that to him? Someone that was rather psychotic, that was for certain. She probably wouldn't want to meet them.

Of course, Ebemener Scourge had been her enemy...but she was always figured that she could simply keep on arresting him. Now it appeared that she wouldn't be crossing paths with him again.

It felt rather strange.

But considering that he had dipped Kiba and Akamaru in chocolate, maybe she shouldn't sympathize with him too much.

Of course, she realized that she couldn't simply take the cable car as it would trigger her motion sickness.

She was going to have to leap there.

Oddly enough, she could actually get there faster that way.

Sure enough, she noticed Naruto and Shino entering a building.

"There we go!" exclaimed Hinata.

Immediately, she followed them.

As it turned out, Naruto and Shino were going to tell the council about the situation.

"So...Ebemener Scourge is dead, isn't he?" questioned one of the councilmen. He didn't find it to be too surprising.

"Yeah...somebody murdered him...I'm not sure who." answered Naruto. Oddly enough he was wondering if he was going to be a suspect since they were enemies. Of course, he didn't really believe in killing his enemies...it helped that ever since he lost his nine-tailed fox he had been a lot calmer.

The councilmen began to wonder who could have done it. Maybe it was someone that he knew personally. Of course, there was more than one person that bore a grudge against Ebemener Scourge. He was a rather evil man...though perhaps not as evil as his killer.

"Perhaps we should investigate the crime scene..." stated Shino. Of course, they probably wouldn't blame the attacker for killing him considering all the trouble that he had caused.

There was the possibility that they could kill again though. That was what worried him.

Suddenly, they began to hear scratching at the door.

This made the council rather nervous. What could be doing that?

Curious, Naruto decided to investigate.

Shino followed at a close distance...just in case.

However, as it turned out, it was only a cat. A cat that was as white as the snow outside. It was nothing to worry about...unless perhaps if its mother was a snow leopard.

"Oh...I guess it's just a stray cat. Hello kitty." stated Naruto.

Shrugging, he decided to invite the cat in.

At that very moment, Shino noticed the young cat.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

Immediately, he picked up the cat and began to hug it.

"Meow?" questioned the stray cat. She just came in to get some fresh fish.

"You are so adorable! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" bellowed Shino, hugging the cat.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he closed the door to prevent the cold from getting in.

Now that he thought of it...wasn't this Ebemener Scourge's former home? It was rather ironic that they were paying a visit now that he was dead.

Of course, it seemed doubtful that he would return...except maybe as a ghost. Oddly enough he got the feeling that he had visited ghosts in the past...not like he listened to them.

Suddenly, they heard banging on the door.

Naruto and Shino gasped in shock.

The former wondered if it was a vulcan. He had encountered one the first time he was here. Of course, the vulcans only seemed to be outside of town...but he supposed one of them might have wandered in looking for a meal.

The knocking continued.

Trembling, Naruto decided to look out the door.

He was rather surprised to see who it was...

...as it turned out, it was Hinata Hyuga.

Curious, he decided to open the door.

"Why were you knocking so loudly?" asked Naruto. It was frightening.

"Sorry, I forgot how strong I've become." answered Hinata. She was just as strong as Natsu was.

"At least you didn't bust down the door..." noted the jonin.

"Yeah...that would let the cold in..." agreed the blonde.

"You make a good point..." answered Hinata. Of course, she never had to worry about the cold herself. It was part of the reason why she was chosen for the mission to Icevale in the first place.

"Is there something you wish to tell me?" asked Shino.

"Well, I figured you might have become someone's interdimensional partner...just like Kiba and I." remarked Hinata.

"Who could it have been?" inquired the bug user.

"Well, I just so happened to have encountered a crazy cat lover...I got the feeling that she was from the world of magic..." answered the kunoichi. She had never seen her around Konoha before. Of course, mages entering and ninjas leaving Konoha was not unheard of nowadays. It was starting to happen in Sunagakure as well since they were allies.

Now that Naruto thought of it, Shino did seem to have an obsession with cats all of a sudden.

Suddenly, an alarm went off. Naruto covered his ears.

"What's going on?" asked Hinata. She got the feeling that something was wrong.

A guard rushed in.

"We're under attack!" bellowed one of the guards.

Hinata, Naruto, and Shino wondered what was going on. Who could be plotting a strike on this village? And why? They knew that it couldn't be Ebemener Scourge since he was dead...unless of course, the newspaper didn't get its facts right.

Curious, Hinata looked outside using her Byakugan. What exactly could be attacking a town in the middle of a tundra?

Apparently, an army of wolves, vulcans, frost demons, werewolves, liches, black knights, and worst of all, an ice dragon, were approaching Icevale.

Immediately, she decided to tell them of the situation.

"It looks like there's an entire army approaching Icevale...it looks really evil." remarked Hinata. It made her feel rather nervous.

Somehow, Naruto knew who was behind all this. Chiyoye must be attempting to claim more lives to fuel her power. And this time she had decided to attack a village that he had visited in the past...similar to Kenichi's strike on the Land Of Waves. He wished that he was there to stop it...sadly, he was not.

Sure enough, he could see an icy castle out in the distance. Incidentally, it somewhat resembled the castle that Haku had made...but it was darker and more evil-looking. There were many icicles protruding out it, for one. Also, there appeared to be gargoyles circling the main tower. Perhaps that was where Chiyoye was.

It appeared that she was using that evil castle as a base of operations...though he got the feeling that it wasn't her main lair. Where was it?

As it turned out, Chiyoye was sitting on an icy throne with the Death Knight standing by her.

She was clearly expecting many casualties...casualties that would strengthen her army. It seemed like a pretty good idea to attack a quiet town like this. Since her undead weren't bothered by the cold, it seemed like a good idea to attack the north.

"Let's decorate all this snow with blood, shall we?" asked Chiyoye. This seemed like a decent target as any. Fairy Tail would probably need to prepare before attempting to defend the village due to how cold it was...and that would give her time.

Now that she thought of it...she could probably enter the battle herself and kill Naruto due to the power that she had obtained...but she figured that she would toy with him first. It was a lot more fun.

"Yes, mistress..." nodded the Death Knight. He was going to be overseeing her troops' progress. Chiyoye had decide not to play him out against the Fairy Tail mages just yet. That was her trump card...and she was saving it for her big moment.

Curious, she decided to pull out her crystal ball and take a look at Icevale.

What she saw was rather interesting.

Apparently, Naruto just so happened to be there along with two of his friends. What were the odds? Of course, this did mean that she would face some resistance, but she was willing to overlook that.

In fact, she was delighted. She would get the opportunity to take Naruto's chakra as well that from two of her friends. It was rather delicious.

Of course, she had already gotten a taste of chakra from draining the four ninja that she had encountered earlier.

Speaking of which, that gave her an idea on how to defend her castle in the event that Fairy Tail decided to invade it.

"We'll see who wins this battle yet..." remarked Chiyoye.

_Meanwhile..._

Curious, Lucy decided to go visit Zabuza and Haku. Maybe she could reason with them in case they somehow broke out of jail.

Sure enough, they were behind bars for trying to assassinate her.

According to Kakashi, they were supposed to be dead...and yet, they were not.

"So...you're the ones that want my head..." answered Lucy.

"Technically, it's Kenichi who wants your head..." stated Zabuza. Apparently, she had really gotten on his nerves lately.

Lucy clenched her fist. She hated Kenichi more than anyone else that she had ever met.

"Did he pay you?" questioned the kunoichi.

"Actually, he threatened to have our heads..." answered Zabuza.

"Ah..." nodded Lucy.

"He's a very frightening man..." stated Haku.

"Maybe you should quit working for him...he's likely going to make you keep killing..." suggested the blonde.

"You may have a point..." answered the ice ninja. Though he technically did work with Zabuza, he was not particularly violent.

"I suppose I have shed enough blood in my old life..." agreed Zabuza.

"Maybe I could talk to Tsunade..." suggested the jinchuriki.

Fortunately, her office was nearby.

"Hello, Lady Tsunade." said Lucy.

"Hey there, Lucy. Is there anything I can help you with?" asked Tsunade.

"It's regarding your latest prisoners..." answered the teenage girl.

"Yes? What about them?" questioned the Fifth Hokage.

"I figured that they probably want a second chance..." stated Lucy.

"You should keep in mind that they did try to hunt you down and kill you..." answered Tsunade.

"They were forced into it." said the blonde.

"Well, you've got a point there. I suggest you take precaution before releasing them however." warned the Hokage. She didn't want Lucy to end up dead.

Lucy nodded as she went back to their cell.

Turning her hand into Kurama's paw, she began to unlock the door using her newfound claws.

The door to the cell opened.

"Why are you releasing us?" asked Zabuza.

"I figured you wanted to stop working for Kenichi..." answered Lucy. She knew that she would never work with him...unless it was situation that was REALLY drastic.

"If that's the case, you thought right..." stated Haku. Since Lucy was willing to give them a second chance, why not accept it? Now seemed as good of a time as any.

"If you promise not to kill me, I'll use my sexy jutsu for you." said the kunoichi.

"Sexy jutsu? And...sure." nodded the assassin.

Immediately, Lucy used her sexy jutsu on Haku and Zabuza.

"Um..." spoke Haku.

Zabuza's face turned red.

At that very moment, Shikamaru showed up.

He gasped in shock.

Curious, Lucy turned around, and began to blush.

"Well, this is awkward..." noted Lucy.

Shikamaru nodded.

Lucy turned back into her regular self.

"Can I ask you what you're doing in the dungeon?" asked Lucy. She sure hoped that Shikamaru had been behaving himself lately.

"I was going to yell at your assassins for trying to kill you...wait, why did you let them out?" inquired the shadow ninja.

"I figured they deserved a second chance...besides, Kenichi forced them into it." answered the kunoichi.

"I was wondering how they were brought back from the dead..." questioned Shikamaru. Did they fall from heaven?

"He's probably resurrecting more ninja to serve him..." noted Lucy. That could present a problem.

_Meanwhile..._

Realizing that Zabuza and Haku had failed, Kenichi decided that maybe he should try bringing back a stronger ninja from the dead. Perhaps if he could expend the chakra he could try summoning one of the Hokages. That would be a rather ironic death, wouldn't it?

He wondered what would be a good choice.

There were many ninjas that he could choose.

Personally, Gorou wished that they could simply do the job themselves. But the last time they had tried that, Jiraiya and several jonin had intervened...not even he could take on the Legendary Toad Sage by himself.

"I know what will cheer you up!" exclaimed Akiko.

Kenichi wondered what Akiko was doing.

As it turned out, she was drawing a picture...of Lucy's dead body...complete with worms and maggots.

Sure enough, a replica of Lucy appeared on the floor.

Kenichi smiled. It was rather satisfying...though not as satisfying as the real deal.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that maybe Akiko could make something that could kill Lucy and her friends. Of course, she would probably need a lot of paint in order to make something like that...but it would most likely be worth it.

"Akiko, how would you like to make something to annihilate Lucy and her comrades?" asked Kenichi.

"That's...not a bad idea." answered Akiko.

Immediately, she began to think of ideas.

Eventually, she came up with one.

Pulling out her paint brush, she began to draw a picture of a hydra. A big one.

She was rather pleased with how the drawing was turning out.

From there it was only a matter of time before it encountered Lucy or some of the ninja that were protecting her.

Either way, it looked like she was all set.

"Kenichi is going to be so proud of me..." remarked Akiko.

_Oh my! Hidan and Kakuzu just killed Ebemener Scourge! I guess he won't be making A Christmas Carol references anymore...of course, you were probably expecting him to be redeemed considering he's a Fairy Tail OC...sorry if you're disappointed. To be fair, Kakuzu was willing to give Ebemener Scourge one last chance to give up the money...but Hidan didn't believe in mercy. Oh dear._

_In other news, Shino is Millianna's interdimensional partner...I figured that he was a cat person. Heh heh._


	75. Chapter 75: Invasion Of Frostvale

_Chiyoye's causing trouble again, as you might be aware of. She's chosen Frostvale to be her next target in her quest to kill more people and by extension gain more power. As you're probably aware by now, killing people is Chiyoye's source of strength. In other words, it's best for Naruto to ensure that she cause as few casualties as possible._

_Of course, he's also going to have to make sure that Chiyoye doesn't kill HIM. Otherwise she'll get access to his shadow clone jutsu and the like. Not good._

_In other news, this is the seventy-fifth chapter. How about that? Since this was inspired by Fairy Tail: Omniverse invasion I figured I would make it a long fanfic too...of course, so far it's even longer than Fairy Tail: Omniverse Invasion is. Perhaps I went a bit overboard. Oh well._

**Chapter 75: Invasion Of Icevale**

"Chiyoye must be really determined to take over Icevale..." remarked Hinata. She had certainly gathered up an army. She was starting to feel worried about her chances of surviving on the battlefield. Then again, she was basically a one-man army at this point, even if Natsu currently wasn't with her. She doubted that many of Chiyoye's forces wanted to get too close to her.

"I'm afraid so! She's sent an army here!" exclaimed Naruto. It wasn't a small army, either. Chiyoye had clearly grown quite powerful if she was able to summon an army of that particular caliber. He was rather worried about taking her head-on in combat. It would probably be best if he didn't try taking her on alone. After all, he did have Erza on his side the last time he fought her.

However, he realized that Erza was probably on a mission at a time. He might want to bring someone other than his girlfriend to the battlefield. It was a shame really. She would probably be quite helpful. Just look at how many armors that she had!

The guards of Frostvale Village were getting ready to defend their hometown...but it quickly became apparent that if Naruto didn't lend a hand, they would end up getting overwhelmed.

Luckily, the zombies were rather slow and the guards weren't having a hard time keeping their distance as they shot them. Perhaps they had been playing Left 4 Dead recently.

However, there were much more than just zombies in Chiyoye's army this time.

Besides, he got the feeling that they found Chiyoye and her forces to be rather...terrifying. Their morale probably wasn't going to be too good. Maybe he would need to inspire them if they decided that they wanted to retreat.

As he could plainly see the army came in various shapes and sizes. Naruto wondered if there was a particular reason that Chiyoye had decided to attack Frostvale other than for the simple purpose of killing people to gather their precious life energy to fuel her power.

Perhaps Chiyoye wanted the treasures left behind by Ebemener Scourge's death. He probably still had some stolen goods somewhere.

However, he also got the feeling that perhaps she wanted some of his old spell books. Though he was not as talented of a magician as Chiyoye is, he probably knew something about magic that she did not.

Suddenly, a cyclops began to approach him. As it walked, the ground seemed to shake a bit. On his face there were two tusks. He was also wielding a rather large club that somewhat resembled a tree. Naruto wondered why there would be trees growing in a place like Frostvale...but perhaps some trees were simply suited for the winter.

As soon as he saw Naruto, he began to roar. Apparently Chiyoye had instructed her troops to attack Naruto if they ever saw him.

"Me smash puny ninja!" exclaimed the cyclops.

"It's like an ogre but with only one eye..." remarked Naruto. He must have a hard time seeing things.

Then again, it was a rather big eye.

Immediately, the cyclops attempted to crush him with a club.

Naruto quickly leapt out of the way.

In the process, the club left behind an imprint on the ground. Naruto was lucky that he didn't hit him. Then again, maybe he could just his substitution jutsu so that he would simply burst into a log.

That would probably confuse the cyclops since he probably hadn't fought ninjas before.

Apparently, the cyclops was very strong. Fortunately, it also wasn't very fast. He was able to avoid his strikes easily.

He got the feeling what the cyclops's weak point was. It was a big one.

Immediately, he tossed a kunai at the cyclops's eye.

This seemed to be effective. The cyclops immediately clutched his eye, blinding him in the process and leaving him vulnerable.

Naruto then seized the opportunity to toss a Rasengan.

Immediately, the cyclops burst into magical smoke.

"Alright! I got him!" exclaimed Naruto. There was one less monster in the world now.

However, as he quickly discovered, there were bigger monsters that he needed to worry about. Now was not the time to be celebrating.

Suddenly, a rock giant approached him. It was HUGE! In fact, he wondered if it was as tall as a mountain. It certainly looked like a mountain.

Whenever he walked, the ground shook.

"Huh?" asked the jonin.

Shortly afterwards, the rock giant sat on top of him. Why did he have to have such a large posterior?

"Aargh!" exclaimed Naruto. He could not believe that he was trapped underneath a rock giant's butt! Maybe he shouldn't go searching for Excalibur anytime soon.

Apparently, Chiyoye was using her magic to bring stone to life...where did she get that much stone? Did she visit a quarry?

Fortunately, Hinata noticed what had happened.

"Don't worry, Naruto! I'll rescue you!" exclaimed Hinata. Since she was Naruto's guardian angel that was kind of her job.

"Hurry! I think he's about to fart!" demanded Naruto. How many rock burritos did he eat?

Suddenly, the rock giant pulled out a newspaper. On the headlines were Ninjas Are Chiyoye's Enemies.

"Oh heck no..." bellowed the jonin.

Fortunately, Hinata's punches were actually effective against the rock giant...and she didn't end up bruising her hands when she tried punching the rock giant. Being super strong has its perks.

Eventually, the rock giant collapsed onto the floor, freeing Naruto and allowing him to breathe.

"Thank you..." stated Naruto as the rock giant drew his last breath. He was NOT a toilet. He wasn't even a roll of toilet paper.

After the rock giant died, it collapsed into a pile of rock. Maybe someone could mine it later.

"You're welcome...maybe we should bring some help." said Hinata. Chiyoye's castle out in the distance would likely be heavily guarded...and there was the simple matter of dealing with Chiyoye herself. If she didn't go down, it was unlikely that Frostvale would win the war. None of their soldiers defending the city were a match for her even if they combined their forces.

Naruto nodded, and began to alert his friends of the situation. Surely they could give him a hand, right?

If not, he would be up a creek without a paddle...perhaps an icy creek considering where he was.

"Let's see who shows up..." stated the jonin.

_Meanwhile at the sand village..._

"We sure have increased security ever since that attack on Gaara, haven't we?" inquired Temari. That particular night had been a nightmare. She was worried that both of her brothers were going to die. She had never wished to be an only child...except for when Kankuro and Gaara let people in her room so that they could steal her panties.

"We certainly have..." answered Kankuro. Fortunately, it appeared that since Gaara was no longer a jinchuriki, the Akatsuki weren't going to hunt him down anymore. Now they would try to find out who the next jinchuriki was. Currently, that was Gajeel.

Still, it was better safe than sorry.

Suddenly, they received a message from Naruto. Temari wondered why he was calling them. It had better not be a prank phone call.

"Hello?" questioned Temari, answering her cell phone. Before you ask, Temari did not spend all her time texting. She had more important things to do than that.

"We desperately need your help!" exclaimed Naruto. Fortunately, the sand village was typically ready for combat.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" inquired the fan kunoichi. Judging from the tone of his voice, things were rather urgent.

"I'm in a village that's under attack..." explained the jonin. He wasn't sure how long the village would last even with his help. He needed allies in order to help hold off the invasion.

How big was the army attacking Frostvale, anyway? Chiyoye seemed to have amassed it in a short period of time. And yet, it seemed to be a battalion.

"What village?" questioned Temari. Was it the leaf village? The mist village? The cloud village? She knew that it wasn't the sand village or she would have known about it by now.

"It's called Frostvale..." stated Naruto. Since it was rather chilly, it wouldn't be a bad idea for Temari to dress for the cold. It was quite unlike the environment that she and her siblings had grown up in.

"Frostvale? Never heard of it." answered the kunoichi. Could she get ice cream there? If so, she wanted a delicious ice cream cone.

Naruto remembered that Temari had not visited the world of magic before. It was a bit of shame considering that there was a portal leading to the magical world close to her village.

This was going to be a bit more complicated than he thought.

Perhaps it would be best if he tried getting Fairy Tail mages on his side.

He decided to start with Lucy. Oddly, he could sense that she was somewhere nearby and could get there quickly. Perhaps their interdimensional partnership was having side-effects that he wasn't aware of.

"Can you help me out, Lucy?" inquired Naruto. If anyone could help him, it was his interdimensional partner. It would be like having two of him on the battlefield. Of course, considering that he could make clones of himself, maybe there was already two of him on the battlefield and more.

"What do you need help with?" questioned Lucy.

"I'm in the middle of a battle..." explained the jonin. Hopefully he wouldn't end up getting killed while he was in the middle of a phone call. That would be rather awkward for the person that was on the other end.

"Got it." nodded the girl. Hopefully her partial transformation skills would come in handy. She certainly had gotten stronger after she had obtained them...it wasn't as good as a full transformation, but it was still something.

Naruto sighed in relief. It looked like he would be receiving help soon.

It was a relief. A wyrm was approaching. Apparently he was up against a subspecies of dragon...a blue one. His fangs in question happened to resemble icicles. This seemed appropriate considering that wyrms were typically associated with ice...just like Gray was.

Immediately, the wyrm began to breathe ice on him to make him into a snowman.

Naruto leapt out of the way so that he wouldn't be preserved for archaeologists. Sure, people thought that he was cool...but he doubted that they would want him to be stuck inside an ice block.

Perhaps it would be best to try summoning something that was fire-aligned. That just might do the trick.

However, as it turned out, he didn't have to lift a finger.

At that very moment, Hinata gave him assistance.

"Hey! No eating my friends!" demanded Hinata. They were not gourmet food!

Immediately, Hinata tossed fireballs at the wyrm.

This worked pretty well. The wyrm began to screech. Never in his life had he felt so warm.

"Fire beats ice, huh?" questioned Naruto.

"I guess it does..." nodded Hinata.

At that very moment, a drake began to approach him as well. His scales were coated red. He also had some rather large wings and a rather long tail.

And by the looks of it, he was hungry. Hungry for Naruto and Hinata.

"Huh. I wasn't expecting a fire dragon in Icevale..." stated the jonin.

The drake roared at him.

"You got tired of living in a volcano? I suppose it's probably lonely in there..." said Naruto. Who would want to visit a volcano and go inside it?

"I know a dragon who lives in a volcano..." stated Hinata.

Since this was a fire dragon he was dealing with, Naruto decided to summon Aquarius.

"What do you want, Naruto? I was going for a swim..." asked Aquarius.

"If you're a mermaid, aren't you always going for a swim?" inquired Naruto. Since WHEN were mermaids ever on land?

"Of course I am. I just tend to enjoy going for a swim..." stated the mermaid.

Curious, Aquarius noticed how cold it was outside. She was expecting grass and dirt...not snow and frost.

"Couldn't you summon me somewhere warmer?" complained Aquarius. She was going to get frostbite if she was out in the cold for too long.

"This dragon is going to warm me up if I don't do something..." stated Naruto.

At that very moment, Aquarius noticed the drake. Apparently he wanted to have sushi tonight.

"Alright, consider it done so you won't be well-done." stated Aquarius.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the jonin.

"I suppose it's the least I can do for my summoner...even if you weren't originally MY summoner..." answered the mermaid.

"Yeah...Lucy's more of a ninja than a mage nowadays..." noted Naruto.

Immediately, Aquarius summoned a tidal wave to knock away the drake.

It was rather effective and the drake burst into smoke.

"Yes! I did it!" cheered Naruto. He just hoped that Natsu wouldn't get angry for him for killing dragons.

"Actually, I did most of the work." pointed out Aquarius.

"But I summoned you!" exclaimed the ninja.

"Whatever..." answered the mermaid.

Since she wanted to hang out with her boyfriend Scorpius, she burst into yellow light shortly afterwards. It looked like Naruto was going to have to wait for a while before he could summon her again.

Suddenly, a wyvern showed up. He was crackling with electricity. Whenever he roared, there was thunder.

"Another dragon?" questioned Naruto. How many dragons did Chiyoye have? Had she found a dragon nest somewhere?

"This one's lightning-aligned...I think you'll want someone different for this one..." pointed out Aquarius.

"I sure hope that one of my friends shows up soon..." stated the jonin.

Fortunately, at that very moment, one of them did show up.

"Hey there, Naruto!" exclaimed Lucy, waving at Naruto.

Currently, she was dressed in a Santa outfit. She was wearing a strapless dress, a Santa hat, and some red boots and gloves. Unsurprisingly, it had been Kurama's idea.

But since Kurama had agreed to keep her warm, she decided not to complain about it.

"Hi, Lucy!" shouted the jonin. He was so happy to see his interdimensional partner.

Lucy immediately transformed her hand into one of Kurama's paws and used it to swat the wyvern.

The wyvern began to screech. Now he had claw marks on his face.

Lucy then finished him off with a Rasengan.

Shortly afterwards, another monster showed up.

This one was a chimera.

Unsurprisingly, the lion head was roaring at them. It probably wouldn't be fun if he sank his teeth into their necks. At least it would be relatively swift and painless compared to dying from being poisoned by the snake head or being gored by the goat head.

"Someone's been experimenting with animals..." remarked Naruto. Naruto wondered why Chiyoye would want to mix all those particular animals together. Maybe she couldn't decide whether it should be a reptile, a cat, or a herbivore...

He wondered which part he should take on first...the lion head, the goat head, or the snake tail?

Regardless of which he decided, it would probably make fighting the rest of the chimera easier.

"I'm going to call some more of my friends..." stated Naruto.

"Sounds good..." nodded Lucy.

They were going to need a lot of help for this mission.

_Meanwhile..._

Choji was at the local barbecue, eating some delicious chicken wings.

"Mmm..." murmured the ninja.

Unfortunately, he ended up being interrupted.

Suddenly, Choji received a phone call from Naruto.

Sighing, he decided to answer.

"Can this wait? I'm eating!" exclaimed Choji.

"Sorry, Choji. I'm in the middle of a fight...I'm trying to take on an army..." stated Naruto. He knew how much Choji liked eating at this point.

"An entire army? By yourself?" questioned the Akimichi ninja. Was Naruto going on a suicide mission?

"Well, not by myself. Lucy's with me. Even so, I figured we probably couldn't take on the army alone." noted the jonin. It'd be like playing a game of shogi with only chess piece...though of course Shikamaru would probably win anyway.

"Good point..." nodded Choji. Well, it looked like he was heading straight to the battlefield.

While he was at it, he decided that he should bring Shikamaru with him. He would be interested in helping Lucy.

"You'll probably want to get here soon...otherwise the zombies might eat my flesh...they're even more hungry than you are..." pointed out Naruto.

"You make a point there..." stated Choji. Strangely enough, none of the zombies seemed as bulky as he was.

"How fast do you think you can make it?" inquired Naruto.

"Well, I'm a ninja so I should be able to get there pretty quickly..." remarked the Akimichi ninja.

"Oh, right. I knew that." stated the jonin. Back in his world, people didn't need vehicles. Each of them could outrun a moving car.

"I'll see you on the battlefield!" exclaimed Choji.

Naruto hung up the phone.

_A few minutes later..._

"Did you get help?" questioned Lucy.

Naruto nodded.

"That's good..." spoke the female blonde. If it weren't for their friends, they likely would have gotten wiped out a long time ago.

Shortly afterwards, the snake head attempted to bite Naruto in the arm.

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way so that he didn't get bitten. Wouldn't want to have to go to the hospital to get the antidote. Was it even in stock?

"Why don't I introduce him to a snake's natural predator..." stated Lucy.

Immediately, she summoned a mongoose.

As soon as the mongoose noticed the snake, he licked his lips.

The snake gasped in shock. She was not expecting that.

And unfortunately, the mongoose was bigger than she was.

Quickly, the mongoose bit into the snake's neck, killing her. Fortunately, he didn't end up being bitten himself for his trouble.

However, the goat head quickly pierced into the mongoose with his horns. They drew blood.

"I wonder how I should follow that..." questioned Lucy.

Suddenly, some wolves approached Lucy and Naruto.

Apparently, they wanted to eat them for their supper. Whatever happened to them eating mice?

"Good thing they're not werewolves..." noted Naruto.

"We're probably going to encounter those later..." warned Lucy.

Immediately, Naruto pulled out some kunai and began to toss them at the wolves.

Fortunately, they were not resilient.

However, more of the wolves seemed to be coming.

And to make matters worse, the chimera was still attacking them.

"At least I don't have to worry about the Akatsuki while I'm at my home world..." remarked Lucy.

Speaking of which, she got the feeling that they were up to something. Something bad. Another one of the jinchuriki may be in danger. At least Gaara and Gajeel were safe.

Who was it this time?

_Meanwhile..._

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" exclaimed a Kumogakure citizen.

"Read about what?" asked Kakuzu. He wasn't being specific.

It probably wasn't worth his time...but he decided that he would listen anyway.

Apparently, there was going to be a festival in a few days.

"A festival?" questioned the Akatsuki member. That actually might be worth his time so long as he could make a lot of money off of it. Besides, he just might have a bit of fun...though he probably wouldn't admit it on account on being so serious all the time.

Many ninja from Kumogakure were going to be there, and apparently the two-tails jinchuriki herself was going to be making an appearance.

"Interesting..." stated Kakuzu. Perhaps he should attend the festival as well.

Something told him that this would be a good opportunity to strike...chances are her bodyguards would be off-duty for the event.

If that was the case, then there wouldn't be too many problems reaching his target.

Of course, he had Hidan on his side...and he was immortal. How exactly was Yugito Nii supposed to kill him? Make a bargain with the Shinigami?

"Are we going to kill someone again soon? Killing that mayor was awfully fun..." remarked Hidan.

"Be patient, Hidan...we don't want to blow our cover because of your bloodthirsty tendencies..." pointed out Kakuzu.

"Maybe I can kill this boy!" exclaimed the evil zealot.

"Killing children? Really?" inquired the bounty hunter.

"Jashin loves sacrifices!" bellowed Hidan.

"Yes...you already told me that about half a dozen times..." stated Kakuzu.

At this point, the newspaper boy had run away. He did not want to stick around with two psychos like Hidan and Kakuzu.

"Darn it, Kakuzu! You scared him off!" exclaimed the priest.

"You sure it wasn't you?" asked the greedy ninja.

"Shut up!" bellowed Hidan.

_Back at Frostvale..._

"I'll probably have to worry about the Akatsuki later." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that some of the wolves were in fact werewolves. If only they had silver on them.

Although...those wolves did give her an idea.

Immediately, she summoned a dire wolf and used it to attack the chimera's goat head.

"Get him, boy!" exclaimed Lucy.

This worked surprisingly well. It looked like the dire wolf was going to have lunch tonight.

Now all that was left was the lion head.

"Hmm...I wonder how I'm going to take care of that one..." stated Lucy. Unfortunately, she was not a hunter.

Fortunately, she had an idea.

Quickly, she summoned a swarm of hyenas to attack the lion head.

The hyenas kept biting into the lion head, until he died.

Now that all three heads were deceased, the chimera burst into yellow light.

"I guess we better keep going..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah..." nodded Naruto. At least Lucy was safe from the Akatsuki for the time being. However, she was not safe from Chiyoye's forces...though admittedly Chiyoye only seemed interested in him.

Naruto wondered if two of the Akatsuki members were having some exposition.

As it turned out, they were.

_Meanwhile..._

"So...let me get this straight, Itachi was the one who brought you into the Akatsuki?" questioned Midori.

"Yes...it didn't go well for me at all! Curse Itachi..." remarked Deidara.

_"So...this man is going to be my partner? I wonder why he likes playdoh so much..." asked Sasori. For some strange reason Pain had decided to partner him up with ANOTHER artist...though from what he knew about him he had very different tastes in art._

_"It feels funny seeing a flashback involving a dead character..." stated Kisame. It was as if he had suddenly returned to life._

_"Grr..." murmured the deceased puppet master._

_"This is the bomber Deidara...it would probably be best to respect him or his art. Otherwise you might end up getting blown up..." stated Itachi._

_Sure enough, Deidara was sculpting some clay._

_"What is you want? You want my services?" asked the clay sculptor._

_"As a matter of fact, we do. Our leader was impressed enough with your abilities that he wanted to bring you into the Akatsuki..." said the Uchiha clan member._

_"Well, you don't get my services for free!" exclaimed Deidara._

_"Alright...what do you say that if I beat you, you'll join the Akatsuki?" questioned Itachi._

_"Try me." stated the blonde._

_Unfortunately, when he attempted to toss a bomb at Itachi, he ended up being blown off his feet instead._

_"Wah!" bellowed Deidara._

_Immediately, he clutched his head. He had a headache all of a sudden._

_"What just happened?" asked the bomber. Why exactly did he just try to blow HIMSELF up?_

_"You fell victim to one of my genjutsus..." explained Itachi. Having the Sharingan was so useful...especially once he obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan._

_"Fine! You win! Stupid Sharingan..." remarked the artisan. All of a sudden he did not want to look Itachi in the eye._

"Yeah...my battle with Kisame didn't go too well either...I couldn't combat the chakra drain..." remarked Midori. That stupid sword of his devoured all her chakra like a pig.

Apparently, Itachi was to Deidara what Kisame was to her. How appropriate that Itachi and Kisame were partners like she and Deidara were.

"At least you have Byakugan eyes to protect you from genjutsu..." stated Deidara. He did not have that luxury, though he had trained his right eye to counter illusions.

"Mm-hmm..." nodded Midori.

"Wait...where did you even get those Byakugan eyes?" inquired the bomber.

"Well, I suppose it all started back when I was a young girl..." explained the kunoichi. Her childhood had been going so well up until the point that she had met Orochimaru.

"Back then I was living in Kirigakure...there was so much mist that we had to get a fan to blow it away from our house.." stated Midori. It was a pain.

"Little did we know that Orochimaru had secretly built a lair in my homeland...he wanted to find more ninja so that he could experiment on them...that rotten snake..." remarked the kunoichi.

"You'll never guess which lucky child was among those that were abducted in the middle of the night..."

"Anyways...like all the other test subjects...the scientists chose to experiment on me...they wanted to make me something stronger...something that they could use against Orochimaru's enemies someday...or at the very least teach Orochimaru a few jutsus or so." continued Midori.

"That reminds me of something that Sasori told me...apparently, most of Orochimaru's test subjects didn't survive..." noted Deidara.

"That explains why I saw some of the scientists carrying out my fellow Kirigakure citizens in body bags..." remarked the kunoichi. The very sight always made her sick...

"Wait...if you were one of Orochimaru's test subjects, then how are you still alive?" asked the bomber.

"That's the funny thing. No matter how much Orochimaru experimented on me...I never died...back when I was in the village, people noticed how resilient I was...I hardly got sick ever..." stated Midori.

"Orochimaru was rather delighted. Apparently, I was just the kind of test subject he was looking for...I on the other hand had never bothered looking for him...I heard all sorts of nasty rumors about him...rumors that are probably true now that I think of it..." acknowledged the kunoichi.

"He started giving me the DNA of various ninja in order to give me their abilities...I just kept on getting stronger and stronger...eventually, he decided that I would be fit to obtain the DNA of the Legendary Sannin...obviously, one of them was him...and since the other two were his friends he managed to collect it from them with neither of them being the wiser..." stated Midori.

"He also managed to obtain DNA from their summons...you're probably wondering how I can vomit acid or how I can leap like a frog..." continued the female Akatsuki member.

"Do genetics even work that way?" questioned Deidara.

"I don't know. YOU try asking Orochimaru." answered Midori.

"He also decided that I should have Byakugan eyes so that I could see his enemies coming from a mile away...since he knew about its blind spot at this point he gave me one on my back so that I wouldn't have to worry about it..." explained the kunoichi. He sure knew how to overwrite a weakness.

"Don't Byakugan eyes vanish once their wielder dies?" inquired the bomber.

"Yes...that's why he cut them out while the kidnapped Hyuga ninja was still alive..." stated Deidara's partner.

"Alright..." stated Deidara. This was getting disturbing.

"Eventually...Orochimaru decided that I was ready to be used as a weapon against Konoha..." continued Midori.

"Wait...if you were kidnapped by Otagakure ninja...then how did you escape?" asked the bomber.

"Oh, that...well, as luck would have it, the Kirigakure ninja eventually discovered the hideout...they immediately burst in, killed the scientists, and then released all the prisoners..." stated Midori. Orochimaru was furious when he discovered that his would-be weapon of mass destruction was now out of his hands.

Though Midori was very happy that the scientists who had experimented on her and other citizens of her village had been slain, she was unhappy to discover that Orochimaru himself was not among the dead. He had been in another laboratory when the Kirigakure ninja had discovered his hideout and had attacked. He liked to change laboratories every once in a while to make sure he didn't get caught.

He was so slippery that he made a bar of soap seem dry.

"For a monent I thought that my life would be a lot better...but guess what? It didn't improve! People thought that I was a freak...that I didn't belong in the world. It got to me pretty quickly..." stated the kunoichi.

"Eventually, I decided that I was going to get even with Orochimaru...maybe if I killed him, my village would show me respect for a change...no more kidnapped children to be experimented on for them..." answered Midori.

"So there you have it...that's how I got my Byakugan eyes...and how I got to be known as the Beast Of Otagakure..." said the young lady.

"Well, that was a lot of exposition..." remarked Deidara.

"I know..." nodded the kunoichi. Hopefully the audience found it entertaining.

_Meanwhile..._

"Where are you going, Choji?" asked Shikamaru.

"I'm going to help Lucy..." explained Choji.

"Maybe I should come along too..." remarked the shadow ninja.

"Sounds good!" exclaimed Shikamaru's best friend.

Immediately, Shikamaru and Choji entered the interdimensional portal.

From there, they could make their way towards Frostvale.

Since it was rather cold it would probably be a good idea to dress for the occasion.

_Well, it looks like Naruto and Lucy are doing rather well against Chiyoye's forces...however, the war isn't over yet, now is it? Chiyoye's planning on summoning some more minions...and they're going to be rather special._

_Meanwhile, Kakuzu and Hidan are plotting against Yugito Nii...what is she going to do?_


	76. Chapter 76: Fearsome Foursome

_In this chapter, Chiyoye's going to bring back some of Naruto's old foes, foes that he faced back when he was thirteen years old...she's basically playing with him at this point. She's going to make them guard her castle from Naruto and his friends. Wouldn't want anyone getting inside now._

_In other words, Naruto's friends are going to have to fight against them, just like last time. Naruto can just sit back and watch while his friends fight against the Sound Four...or maybe not. He's got a mission to complete._

**Chapter 76: Fearsome Foursome**

Chiyoye sat on her skull throne, drinking some wine. Currently, her minions were killing every single villager they saw, and she was taking delight in all the carnage that they were inflicting. She was looking forward to seeing the village once she had destroyed it and her minions had gathered the life force of the people that she had slain.

No doubt the village would be smoldering. Perhaps she could build a statue of herself over it. That way more people would be intimidated by her.

Of course, Naruto and his friends were trying to stop her from destroying this village (which wasn't much of a surprise to her), but Chiyoye thought it was more fun that way. Besides, she was expecting them to try to stop her. Apparently they thought that because they were so heroic that they would be able to beat her. It would feel pretty satisfying proving them wrong.

However, it was becoming apparent that Naruto and his friends were getting closer to her castle, regardless of how many minions that were being sent to Icevale. Apparently, her minions were having a hard time holding them off. Perhaps Naruto was getting stronger, just as she was. She was going to have to come up with some way to keep him busy. Or she could just leave or look for more victims...but she decided that she would rather do the former. It would be more fun that way.

"Well, it's been fun playing with Naruto and his friends...but I figure that they would want a real challenge, wouldn't you say?" asked Chiyoye. At this point, she had decided to stop playing with her food before eating it...though from the looks of it she was going to be eating rather slowly.

"What do you suggest, mistress?" inquired the dark knight. Personally he was willing to enter the fray himself. Given the abilities that he had absorbed from the Oracion Seis, it seemed likely that he would do well against his enemies.

"Oh, it's rather simple. I've noticed that Naruto had fought many foes in the past...so I figured, why not bring some of them back?" inquired the sorceress. She thought that it would be rather amusing to send Naruto down a trip down memory lane. She had a love of games.

"Like...who?" questioned the knight.

"I have just the thing..." stated the dark mage.

Immediately, she began casting a summoning spell.

As she did so, a wide smile formed on her face.

Shortly afterwards, the Sound Four appeared. They were rather surprised to find themselves back in the world of the living. How exactly had they returned to life so suddenly?

"Didn't you kill them, mistress?" asked the dark knight. It seemed like such a long time ago. The Sound Four had not lasted long against her at all to his knowledge.

"Yes yes...but you're forgetting that I have the ability to bring back people from the dead...I'm one of the most powerful necromancers in Fiore at this point. And of course since I summoned them they're under my control...just like the rest of the forces I summoned..." stated Chiyoye.

"Where are we?" asked Jirobo. Looking around, he noticed that he appeared to be some sort of castle...a castle that was made of ice. It also seemed to be radiating with...evil.

There were statues inside the castle...statues that looked like people being skewered with swords and spears. Though admittedly he had killed many ninja along with his teammates in the name of Orochimaru, he still found it disturbing that Chiyoye would decorate her entire castle with statues such as these.

"Why aren't we in the afterlife?" questioned Kidomaru. He could have sworn that he was paying the price for his sins not too long ago. On the lighter side, it appeared that he was going to be purified of his sins soon...but someone had ruined it apparently.

"I feel like someone brought us here..." stated Sakon. The only question was who exactly would want them back from the dead. It was probably Orochimaru...but considering that he had a new apprentice now maybe he didn't need to resurrect them.

Tayuya was the first one to notice Chiyoye. Her eyes widened in shock.

"You! You're the one who killed us all! You little slut!" bellowed Tayuya.

"Normally I would call you out on your foul language but personally I think she's a slut too..." remarked Jirobo.

"Wait...if she killed us, then why is she bringing us back to life? Does she want to kill us again or something?" inquired the spider teenager.

"Oh, there's a very good reason for that. Unfortunately..it seems like none of you like me after all the horrible things that I did to you...but it's too bad. You're going to be working for me whether you like it or not. Since I can control the dead, I can control you..." stated Chiyoye.

Snapping her fingers, the Sound Four involuntarily bowed down to Chiyoye. Since none of the four had any respect for the dark sorceress, they found it quite unusual.

"Why are we doing this?!" exclaimed Sakon. Normally the only person that he and his teammates ever bowed to was Orochimaru.

"So long as you're undead, you're my servants. I can control every muscle in your body. Of course, that's not the only thing that I can do to you, oh no...I can also torture you...in fact, I could make you experience pain that you've never even felt before." noted the sorceress.

Snapping her fingers again, the Sound Four suddenly began to scream in agony. As they did so, a wide smile formed on Chiyoye's lips.

"Aaaah!" screeched Kidomaru.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" screamed Tayuya.

Jirobo went down on all fours. The pain was unendurable.

"Oh god..." said Sakon.

Each of the four felt like they had been doused with gasoline and then they had been set on fire.

Chiyoye continued to watch the four of them suffer. However, she then remembered that there were people that wanted to bring her to justice. Sure, she believed that their efforts were probably going to waste considering how much magic she had drained from others at this point, but she figured that she didn't want to take too many chances. After all, Makarov likely wasn't going to rest until he had avenged the various mages of his guild that she had slain.

"It'd be enjoyable if I continued doing this...but I figure that I should send you after Naruto and his little friends...I have no doubt that they'll be surprised to see some of their old foes after so long..." remarked Chiyoye.

Immediately, she dispelled the horrible spell that was causing the Sound Four so much pain. They began to pant heavily...even though they no longer needed oxygen.

"You're a monster!" bellowed Sakon. Was Chiyoye even more evil than their boss?

"Yes, i am. And I'm proud of it. I've been like that ever since my birth. Now then...I have some enemies of mine that I need taken care of...wouldn't want them breaking into my stronghold..." stated Chiyoye.

Of course, now that she thought of it, the Sound Four's enemies happened to share adversaries with her...they weren't too fond of Konoha shinobi. They were always trying to destroy Orochimaru's laboratories and put an end to Orochimaru's research. How was he going to learn all jutsu if his labs kept blowing up?

The Sound Four sighed. It looked like they had no choice but to obey her. Personally they thought things were better back when Orochimaru was their leader...even if he did take them prisoner and experiment on them. On the lighter side, they did get an opportunity for revenge against Konoha shinobi for defeating them earlier...potentially against those that had defeated them in the past. They also wanted revenge on the Fairy Tail mages as well for locking them up.

Unfortunately, though they had served Orochimaru faithfully in the past, Chiyoye was their leader now. They had no choice but to obey her unless they wanted to get tortured...and boy was Chiyoye a brutal torturer.

Sakon sighed. They really did not have a choice in the matter.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Sakon. Anything to stop the anguish.

"Simple...I've done research on your jutsus and I want you to make a barrier..." stated Chiyoye.

"If you already have our powers, why go to the trouble of summoning us for that?" questioned Tayuya. It seemed like she was wasting her time.

"Though I can certainly create a barrier similar to yours...it's not nearly big enough to cover the entire castle..." answered the sorceress. There'd be a gaping gap in their defenses.

Now that the Sound Four thought of it, the castle was rather enormous. Though Chiyoye had constructed it in a short period of time, it dwarfed the deceased former mayor's mansion in size.

Since they had no choice, they decided to do what their mistress demanded.

Immediately, they entered position so that they could all use the same jutsu.

Shortly afterwards, a large purple barrier surrounded the castle.

"I sure hope that Chiyoye is satisfied..." remarked Sakon.

"If she isn't, she's going to make us suffer again..." noted Tayuya. What she did to them was most likely going to haunt them in their sleep...wait, the undead didn't sleep, now did they?

How they wished that they were still working for Orochimaru. Of course, he did have a disregard of the lives of his subordinates...but he wouldn't have gotten rid of them, right? They were his bodyguards.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Chiyoye as the barrier formed around her lair. Now she could relax without having to worry about her lair being infiltrated by Naruto and his friends. Of course, if the lair did end up getting infiltrated, she would likely simply be able to make another lair elsewhere. But as it was, she wanted to enjoy the carnage that was unfolding in Icevale.

Hinata was the first one to take notice, due to the fact that she was using her Byakugan.

"Um, Naruto, we've got a big problem..." stated Hinata.

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

Curious, he decided to take a look at Chiyoye's lair.

He then realized what Hinata was talking about.

As it turned out, Chiyoye's castle was covered with a big purple barrier...a barrier that was even bigger than the castle itself. It was visible from quite a distance. Of course, Hinata never had a problem with depth perception. Being part of the Hyuga clan had its perks...even if she was originally a scout instead of a fighter.

She didn't want them to come inside. Strangely enough, it didn't seem to inhibit Chiyoye's forces. Perhaps Chiyoye had cast a spell on the barrier to allow them to come through.

"How are we going to get past that...barrier?" questioned Naruto.

Curious, he tried tossing a kunai at it.

However, it simply bounced off. They were going to have to try harder than that.

Not only that, but the kunai burst into flames. Touching the barrier was not safe at all. It would probably be best if they didn't get too close to it.

"I am NOT looking forward to being immolated." said the jonin. Touching it was the last thing that they would want to do.

"It certainly presents a problem..." stated Hinata. It seemed rather familiar. Wasn't the Third Hokage trapped inside that barrier when he fought Orochimaru? It was strong enough to prevent anyone else from interrupting Orochimaru and the Third Hokage's fight so that they could try to save the latter from meeting his maker.

Instead, he ended up meeting the Shinigami. Now he was living inside the Shinigami's stomach. Now whenever the Shinigami burped people could get a whiff of the Third Homage's scent.

But the ninja that had summoned the barrier were dead...so how was Chiyoye using it?

That was what bothered her.

Of course, now that she thought of it, Chiyoye was a necromancer...was it possible that she had managed to summon the Sound Four back from the dead? She was the one that killed them after all.

Something told her that she and her friends might have to face her old foes.

"By the way, Naruto, did you and Erza get a unison raid like we did?" asked Lucy. Since they were rather close, it seemed rather likely that they would be able to pull off a unison raid.

"As a matter of fact, we did..." nodded Naruto.

_Naruto and Erza were standing in the guild hall, ready to try out a new technique that they were working on. It'd probably be crazy to use it in combat...but they figured that they would be able to have fun with it._

_"Ready Erza?" asked Naruto._

_"I sure am!" exclaimed Erza._

_Immediately, Naruto used his Sexy Jutsu to transform into a naked girl (fortunately, she was usually covered with smoke, so you didn't necessarily have to see much), and Erza put on her Seduction Armor._

_"Hold me!" exclaimed Naruko._

_"You got it!" bellowed Erza._

_Immediately, Naruko and Erza began to make out...even though Naruto was in his female form of course._

_"You're such a good kisser..." remarked Naruto as she and Erza continued to lock lips. They could do this for a long time._

_"So are you, Naruko..." stated Erza._

_At that very moment, Makarov walked by, unaware as what was happening nearby. He got the feeling that the mages in his guild were up to something, but he wasn't quite sure what._

_"I wonder what Naruto and Erza are up to, I haven't seen them in a while..." spoke Makarov to himself._

_Curious, he began to hear noises._

_"What's going on in here?" questioned the old man._

_Suddenly, he spotted Naruto and Erza._

_As soon as he noticed them, Makarov's eyes widened and he fainted._

_Erza noticed what had happened, and approached her guildmaster. They didn't just give him a heart attack, did they?_

_"You alright, guildmaster?" asked Erza._

_"I guess we should have done this somewhere more secluded..." noted Naruto as he transformed back into his more masculine form._

"Wow! That sounds REALLY sexy!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yeah...we call it Sexy Love..." remarked Naruto.

"You...probably shouldn't do that in front of minors..." warned the female blonde. Think of the poor children.

"Of course not..." nodded the boy. It would probably be a bad idea to use it in front of Konohamaru...unless for some strange reason he wanted to try it with his interdimensional partner Wendy. Together they could create a hurricane.

Suddenly, Hinata realized something. Apparently, the barrier was thermal since it burned anyone who tried to get through it...but what if she tried going through it?

Immediately, she began to walk towards the barrier.

"No, Hinata! You'll get...oh wait, that's right." remembered Naruto.

Sure enough, Hinata was able to walk through the barrier without any interference. It was lucky that she was a fire dragonslayer now. Otherwise they'd be up a creek without a paddle...and the creek in question would be full of deadly piranhas.

"Alright! I'm in!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Way to go, Hinata!" cheered Lucy.

Now there was the small matter of finding who was generating the barrier.

She could not believe her pale eyes.

As it turned out, it was the Sound Four, back from the dead. Sometimes their foes simply wouldn't stay down, even when death did them part. Of course, Naruto had faced undead before...but they didn't have their intellect still intact. They were basically mindless drones that did Chiyoye's bidding.

"I guess they weren't as dead as we thought." noted Hinata to herself. Were they going to have to defeat their deceased foes again and again and again? It seemed like they were caught in an endless loop.

She then remembered that Chiyoye was a necromancer. Perhaps she was forcing people that she had killed previously to do her bidding. Once again, she was being quite callous.

Of course, she couldn't expect anything else from her, now could she?

Well, it was time to get rid of the barrier.

Suddenly, she began to attack the Sound Four using a Gentle Fist technique.

The Sound Four immediately reacted with surprise. This had not happened before at all.

"What the hell?! How'd you get past our barrier?!" exclaimed Tayuya.

"Once again Tayuya does not act like a proper lady." remarked Jirobo.

"Why don't you act like a stupid idiot? Oh wait, you already are acting like a stupid idiot." answered the kunoichi.

"Grr..." murmured the large teenage boy. Once again, Tayuya was not treating him too well. Now that he thought of it...if Tayuya wasn't enthusiastic about working with the rest of the squad, then why was she doing it?

"No! The barrier is falling!" bellowed Sakon.

"Chiyoye is going to kill us for this! Oh wait, we're already dead." acknowledged Kidomaru. How could he have forgotten about that?

Immediately, the four of them retreated inside Chiyoye's icy castle.

"Yes! We did it!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Don't celebrate yet, Naruto. We still need to fight Chiyoye." reminded Hinata. She was in the castle somewhere...the only question was where exactly was Chiyoye. The castle was fairly large now that she thought of it...though not as big as their guild headquarters was.

"Oh yeah..." nodded the jonin. Apparently their task wasn't done yet.

Immediately, Chiyoye noticed that the barrier had disappeared. Had the Sound Four decided to bail on her? If so, they were going to regret it.

However, she then noticed the Sound Four retreating back inside her castle, and then realized that somehow, Naruto and his friends had managed to get rid of the barrier.

"It appears that defending the castle from Naruto and his friends is going to be harder than I thought..." noted Chiyoye.

Snapping her fingers, she summoned some ice demons to deal with the intruders.

"Freeze the water in their body so that I can make popsicles out of them, will you? I'm looking forward to adding some ice sculptures to this place." remarked the sorceress.

The ice demons nodded. Like the Sound Four, there was nothing stopping them from being tortured. In fact, they had heard rumors that Chiyoye fusing magical metal with demons so that they would be stronger and more violent.

They wouldn't want that to happen to them.

Quickly, the ice demons went to confront their intruders.

Meanwhile, Naruto wondered why Chiyoye would want to reside in a castle that was so chilly. He'd most likely get a cold if he tried living in a place like this.

Of course, maybe Chiyoye was even colder.

Speaking of cold, Naruto noticed that the temperature seemed to be rapidly dropping. What was going on?

At that very moment, the ice demons showed up.

"Ah...fresh meat." said one of the ice demons.

Well, that explained a lot.

"These demons look awfully...chilly.." remarked Naruto. Usually when he pictured demons in his mind they were red and fiery...and yet apparently not these demons.

"Looks like they're ice demons. I'm going to fry them!" exclaimed Hinata.

Unsurprisingly, the ice demons did not like Hinata's fire attacks. If only they were fire demons.

"It burns!" exclaimed one of the ice demons.

"Of course it burns. It's fire!" shouted Hinata. Were they expecting something else?

In retaliation, they began to throw icicles. Razor-sharp icicles.

One of them hit Naruto on the head.

"Ow!" exclaimed Naruto. He was lucky that didn't go to his brain.

Fortunately, at that very moment, some help arrived. Choji and Shikamaru showed up.

"Hi! I'm assuming that you're here to help?" asked Hinata. She was glad that they could make it.

"Yes!" exclaimed Choji.

"Good! I'm glad that we can always count on our friends." remarked the teenage girl.

At that very moment, some black knights showed up.

"Bow before our mistress or you shall perish!" exclaimed one of the black knights.

"I'll never bow down to her!" bellowed Naruto.

"Defiant, I see..." remarked said black knight.

Suddenly, they found themselves clobbered by Choji, who broke their armor.

"Wow! You clobbered them like dominoes!" bellowed Naruto.

"Still, I think that we should get some more help." remarked Hinata. The longer they spent in Chiyoye's castle, the more evil and dangerous it seemed. And it probably wasn't going to be Naruto's last encounter with her either.

Immediately, she sent a sending scroll to Neji, along with the Sand Siblings.

"We should have some more backup now...though I'm not sure who else we should bring." answered Hinata. Not everyone would be able to answer their pleas of help. They were busy on missions.

Suddenly, they heard an evil laugh.

"Hey there, fatso! Rmeember me?" asked a rather familiar voice.

Choji looked around, and gasped in shock.

It was Jirobo!

"I thought I hit you with a punch that contained a ridiculously large amount of chakra that crushed your heart..." questioned Choji.

"Actually, it was Chiyoye that killed him, not you. Anyways, that's her doing. She's bringing people back from the dead...including the people that she killed." answered Lucy.

"As if simply killing them wasn't enough." remarked Shikamaru.

"Ready for a rematch? Mind you, don't assume things will go just like last time...I'll just eat your food pills if you brought them..." answered Jirobo.

Choji decided to check his pockets to see if he did bring food pills.

However, they were empty.

"I guess not." answered Choji.

Jirobo chuckled.

"I'll crush you!"

Immediately, Jirobo pulled out a boulder and tossed it at Choji.

However, Choji broke it in two with one punch. Jirobo was going to have to try harder than that.

"You want to take him on solo or should we attack him as a team?" asked Shikamaru.

"It seems fair to fight him one on one...wait, if Jirobo's resurrected, are the other three resurrected too?" asked Choji.

"As a matter of fact, they were, together they were able to summon the barrier that they used to trap the Third Hokage..." answered Hinata.

"How'd you get past that barrier?!" exclaimed Jirobo. Not even the ANBU could get past it.

"I'm completely immune to fire. Nifty, huh?" asked the kunoichi. That would probably come in handy if she ever decided to work at a gas station.

"We'll have to come up with a different way to protect a stronghold..." remarked the bulky ninja. It was rather frustrating that someone would be able to get past what they thought was an impenetrable barrier so easily.

Immediately, Naruto, Shikamaru, Lucy, and Hinata let Choji deal with Jirobo, just like last time. Maybe he wouldn't have gotten beaten to a pulp if he simply stopped insulting Shikamaru in front of Choji.

"Be careful, who knows what else awaits us in this castle..." said Lucy. Personally the castle gave her the creeps. She probably couldn't expect anything else coming from Chiyoye.

At that very moment, Neji, Temari, and Kankuro showed up.

"There you are!" exclaimed Hinata.

"You needed help with something?" asked Neji.

"We're trying to save a village from a demented sorceress...the less bloodshed, the better." answered Naruto. No matter how many people Chiyoye killed, it simply wasn't enough. She always came back for a second helping...then a third, then a fourth.

"The situation does look grim..." noted Kankuro.

"Exactly. That's why we're trying to stop her...we probably won't defeat her today, but we can at least prevent any more csualties..." remarked Lucy.

Suddenly, an arrow was launched at Lucy's head.

Fortunately, Neji blocked it.

"Another psycho?" questioned Lucy. She was not looking forward to being used as a pincushion.

"I want to play a game. How does a game of bullseye sound?" asked Kidomaru.

"Oh sure. Use me as a dartboard of hate. Go figure." remarked Neji.

Kidomaru noted that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a picture of Neji and use it as a dartboard. He probably should thank Neji for the idea...but of course it would be more fun to kill him. Hooray for murder!

"Can you take care of him, Neji?" asked Hinata.

Neji nodded. If he beat him once, he could beat him again, right?

After leaving Neji to take care of Kidomaru, they continued deeper into the castle.

However, as they did so, they began to hear a strange song.

"What's that noise?" asked Hinata.

"Oh no..." said Shikamaru. He recognized that song.

As it turned out, it was none other than Tayuya, who was singing a song that inflicted nasty genjutsus.

Quickly, our heroes covered their ears so that they wouldn't end up feeling like that their arms were melting. That would be traumatic.

"It's the rats that I encountered back when I was delivering Sasuke to Lord Orochimaru!" exclaimed Tayuya. Who would have thought that Konoha wanted him back so badly?

Temari pulled out her fan.

"And it's the kunoichi who dropped a forest on me...go figure." remarked the girl. It was a miracle that she survived that.

Of course, this wasn't the first fanfic that involved her surviving the incident...though it was probably the first where all her comrades survived as well.

"Leave her to me." said Temari.

"Right then...I think there's one Sound Four member left...or maybe two. How many were there again?" questioned Naruto.

As it turned out, there was one more Sound Four member, or two. Why was it so hard to do math?

"Ready to crack some skulls, brother?" questioned Sakon.

"Well, judging from the fact that they're leaving men behind to deal with us one by one, we're probably only going to get to crack one skull..." answered Ukon.

"Meh, it's better than nothing." noted the younger brother.

"Agreed." nodded the older brother. And yes, despite the fact that Ukon typically spent much of his time sleeping in Sakon's body instead of leaping around, he was the older sibling. Perhaps he should set a better example for his younger brother.

Kankuro pulled out his puppets. It looked like this was a job for him.

Fortunately, he was able to build body armor using the puppets that he had salvaged from Sasori falling from his demise.

However, he got the feeling that Sakon and Ukon would be stronger than before, though he wasn't quite sure why.

After leaving Kankuro behind, they continued deeper in the castle.

Chiyoye quickly noticed.

Snapping her fingers, a pitfall suddenly appeared in her castle.

Fortunately, this did not result in anyone dying.

However, it separated Naruto and Lucy from everyone else.

Up ahead was an ominous-looking door.

"I guess it's up to us to battle Chiyoye then..." noted Naruto.

"Do you think we can win?" asked Lucy.

"We have to try! Everyone in Icevale will die otherwise..." remarked the teenage ninja.

Immediately, they opened the door. As they did so, they heard a creaking noise.

On the other side was none other than Chiyoye. She was sitting on her throne with a wide smile on her face.

"Ah, Naruto! I've been waiting for you! It's a shame that Erza didn't show up to answer my call...but at least you brought someone else with you. I didn't have to hunt you down..." noted Chiyoye.

Naruto sighed. It appeared that he was playing into Chiyoye's plans. Nevertheless, she was going to continue killing people unless he brought the fight to her. And even if he didn't, it was only a matter of time before the sorceress started hunting him down...and for all he knew she had eyes everywhere.

"So, this is the mage that killed several members of my guild while I was gone..." remarked Lucy. She was not going to forgive her for

"Fight us like a man...or a woman. You know what I mean." answered Naruto.

"Tempting...but I think that I've been doing enough fighting as it is. I think I'll try out my new toy instead..." stated Chiyoye.

"New toy? What are you talking about?" asked the son of the Fourth Hokage.

"Say hello to my Death Knight." answered Chiyoye.

Immediately, Chiyoye's chief enforcer walked towards them.

"He's not too happy that there are those who are attacking his mistress...also, he's none too pleased that there are those who would intrude in my new castle...I think he's going to take action, wouldn't you say?" questioned the sorceress.

The Death Knight raised his sword.

Naruto began to feel rather worried. He could tell from the magic radiating off of him that the Death Knight was going to be a powerful opponent.

Of course, he was not a weak ninja either. He had come a long way ever since he finally graduated from the ninja academy. Why exactly did he keep failing? He had a nine-tailed fox on his side for pete's sakes! That was more that could be said for the other ninja that were at the academy...well, Sasuke did have his Sharingan. That was pretty useful.

Well, it looked like they were simply going to have to get ready to fight.

Naruto pulled out a kunai while Lucy pulled out a whip.

Hopefully they would survive this fight...

_Will Naruto be able to stop Chiyoye? So far his encounters with her at the Tower Of Heaven and when he was fighting Oracion Seis have only resulted in her becoming more powerful...will things go differently this time? Perhaps he at least can get her and her troops to withdraw from Icevale. They've spilled enough blood already as it is._

_In the next chapter...well, there's going to be a lot of action. And you can probably expect blood to be spilled. I hope you enjoy it._


End file.
